27 Ways to Use Kanban Boards to Improve EfficiencyLearn what type of Kanban board is right for your

team!

• “A system must be managed. It will not manage itself. Left to themselves in the Western world, components become selfish, competitive, independent profit centers, and thus destroy the system.... The secret is cooperation between components toward the aim of the organization.” – W. Edwards Deming

• Kanban can be applied to any process that has a flow of predictable steps. Industries this is common in include: Manufacturing, IT, HR, sales, financial, legal, marketing, software development, engineering or even just in your personal life or home.• This list includes general Kanban board styles and

niche examples as well. Each one can be customized to meet your needs.

Basic Parts of a Kanban BoardLaneSwimlaneTo DoDoingDoneArchivedCardBoardBacklogOngoingBuffer or Queue

Physical Kanban Board• For tactile, smaller teams in one location, physical

boards are always in front of the team reminding them of their focus and common goal. All you need to get started is a wall and sticky notes or even just a whiteboard (and, of course, the understanding of how Kanban works).

Virtual Kanban Board• These boards can be placed in software like Excel

but that makes it difficult to access information simultaneously with other team members.

Electronic Kanban Board• These boards aren’t physical but they aren’t

connected to the Internet either. They usually take the form of software or a tech gadget that can digitally display boards.

Online Kanban Board• Online boards are best for larger organization who

need multiple boards or access for virtual team members. These boards are dynamic, update automatically and are connected to the Internet.

Establishing Guidelines and Process Steps• One of the biggest benefits of starting a Kanban

board is to get everyone on the same page (literally!). Setting policies such as the number of priority tasks allowed will reduce the likelihood of team members getting overworked and stopping delays. Establish your policies early and make sure everyone knows them.

Parallel Process: Creating a Kanban Board Based on the Team• Same To-Do and Done columns while customizing

the Doing column to keep the steps unique to individuals or teams.

Creating a Kanban Board Based on the Process• If you have a repeatable process but different team

members responsible for different tasks throughout the cycles, you can develop your lanes based on each task it takes to carry an item to completion. Kanban boards based on the process usually require a manager to assign tasks and keep cards moving smoothly through the process.

Pull System • By creating a Backlog Queue co-workers can pull

from the task list when they have available time. Tasks are completed in order of priority. This helps team members focus on just ONE THING at a time.

Implement a priority grading scale for your Kanban cards:I=Impact “Will this idea have a big impact?”C=Confidence “How confident are you that this idea will work?”• E=Ease “Will this be something easy to test or will it

take weeks to figure out?”• Base each answer on a scale of (least) 1-10 (most)

in this type of formatting: ICE Score: I:10, C:10, E:7

Monitoring the Hiring Process• If you find yourself buried under applications,

organizing each applicant into a Kanban hiring process will help you get a better glimpse at how applicants stack up while making sure each one makes it through the process.

Limit WIP “Work-in-Progress”• Improve work flow by placing WIP limits on Kanban

boards. This also helps teams focus on getting things done and encourage collaboration.

Reduce Waste• Creating a shared vision through a Kanban board

can help reduce waste by stopping overproduction, making sure team members are focused on top priority tasks and that there aren’t any delays due to the flow of work.

Horizontal Swimlanes by Demand• Horizontal swimlanes segmented by demand can

help solve bottlenecks and what areas need process improvements. It also increases transparency on different types of demand and which projects receive the most attention.

• Kanban boards can be used to organize your product development team. Kanbanize has metrics built into the tool to easily see cycle times. Get our free guide on Kanban for your software development team: https://kanbanize.com/kanban-resources/case-studies/kanban-for-software-development-teams/

Value Stream Mapping to Improve Predictability• If your process requires multiple handoffs, cut

down wait time or waste by using Kanban to visualize when the handoffs occur currently and analyze how to improve the workflow to limit WIP and wait time in between handoffs.

On Hold or Blocking Cards• You can use the Blocking Card feature to alert the

team that the card is on hold for an indicated reason and cannot move forward in the process before the reason is resolved. Alternatively, drag cards to an On Hold horizontal swimlane below your In Progress column to show when a task is stuck or waiting for approval before it can proceed.

Icons or Colors• Use symbols or color bars on cards to help

managers quickly understand production problems

Scrumban• Visualize your scrum process by pulling stories from

the Sprint Backlog into the correct swimlane to easily see the group’s sprint progress.

Monitoring Relationships and Sales• Kanban boards can be organized to monitor media

relationships or the sales process. Here’s a board example of managing potential buyers in real estate.

Discover Weak Links and Keep Team Members Accountable• If your Kanban model is based on your team,

managers and co-workers will be able to quickly see which employees excel and which have difficulties completing their tasks on time. This information is helpful in reviews and training.

Increase Trust• When everyone can view the work flow visually,

team members feel more empowered by owning the task on their card and are more willing to collaborate to fulfill common goals.

• Quality assurance has one of the most important parts to play in the process of software development.• Learn more about creating a Kanban board for your

QA team here: https://kanbanize.com/kanban-resources/case-studies/kanban-for-qa-teams/

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®)• Key for larger organizations with multiple teams,

boards are created for the portfolio, program and team levels. Each horizontal swimlane is an epic that encompasses many user stories.

Agile Release Train (ART)• A key construct in SAFe, ART organizes people into

5-12 teams to help them plan and execute projects together. Each train should have the resources and people necessary to define, build and test improvements in every iteration to reach their common goal within the time allotment.

• Portfolio Project Management• Visualize your company’s multiple program

initiatives to make better, informed decisions. By taking a bird’s eye view, managers can coordinate the efforts of multiple teams.

Continuous Improvements• While it’s important to start your Kanban board

with your existing process, after a few weeks you should start to see areas that could be improved such as slow work flow or bottlenecks. Visualizing your process on a Kanban board can help find these problems and theoretically try new process improvements before implementing.

• Help clients resolve their issues quickly by adding their feedback into your Kanban board to address their needs as quickly as possible. Use Kanbanize’s email integration feature to automatically turn emails coming into your inbox into Kanban cards on your board of choice.• Learn more about this process here:

https://kanbanize.com/kanban-resources/case-studies/kanban-for-support-teams/

• "We are so addicted to using Kanban across the entire organization that it is simply not possible to imagine working differently. As the CEO of the company I am just a click away from the status reports for each department and I never have to wait for information when I need it." – Dimitar Karaivanov, Co-Founder and CEO of Kanbanize

• Try Kanbanize for Free!