Kanban is a Japanese word used to describe both sign-age for an establishment as well as the time the shop closes. For this reason, project management tools focusing on visualization of tasks became known as Kanban boards. These boards are an effective tool for managing simpler projects that may not require a scrum master and agile methodologies. To illustrate their utility, I created one to assist with organization of my current job application process (see below).
Kanban focuses on streamlining process flow to expedite deliverables while minimizing time spent assigning tasks and having meetings about assigning tasks, because the board offers a visual representation of where the task is relative to other tasks required to complete the project or to reach the end of a sprint planning for one release of a product’s development lifecycle. The cards are individual tasks, which can be assigned to individual team members. Here I just assigned the tasks to myself as I was working on them. You can also set the due date of the task and receive a calendar notification when it is due.
I organized the lists (the columns containing tasks and flowing from left to right) in the manner which a project might flow — from sprint planning to in progress (doing) to code review (response to email or interview scheduled). Additional lists can be created, and multiple boards can be used within the same organization. This example is really simple, but the concept is still there. The cool thing about Trello is that you can make comments in the cards and reassign them to team members when they need to take the next step to complete the process flow.
I hope you enjoyed this post on Trello for project management. Are there tools that you use for Kanban boards or process flow optimization within your organization? I would love to hear your thoughts! Drop me a line in the comments below.
