5 Ways to maximize your Digital Kanban Board

Kanban tools are becoming more and more capable. Instead of offering a simple way to manage Kanban cards, modern Kanban tools running in the cloud now come with more features for better project management. Some Kanban tools come equipped with a Gantt chart. Others allow you to also handle team management on the same platform.

Choosing the best Kanban tool to use is only the beginning. The next step is incorporating the Kanban system to improve your project management in general. There are some extra steps – and different approaches – you can take to maximize your digital Kanban board. We are going to discuss some of the best tips and tricks to try in this article.

Customize Your Board

You don’t have to stick to the 3-step design when organizing your Kanban board. Thanks to the best Kanban tool currently available on the market, you have complete control over how the Kanban board itself is set up. You can, for instance, divide your processes into multiple steps. You can also choose to customize how the board is organized.

Some Kanban boards like Kanbanize lets you have sub-tasks on the same board. This means the board can now be used to represent separate but connected workflows. A team of software engineers can monitor bug tracking and fixing as well as new feature development projects on the same board. This level of streamlining makes the Kanban board more capable.

Integrate Other Services

You don’t have to use the online Kanban board as a standalone tool. In fact, you shouldn’t. With the help of services like Zapier, you can combine Kanban cards with other services. For example, you can list ongoing tasks in Google Sheets automatically. You can even import new tasks from Google Forms and other sources.

Integration with other tools and services, similar to the ability to customize your board, expands the capabilities of the Kanban system further. You can play with automation too, which means you have more tools to use when it comes to optimizing your entire workflow, all while keeping the Kanban board as the center of your project management activities.

Maintain and Evaluate

There is no point in using the Kanban system if your team members don’t utilize the available tools fully. There are countless projects that started life on a Kanban board, only to end up in group chats or other messaging systems. Yes, the Kanban system is good for optimizing project workflows and processes, but only if you use the board actively to keep track of tasks.

A simple way to encourage team members to use the Kanban board is by making it the easiest way to track progress possible. When you have files that need to be uploaded to Google Drive, using a Kanban tool that supports seamless integration with Google Drive is hugely beneficial. Team members only need to complete one simple step to upload the files and update their Kanban cards at the same time.

Constant evaluation is also required. The Kanban system, especially in its digital form, isn’t designed to be rigid. You can make adjustments to the way you implement Kanban system as part of your project management workflow. The same is true with how cards are organized, and tasks are divided. The sooner you find potential improvements to implement, the sooner you can optimize your workflow.

Adjust the Cards

While doing a thorough evaluation of how you use the Kanban system, don’t forget to review how Kanban cards are used and organized. The amount of detail and information added to each card has an effect on how efficiently your team can use the Kanban board. Fortunately, there are no limits to how much information you can add to a Kanban card; this, however, is also a challenge.

Designing and refining the Kanban cards requires some balancing. It is easy to fall into the trap of adding every bit of information the card, but a cramped card isn’t going to be usable. If anything, cards that contain too much information aren’t as pleasant to see or read.

As an alternative, you can use colors, tags, and other elements to add relevant information to your cards without making it look too full or cluttered. Rely on visual cues rather than long text to keep the digital Kanban board effective. You can even set examples and templates for other team members to use in order to maintain that balance.

Start!

Treat the Kanban board as something to improve gradually. Use the tips and tricks we covered in this article to help you utilize the best Kanban tool to improve your team’s efficiency and effectiveness.