Do you know what the most common reason for inefficient work in a group is? Based on our experience, it’s clearly a lack of overview. But help is at hand: With Kanban boards, you can easily resolve these problems, save time, and increase productivity.
In this article, we will show you all the advantages of the Kanban method and introduce you to seven free online tools that can make your project work noticeably easier.
The term “Kanban” comes from Japanese and buy bulk sms service means something like “ signal ” or “ board ” in English.
The Kanban system was developed by Toyota in the 1940s . The goal : more efficient production, ideally operating according to the just-in-time principle.
Today, many companies use Kanban boards as a central tool of this original method and visualize workflows and entire projects .
Why is a Kanban board useful?
Especially when larger teams work together on a project, methods such as Scrum or the Kanban board help to optimize the project workflow .
In our view, the following advantages arise:
- Better overview : Possible problems that could arise during the individual project phases can be visualized and thus become more tangible.
- Greater transparency : The principle it is important to note that for of transparent task allocation makes it clear exactly which employee is working on which tasks. This helps avoid duplication of work, idle time, and bottlenecks.
- Teamwork is encouraged : Since all project participants can see who is working on which tasks, teams can optimally coordinate and support each other.
- No unnecessary meetings : Since the project status can be viewed at any time and everyone involved has access to important project information, you can significantly reduce status quo meetings.
- Easy to use : Even if you don’t use other agile methods in your team, a Kanban board is quick to set up and easy to understand.
However, Germany still has some catching up to do when it comes to agile working, as advocated by Kanban. Only around 45 percent of the companies surveyed in a study by Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences already use agile methods .
What elements does a Kanban board consist of?
Kanban boards are divided into several columns and lanes (Kanban swimlanes). Each column represents a specific process phase, for example, “in progress.”
Other important information such as responsibilities , deadlines and priorities are entered in the swimlanes .
As soon as a new task is due, it is entered business sale lead on a Kanban card and moves through the corresponding columns of the board, depending on the work process.
Frequently chosen categories are:
- Open or to do : All pending tasks go into this column. Once a task is started, the card moves to the next section, “in progress.”
- In Progress : This lists all tasks that are currently being worked on by team members.
- Done : Once the work is completed, the card will be moved here .
You can of course adapt or expand the categories of our Kanban board example to suit your project .