What is Kanban? A visual method for managing work
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Summary
As an agile project management method, Kanban is built on continuous improvement. Instead of piling every task onto your team at once, you pull work from your product backlog only when someone has room for it. This system keeps work moving at a pace your team can sustain.
Software and product teams were early adopters of the Kanban methodology, but any team that wants a more flexible workflow can use it. This guide covers how a Kanban board works and how to set one up for your team.
Free Kanban board templateWho uses Kanban?
Kanban fits best when work arrives in a steady stream and priorities shift often. It also works well for tasks that pass through the same review steps every time, like content approvals or code reviews. Here's how different teams use Kanban in project management.
Who uses Kanban? | How they use it |
|---|---|
Software development teams | Move bugs and feature requests from backlog to release, with code review as its own column |
Marketing teams | Run creative requests from first draft to final approval |
Project managers | Spot blockers early and see who has room to take on more work |
Product teams | Turn user feedback into roadmap items and track them through release |
Operations teams | Keep recurring processes and handoffs between teams moving |
Customer support teams | Follow each ticket from first contact to resolution, including escalations |
HR teams | Move candidates through the recruiting pipeline and track onboarding tasks for new hires |
Sales teams | Track deals by stage, from first conversation to signed contract |
Finance teams | Route invoices and budget requests through each approval step |
Freelancers and consultants | See every client project and its next deadline in one view |
Whatever your team does, Kanban depends on limiting how many tasks are in progress at once. A work-in-progress (WIP) limit caps the number of cards that can sit in a column at one time. A board without WIP limits is just a prettier to-do list. Once you set a cap, your team finishes what it started before picking up something new, and bottlenecks show up as soon as a column fills.
Five core components of Kanban
Kanban systems use a few essential components to help teams organize work and understand how tasks move from request to completion. As you build your board, use these parts to reflect the way your team reviews, starts, completes, and improves work.
1. Kanban board
A Kanban board is where your team tracks every task in one place. Some teams use a whiteboard and sticky notes, while others use a digital board in a project management tool. Either way, everyone can see what's moving and what needs to be addressed.
2. Kanban cards
Kanban cards represent individual tasks or work items. Each card should include the details a teammate needs to take action, such as the task title, owner, due date, priority, description, and supporting files.
3. Columns
Columns show the stages a task moves through. A simple board might use "To do," "In progress," and "Done." More detailed boards often add stages like "In review" or "Approved."
4. Swimlanes
Swimlanes are horizontal rows that split one board into sections. You might use them to sort tasks by priority or to give each team or project its own lane.
5. WIP limits
A WIP limit caps how many tasks can sit in one stage at a time. Most teams start by adding limits to the columns where tasks tend to pile up, like review or approval. You can raise or lower a limit as you learn how much your team can realistically handle.
The core principles of Kanban
Follow these four core principles to help your team ease into the Kanban method and keep improving from there.
Start with what you do now
You can use Kanban with any workflow your team already has. Scrum asks you to adopt a set structure, but Kanban adapts to the way your team already operates.
Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change
Trying to change everything at once usually backfires. Your team gets overwhelmed, and the new system rarely sticks. Kanban takes the slow and steady route instead. You make small improvements over time and build on what works.
Respect the current process, roles, and responsibilities
Kanban doesn't come with built-in team roles like other lean methodologies. That means you can keep your current team structure as is.
Kanban also protects the parts of your process that already work well. If your design team holds a weekly review that catches mistakes before launch, that review simply becomes a column on the board instead of getting lost in a full overhaul.
Encourage acts of leadership at all levels
With Kanban, good ideas don't have to come from the top down. Kanban encourages everyone on the team to suggest better ways to run your process and take the lead on new initiatives.
How to create a Kanban board in five easy steps
Kanban's first core principle is to start with what you do now. That means you don't have to overhaul your process before you begin. You take the workflow your team already uses and map it onto a board.
A work management tool like Asana lets you set up that board in minutes. You can switch any Asana project to a Kanban-style board view and watch every task move from start to finish.
1. Start with a blank board
Though your Kanban board will eventually hold all of your backlog tasks and completed work, it's OK to start from a free template and a blank board for now. If you're using a work management tool like Asana, make sure you're on Board View.
2. Create columns to represent work
Each column on a Kanban board stands for a stage in your process. Your columns will depend on your team, but most boards include some version of the following:
Backlog, Inbox, or New: This column holds new requests before anyone is assigned to them.
Ready or Prioritized: Move tasks here once they're ready for kickoff.
In progress: This column shows what your team is working on right now. You can split this column into smaller stages. For example, a content team might use "Drafting" and "Editing," while an engineering team might use "Development" and "Testing."
On hold: Move tasks here when you need to pause them, like when you're waiting on an approval or missing information.
Completed or Done: Tasks land here once they're finished.
3. Add tasks to represent work
On a Kanban board, each task gets its own card. Start each card title with a verb, like "Draft launch email" or "Fix checkout bug," so your team knows exactly what to do.
If you're using a digital board, you can add context and attach files right on the card. You can also use tags to show details at a glance, such as a task's priority or how long it should take. Keep each card to a single task, though. If a card starts to look like a whole project, split it into smaller cards so each one can move across the board on its own.
4. Move work through stages
Moving cards from one stage to the next is the heart of a Kanban board. You can drag and drop tasks by hand, or set up automation to move them for you. In Asana, for example, you can set rules to automatically route work into different columns based on relevant task information, like moving a task into the "In progress" column once you've assigned it to a team member.
5. Create new Kanban boards if necessary
Since Kanban runs as a continuous process, you can keep using the same board as long as it works for your team. You don't have to start over at any set point.
Some teams that use Scrum set up a new board for each sprint. When a sprint ends, they start a fresh board and carry over whatever remains in the backlog
11 best kanban boards software tools compared.How to choose Kanban software
A whiteboard works fine for a small team, but Kanban software makes it easier to see how tasks move as your board grows.
When you compare tools, look for automation that moves cards for you and reports that show how long tasks take from start to finish. Check out our guide to the best Kanban software to compare the top options, or see how Kanban board software works in Asana.
What makes Kanban work?
A Kanban system works because the whole team can see where every task stands. A shared board cuts down on status meetings and check-in messages, so you spend less time chasing updates. Bottlenecks are easier to spot, too, so your team can clear them before deadlines slip.
That continuous visibility is what separates Kanban from Scrum, the other major Agile framework. Scrum organizes work into fixed sprints and defined roles, while Kanban skips the sprints. Instead, teams pull new work from the backlog as capacity opens up, which suits ongoing requests or work that doesn’t fit neatly into sprint cycles.
Here's how two companies use Kanban boards in Asana day to day:
Quadient sets up nearly every project as a Kanban board, which helps teams in different regions stay in sync. "With the exception of our annual user conference, our projects reflect our day-to-day tasks, so [they] are set up like Kanban boards. It helps us to manage workloads and share successful ideas for improvement across teams and regions," says Jayati Shah-Thiel.
At ClassPass, the marketing team tracks incoming work on a Creative Requests board that makes onboarding much faster. "New employees can look at the Creative Requests board, and immediately understand what the entire marketing team is working on," says Kerry Hoffman.
Visualize your team's work
With Kanban boards, your team has a clear line of sight into the tasks everyone is working on and where those tasks are in the process. You can view any Asana project as a Kanban-style board, which makes it easier for your team to see and move tasks through each stage.
If you're ready to try a Kanban board for your team, get started with Asana.
Free Kanban board templateFrequently asked questions about Kanban
Kanban is a visual way to manage work. Teams use a board to organize tasks by stage, such as “To do,” “In progress,” “Review,” and “Done.” As work progresses, team members move each task through the board, so everyone can see what needs attention and what’s already been completed.
Kanban works especially well for teams that manage ongoing requests or shifting priorities. Instead of planning all work in fixed cycles, teams pull the next priority task when they have capacity.
Kanban (看板) is Japanese for "signboard." The word combines kan, meaning "to look," and ban, meaning "board." Toyota engineer Taiichi Ohno borrowed the term to describe a system of cards that signaled when the factory floor needed more parts. Today's Kanban boards use the same idea, with each card showing your team what needs attention next.
The six rules of Kanban are really core practices, not strict rules. They are:
Visualize your workflow
Limit work in progress
Manage flow
Make process policies explicit
Build in feedback loops
Improve together through small experiments
Most teams start with the first two and add the rest as their process matures.
Scrum organizes work into fixed-length sprints, often lasting one to four weeks. Teams plan the sprint in advance, commit to a set of work, and review progress at the end of the sprint. Kanban doesn’t require sprints. Instead, teams manage work as a continuous flow. They pull the next priority task when they have capacity, which makes Kanban useful for teams that handle ongoing requests or frequently changing work.
Key differences between Kanban and Scrum include:
Planning: Scrum uses sprint planning; Kanban uses ongoing prioritization.
Roles: Scrum has defined roles, such as the Scrum Master and Product Owner; Kanban can use the team’s current roles.
Timing: Scrum delivers work in sprint cycles; Kanban can deliver work whenever it’s finished.
Change: Scrum usually limits changes during a sprint; Kanban allows teams to reprioritize more often.
Metrics: Scrum often tracks velocity, or how much the team finishes each sprint; Kanban often tracks how long tasks take from start to finish and where tasks pile up on the board.
Kanban can help people with ADHD because it turns work into smaller, visible steps. Instead of keeping every task and deadline in your head, you can use a board to see what needs attention now and what can wait.
A Kanban board may help by:
Breaking large projects into smaller tasks
Reducing the need to remember every next step
Showing priorities visually
Separating active work from future work
Making completed tasks visible, which can help with motivation
For people with ADHD, a simpler board often works best. Too many columns, labels, or active tasks can become overwhelming, so it helps to start with a basic setup like “To do,” “Doing,” and “Done.”
