Using a Kanban Board on Trello

Trello is a free web-based Kanban project management application. It can be used by an individual,
but really excels at real-time collaboration between team members and even multiple teams and
projects.

In order to apply Kanban principles to your work, you must apply two simple rules:

1. Visualise your process – be able to see all the tasks required to complete a project.

2. Limit work in progress – work on what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

Getting started
To create a board in Trello, select the ‘Create new board’ menu item, and set a title for your board.

You will start with an empty board. First, you need to define states for the tasks by naming the
columns as follows:

1. To-Do - task is waiting to be

2. Doing - task is in progress

3. Done - task is completed

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Use the ‘Add list’ box to create columns for your Kanban cards as follows:

Based on this, your board should have the following layout:

Visualising your tasks

Think of the whole project as being made up of lots of small tasks that need to be completed. For
each of these tasks, you will create a simple card (like a Post-it) in the first column. By selecting ‘Add
a card’ at the bottom of any of the lists, you can easily create a task card. Your Trello board might
look something like this:

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Cards in Trello can be customised in many ways:

 Assign a person responsible for performing a task

 Colour code them to create groupings
 Set due dates
 Add attachments
 Add custom fields such as a checklist where you can track the progress of smaller elements
needed to complete a task
 Comment can be added to a card, and everyone will be notified of any change that is made.

Here is how a card looks on the board:

By looking at the card, without opening the detailed view you can see that:

 Task to Research website builders is placed in the ‘doing’ list.

 Task is due by April 3.
 Task has a description.
 There is a checklist of six items, with none currently completed.

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Select the card to see all its details.

Limit Work In Progress (WIP)

Multi-tasking is a myth. When we have lots of tasks on the go at the same time, our brains are
switching back and forth, slowing down our efficiency and hindering our concentration. Try to keep as
few tasks in the “doing” column as possible. This does not mean that you must limit the number of
tasks to just one at the time. The important thing is to limit assigned tasks to a reasonable number
that will not produce chaos (this is usually three to five assignments at a time).

Good project management means ensuring that the To-Do list is prioritised properly, and tasks are
started no sooner than needed.

A properly managed Kanban Board will give you a clear picture of your project status at a glance.
You can see exactly what needs to be done and encourages you to create sensible timelines.

Summary
Managing projects, both big and small can be stressful. By adding structure and making the project
status visible and up to date can alleviate much of this stress. Employing the Kanban method will
save you a lot of time.

Here’s a simple checklist to help you check whether or not your project is being properly managed:

 Have you thought of every task needed to complete the project?

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 Is WIP limited and minimised?
 Is your Kanban board updated regularly?

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