For AI agents: a documentation index is available at /llms.txt. A markdown version of this page is available at /guide/cloud/views/kanban-board.md.
Kanban board
See work as cards in columns, spot where it is stuck, and limit what is in flight.
The board shows tasks as cards in columns by status. Drag a card to move it. Available on every tier.
It is the right default for teams whose work flows continuously rather than in fixed iterations. If you work in sprints, see Agile and Scrum.
#Reading the board
The value is not the cards — it is where they pile up. A column with a growing stack is your bottleneck, and it is usually not the column people expect.
Reviews are not happening fast enough. Adding more development capacity makes this worse, not better.
Something external is not moving. Nobody owns unblocking it.
Too much started, not enough finished. Classic multitasking.
Work is queued and done, but nothing is flowing. Usually a capacity or priority problem.
#Columns
Columns map to task statuses. On Pro and above you can define your own.
Keep it to five or six. A board that scrolls horizontally is a board nobody looks at.
Tip
If work regularly waits in a state, give it a column. A hidden queue is a queue you cannot manage.
#Work-in-progress limits
The single most effective thing you can do with a board: cap how many cards can sit in a column at once.
Start at roughly team size
Five developers, WIP limit five in In Progress. Not ten.
Enforce it
When the column is full, nobody starts anything new — they help finish what is there. This feels wrong for about a week.
Watch throughput
Finished-per-week almost always goes up, because less time is lost to context switching and half-done work.
Starting is not progress
A board with twenty cards in progress and none done is worse than one with three in progress and five done. Only finished work delivers anything.
#Filtering
Filter by assignee, priority, label, milestone, sprint, due date or custom field. Save the filters you rebuild every morning.
Two views most teams want:
- My work — assigned to me, not done
- At risk — overdue or due within two days
#Cards
A card shows the title, assignee, priority, due date, labels and checklist progress at a glance — so a card at 8/10 is visibly nearly done without opening it.
#Real-time
The board updates live. During a standup, everyone sees the same state as cards move — no refreshing, no "hang on, mine says something different".
#Board habits that work
Run standup off the board, right to left
Start with the cards closest to done and work backwards. It focuses the conversation on finishing rather than on what everyone did yesterday.
Nothing exists unless it is a card
Work that lives only in someone's head is invisible and unplannable. If it is taking time, it belongs on the board.
Age the cards
A card that has not moved in two weeks is stuck, whatever column it is in. Check for them weekly.
Close things
Done means done, and moved to Done. A board full of finished-but-open cards distorts every metric.