# Kanban board

> See work as cards in columns, spot where it is stuck, and limit what is in flight.

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/llms.txt).

Source: https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/views/kanban-board

---
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](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/agile/overview).

## 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.

- **Cards stacking in Review**: Reviews are not happening fast enough. Adding more development capacity makes this worse, not better.

- **Cards stacking in Blocked**: Something external is not moving. Nobody owns unblocking it.

- **Everything in In Progress**: Too much started, not enough finished. Classic multitasking.

- **Empty middle, full ends**: Work is queued and done, but nothing is flowing. Usually a capacity or priority problem.

## Columns

Columns map to [task statuses](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/tasks/custom-fields-and-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.

- [Gantt chart](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/views/gantt-chart): When dates and dependencies matter more than flow.

- [Agile and Scrum](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/agile/overview): Fixed-length sprints with velocity tracking.