Dinesh Varadharajan August 4, 2020 Kanban is a Japanese term that means a billboard in English. In project management terms, it describes the utilization of a visual system focused on transparency. Kanban allows you to put a pivotal focus on efficiency. It lets you communicate, streamline, and visualize the flow of work while limiting the number of work-in-progress items and multitasking. Kanban gives you more control over complex workflow without compromising on the speed.
The Kanban board is defined with its visual cards that describe work items and columns that represent workflow stages. Kanban may sound simple, but it is a highly sophisticated way of handling complex projects; it provides a clear visual picture of both individual and group tasks and helps your team stay on top by keeping them aware of the development, expectations, and core priorities of the project.
Benefits of using Kanban software
The use of Kanban Boards is widespread within many organizations. The following are some reasons why Kanban software are so easy to use.
A visual depiction of work
It’s a common fact that the use of visuals input allows people to process information quickly and more accurately. Workflow visualization is one of the most recognizable features of the Kanban board. You and your team instantly see the incoming tasks and the progress of the project. Kanban also helps you in identifying possible bottlenecks beforehand to minimize delays.
Increased Flexibility
Kanban can provide your organization with business agility and the freedom to make quick decisions based on accurate and relevant information. This flexibility and increased responsiveness are essential traits for project success and can give your business a significant competitive advantage.
Improved Efficiency
The main priority of the Kanban method is to improve the overall efficiency of the team. With Kanban’s visualization, you can easily identify problems and work out a solution. Maintaining and reducing work-in-progress by analyzing tasks and tracking time for each of them also encourages better productivity.
Save time
During projects, organizations can face several kinds of waste that can slow progress. These issues can reduce the efficiency of the team and interrupt the workflow. Kanban Boards, however, tackle them by making team collaboration and communication simple and easy even for complex tasks. With Kanban, each team member is aware of the core project tasks and is constantly encouraged to work together with other members to keep the workflow continuous.
Top 5 Kanban software tools you need to try
The Kanban method is widely used by different kinds of organizations. Cloud-based digital boards are becoming more popular every day and there are numerous options available in the market.
We’ve compiled a list of the top five digital Kanban boards that you can use;
Trello
Trello is a well-known collaboration software that utilizes the Kanban method. It boasts an extremely user-friendly software interface and lets you set up in minutes. It is a versatile tool that can be used for multiple purposes from project management to blog or event management. Trello features the standard Kanban Board and has the option of adding multiple cards and columns for your ease.
This software even comes with multiple app integrations such as google drive, Evernote, etc. Trello is customizable and even allows you to fully automate the entire working process without wasting your time and resources on complex codes.
Kissflow Project
Kissflow Project is a project management tool that not only boasts all the usual features of a Kanban board but also comes included with multiple features and powerful integrations to provide an effective user experience. It efficiently utilizes space and organizes all the tasks and relevant information needed to complete the task in a systematic and visually clean way.
It is designed to allow teams to collaborate across the world. It features built-in reporting and monitoring steps to give you full control of the project and even comes with several additional options on each of its WIP stages.
Kanbanize
Kanbanize is an online agile project management tool that is designed to optimize transparency within all organization operations. By visualizing workflow and including several features such as a timeline, automation rules as well as for analytics, Kanbanize is a powerful software to have at hand.
Kanbanize prioritizes project transparency and achieves this by conveying project data in real-time and allowing the user to create and show task dependencies etc. Furthermore, it allows you to integrate with several other applications such as Google Drive and Dropbox.
Zenhub
ZenHub is another Kanban Board software that utilizes a GitHub environment allowing effortless integration of tasks for teams working in GitHub. Being a powerful and versatile project management software, Zenhub has the capabilities of giving you detailed reports of tasks and several customization options for accurate road-mapping.
Zenhub boasts an extremely user-friendly interface and comes supported with several features such as automated workflows and integrations with different apps. Providing you with solutions for engineering, project management, and product development, Zenhub is a simple but dynamic tool that can drastically improve your team’s efficiency.
MeisterTask
If you’re looking for a visually pleasing and intuitive Kanban tool, MeisterTask is exactly what you need. Letting you customize the Kanban board for a variety of reasons from work to editorial, MeisterTask is an incredibly versatile tool that can be used in multiple operations within your organization. Your team can easily communicate, understand each other’s tasks, and work together on the project.
MeisterTask lets you automate the visual workflow and create new or recurring tasks easily. It keeps you updated about your project’s progress along with providing you a sophisticated role management system to protect sensitive information.
Final thoughts
Using a digital Kanban board can drastically help in maintaining workflow optimization. It is easy to set up and allows you to effortlessly share information and track progress remotely. Thanks to the customizable feature of this tool, every aspect of the Kanban method can be modeled to your specific needs.
A Kanban board is a dynamic and versatile tool that will undoubtedly help in improving the overall efficiency of your operations. Whether your team is managing a project or is a part of product development, integration of the Kanban board can drastically increase your team’s overall productivity.
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