Free Kanban board templates to boost work efficiency
Blog: Monday Project Management Blog
Kanban is a workflow management methodology that’s been popular with project managers for several decades now. It’s an intuitive system that makes managing work simple and agile. Today, setting up a new Kanban board with a kanban board template only takes a few clicks.
The boards provide PMs with a customizable framework to work from, saving them a ton of time and providing a source of inspiration as to how to structure their workflow. Templates built on more comprehensive Kanban platforms allow for cross-board communications and automation, creating even further efficiencies.
Read on to see what the Kanban board template on monday.com can do for your workflows and efficiency.
What are Kanban board templates?
Kanban templates are customizable pre-designed Kanban boards that allow leaders and team members to set up a workflow instantly. A Kanban template includes stages relevant to your specific needs — for example, the typical stages involved in completing digital marketing tasks — and may even include preprogrammed automations such as reminders and work-in-progress limits.
The Kanban method, popular in project management circles, is fairly straightforward — a Kanban board has a series of columns, also called lists, which represent the stages that work items must pass through to completion. For example, Requested, Work in Progress, and Completed.
Tasks to be completed are added as task cards, which are systematically moved from one list to another — generally left to right — to illustrate that task’s movement through the project management pipeline. Here’s what they look like.
Why use Kanban board templates?
The main reason that project managers use Kanban board templates is speed.
Creating a Kanban board can be a time-consuming process if you’re starting from scratch. You need to brainstorm and decide on the stages work must pass through, set up the various task cards, build automation rules, and more.
While templates don’t save you from all of this work — you’ll still need to add cards for each task to be completed and assign them to your colleagues — they do allow you to get set up more rapidly.
More than that, Kanban board management templates allow you to draw from best practices from more experienced companies. For example, suppose you’re setting up your first Kanban board to manage the regular activity needed to maintain your company’s website. In that case, you may find that an existing Kanban board template provides inspiration for which stages should be included — for example, a wireframe evaluation stage that includes your client.
Some additional reasons to use Kanban board templates include:
- Uniformity – Using the same template across multiple boards ensures consistency.
- Familiarity – Uniformity and consistency across multiple departments make it easier for your team to understand how work is structured, meaning they’re able to work more efficiently.
- Professional – If you’re sharing your board with contractors or clients, having a template designed in a polished and well-equipped Kanban tool provides an appearance of professionalism.
What are some examples of Kanban board templates?
Let’s explore some examples of Kanban board templates in action.
Kanban board template for digital marketing
This Kanban board template is a great example of how the methodology can be applied to digital marketing tasks. Note that the left-most column — Near Future — can be used to store work items that aren’t necessarily in play now and aren’t waiting for someone to pick them up. That’s what the to-do list is for.
This template is also helpful for completing work that needs to be approved by a third party, for example, when used by a marketing agency that needs work to be approved by a client.
Kanban board template for website management
This Kanban board template shows how simple the Kanban method can be if you want to keep workflow management uncomplicated, as it includes just three lists:
- To do
- In progress
- Done
Note also how tags can be applied to demonstrate whether the task is high or low priority and a progress meter showing how close the task is to completion.
Kanban board template for Scrum
Scrum is a popular project management methodology for Agile teams and one which fits nicely within the Kanban board approach to task management.
This Kanban board template is set up for software and tech professionals to manage new feature developments using the Scrum framework. New user “Stories” are added in the first list, moved to To Do when the work is ready to begin, and moved left to right through the Kanban board until the new feature is released.
monday.com’s Kanban board template
The majority of Kanban board templates available for free on the web today have one problem in common. They’re standalone boards, so they lack real-time, digital collaboration functionality.
That’s why we’ve built you a template on the monday.com Work OS. Features like comments and automated notifications help your distributed team collaborate in real time across offices and borders. So, what’s so great about our Kanban board template?
Intuitive automation
With a variety of pre-designed and customizable automation recipes available, managing work with the Kanban method has never been so easy — or so automatic.
For example, you can automatically move cards between Kanban columns based on their active status. You can also connect boards between projects, not having to create a single board with all work items.
Deep and immediate reporting
The monday.com Work OS includes a comprehensive reporting suite with the ability to build your own custom dashboards. It’s perfect for a daily check-in on your team’s progress and performance without needing to get into the nitty-gritty details.
Kanban on the go
Where traditional Kanban board templates keep you tethered to your computer — or worse, pen and paper — our Kanban system is accessible wherever you are through our beautifully designed and easy-to-use mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Notifications that keep you up to date
Do you want to notify team members when a task they’re responsible for is due? Or perhaps you’d like to get a notification yourself so you can follow up and investigate. monday.com makes it easy to receive the notifications you want, when you want them, how you want them.
Multiple views
While Kanban is a user-friendly, visual way to get work done, it’s not for everyone. Some prefer to work in a more traditional table view. Others like to see upcoming tasks in a Gantt chart. One of the huge benefits of using our Kanban board template is that individual employees can visualize work in the way they work best, and everyone can still collaborate on the same workflow!
Kanban board templates – tips & tricks
Never set up a Kanban board before? Follow these tips and tricks to get the most out of our free template.
Start with what you’re already doing
You don’t want to make this change any harder than it has to be, so start by building a board that represents the system you have in place right now. Don’t make any changes to your current processes for a couple of weeks, and allow time to get used to a new method of workflow management.
Aim for incremental change
As you use the Kanban methodology to adjust and improve your business processes, look for opportunities to make small changes rather than radical ones. This will result in less internal resistance and will reduce the likelihood of large drops in production as your team adjusts.
Respect the existing organizational structure
Implementing the Kanban system shouldn’t require changes to job titles and responsibilities. Rather, it should reflect your current team structure.
Encourage individuals to lead
Effective Kanban systems allow for constant improvement across the entire organization at all levels of authority. Emphasize the notion that ideas, suggestions, and changes can come from anywhere on the team.
FAQs about Kanban board templates
How do you structure a Kanban board?
The basic structure of a Kanban board includes three lists:
- To Do
- In Progress
- Done
Each list represents a different stage work tasks must pass through to be completed, under which you’ll add cards that represent each task to be done. More complex workflows built on Kanban boards can include additional stages such as:
- Near Future
- Stuck
- Testing
- Awaiting Review
Can I create a Kanban board in Excel?
Technically speaking, yes, you can use Excel to create a Kanban board. However, this is not the kind of work Excel is designed for, so you’ll find that it’s not a very user-friendly experience. For example, you won’t be able to click and drag tasks between lists. You’ll need to cut and paste them, which will often mess with your formatting.
What 4 columns should a Kanban board have?
What are the 6 rules of Kanban?
The Kanban method was originally designed by Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, and the six rules for using Kanban at Toyota are:
- Never pass on defective products
- Take only what is needed
- Produce the exact quantity required
- Level the production
- Fine-tune production
- Stabilize and rationalize the process
The post Free Kanban board templates to boost work efficiency appeared first on monday.com Blog.
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