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PMTimes_Sep11_2024

Kanban Software to Streamline Your Workflow

Managing a team and juggling various tasks are really stressful. Being in a manager position is like handling chainsaws- intense, risky and requiring precise control. But fear not! There’s a powerful tool that can transform this chaotic workflow into a smooth and well-organized workflow: Kanban software.

Think about visualizing a team’s work with a clear division and organized board that tracks each task’s status without any loss. And there lies the magic of Kanban.

In this post, you will discover the versatility of Kanban software and how you and your team can use it to skyrocket performance.

 

Understanding Kanban Software

Kanban is a popular tool that helps in agile leadership and boosts team efficiency. It is a crucial methodology used by many project management tools. Let’s understand Kanban with an easy example:

Let us assume you are in a restaurant, specifically its kitchen. You do not want a pile of orders overwhelming the chefs all at once. Instead, you manage the flow of visualizing and organizing the orders in front of the chefs. Each order is tracked through various stages, from ‘To Do’ to ‘Done.

In short, a Kanban board might be called a digital sticky note board with columns such as “To Do,” “In progress,” and “Done.” It works as follows:

  • Visualizing work: Tasks are organized and categorized, making it easy for everyone to see the current status and stage of each task.
  • Limiting Work in Progress (WIP): By managing the number of tasks in progress, Kanban prevents team members from becoming overwhelmed and ensures smooth transitions.
  • Continuous Improvement: Kanban encourages teams to refine their processes and focus on bringing incremental improvements to the project.

 

The Best Kanban Software for Your Needs

While there are various tools and software that offer Kanban as an inbuilt feature, we have sorted out a list of top software that have built Kanban to the next level.

According to Verified Market Reports,  the market size of Kanban software is estimated to hit $10.9 billion before the end session of 2027. It is growing at a CAGR of 15.3% during these forecast periods.

It shows the high efficiency and adaptability of the Kanban software for project managers. Now let’s know a few top tools that offer Kanban as a pro feature:

ProofHub

ProofHub is a project management and team collaboration software. ProofHub’s Kanban board is like a dynamic canvas in which all related project activities are visible in a balanced way. Kanban board provides a comprehensive view of your project’s progress, showing who’s accomplished what, where each task stands, and the timeline of activities. It is, therefore, easy to drag the tasks for work progress, allowing an easy way to distinguish completed tasks and those that are still pending. Also, this tool has additional functions like customizations and security, ensuring your projects are not only organized but protected.

ClickUp

ClickUp helps streamline the entire workflow with its Kanban feature. It helps maximize work efficiency and manage work smartly. It saves time for managers and allows them to focus on urgent and essential work. ClickUp has 25,000+ reviews on G2, showing its global popularity.

Asana

Asana offers a customizable Kanban workflow management dashboard. It helps foster team collaboration, checking the work stage in real time, toggling between views, and automating workflow. Asana has been trusted by Deloitte, NASA, United Way, The New York Times, and Spotify.

 

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How to Choose the Right Kanban Software?

Well, let’s resemble your Kanban tool with a Unicorn. 🎠

It has a very sharp horn that denotes task prioritization.🦄

It has a rainbow color tail that moves your task from to-do, doing, and to do.🌈

It has soft, wide feathers which are ready to take off towards your dream. 🪽

But the paradox is that there are so many Unicorns standing in front of you; how can you choose the right one for you?

 

Finding the ideal Kanban software

It’s time to know a few effective ways to find the ideal Kanban software that suits fit.

  • Know Your Needs: Learn what you truly need from it as a software. Is it for a small team or a large firm? Start by aligning your expectations with the tool’s capabilities.
  • Look at Your Options: Many software solutions claim to be a Kanban board. Create a list of what you want from Kanban software and match your list with your targeted tool.
  • Try Before You Buy: Opt for a free trial or request a demo to test and understand the software and ensure that it fits your needs. Test the software or look for a free trial.

 

Essential Features: The right features to look for in a Kanban software

There are a few must-have features inside Kanban software. Check the list below to know:

  • Boards: Where you’ll keep your tasks organized. (as if the containers are for your sand).
  • Cards: Tasks that can be moved through different stages.
  • Columns: Indicate stages in the task process
  • Swimlanes: Grouping tasks for better organization
  • Collaboration Tools: Features to get your team involved.
  • Reports: Insights on how the task progresses and areas for improvement.
  • UI/UX: Facilitate users to navigate an interface effortlessly.
  • Training: An intuitive platform that requires little training and easy to navigate around
  • Price: Ensure that the cost falls under your budget.

Benefits of choosing the right Kanban Software.

Having a Kanban tool for project and team management comes with numerous benefits. Here are a few of them:

See the whole picture

It collects every task-related activity in one place and makes it more like a board where you have an overview of all of them. It lets you monitor the current stage of a task and see whether it is remaining or completed.

Keep things moving

It lets you ensure that work is constantly progressing on the right track. Once something isn’t working correctly, for example, some obstruction in the river bed like this rock, you can quickly locate it and set it right.

Avoid overload

It lets you specify that as much work as possible can be done simultaneously. This prevents one from overworking a team member and possibly getting stressed out.

Better teamwork

All the actions are transparent to everyone. Thus, it makes the work of teams more efficient and helps share ideas among the teams.

 

Track progress

It also allows managers to track the progress of a particular project over time. This assists you in identifying whether you are making progress or not.

How does Kanban help in managing teams and tasks?

  • Clear roles: The team is aware of their tasks. It reveals the capacity as to who is doing what in the organization.
  • Easy updates: It is more informative to know that when an employee completes a job, he or she relocates the Post-it note. All the workmates observe the update at the same time.
  • Balanced workload: The Kanban system can also ensure that there is work for everyone to do; in other words, there must not be too much work to do.
  • Focus on what matters: This provides an opportunity to prioritize the tasks in them since all of them are seen.

However, Kanban software is like a helper for your team; it helps keep everything in order and does not let you get distracted easily.

 

Conclusion

Kanban software can drastically change the team’s approach and performance. Kanban assisted in improving the operations by creating visibility to the workflow, avoiding multitasking and promoting constant improvement while increasing the business’s productivity.

Thus, with the help of the Kanban methodology and proper tools, organizations can enhance their project management and become more successful.