what is kanban board

A Kanban board is a project management tool that helps visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and maximize efficiency or flow. It is a key element in the Kanban method, which helps optimize and continuously improve any business process. Kanban boards visually depict work at various stages of a process using cards to represent work items and columns to represent each stage of the process. Cards are moved from left to right to show progress and to help coordinate teams performing the work. A Kanban board may be divided into horizontal "swimlanes" representing different kinds of work or different teams performing the work. Kanban boards can be used for knowledge work or manufacturing processes. The simplest Kanban board consists of three columns: "to-do", "doing", and "done", though some additional detail such as work-in-progress limits are needed to fully support the Kanban Method. Kanban boards can be easily customized to match a teams own workflow and specific needs. The use of Kanban boards has many advantages, including better work management, increased productivity, and better team communication.