Kanban in Four Bullet Points

• What is Kanban? A visual work-management system that lets you see every task on a single board, streamline processes, and prevent team overload.

• Who is it for? Perfect for agile teams in marketing, IT, HR, sales—anywhere transparency and rapid adaptation matter.

• Core benefit. Higher efficiency and predictability: bottlenecks are instantly visible and can be fixed fast.

• How to start? Create a board with three columns—To Do, In Progress, Done. It takes under five minutes in Svit.One.

Why Kanban Matters in 2025

With remote and hybrid work the norm, process transparency is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s critical. Kanban lets every team member, wherever they are, view the full project picture in real time.

Modern platforms like Svit.One supercharge Kanban by embedding boards across the business: CRM pipelines, datasets, content plans, hiring flows. Visual management becomes truly end-to-end and adaptive.

Kanban is a method of visual process management with an emphasis on "just-in-time" tasks and avoiding overloading team members.

In this approach, the process from the description of the task to its implementation is clearly shown to the participants in the process. Kanban indicates what to produce, when to produce, and how much to produce.

Projects are represented by boards containing lists (columns). The lists contain cards depicting tasks. Cards should move from one list to the next (by dragging), thus depicting the movement of a function from an idea to testing a ready-made solution. The card can be assigned to the users responsible for it. Users and boards can be combined into teams.

While Kanban seems like an easy way to improve your workflows, it's actually more than just visualizing your work.

Advantages of the Kanban method

• Information center for work tasks

• Teamwork

• Workflow transparency.

• Priorities and situation control

• Clear focus on tasks

• Load management

• Motivation and retrospective

• Reduce the need for status updates

• Pleasure from moving tasks

• Increased visibility of the flow

• Improved execution speed

• Coherence between goals and performance

• Improved predictability

• Improved dependency management

• Increased customer satisfaction

The main elements of Kanban

• Board

• Lists / columns

• Cards

• Limits of work in progress

Kanban board

The board represents a project or place to track information, where you visualize all the working elements. This is a place to organize tasks and collaborate with colleagues. There are cards, columns, and limits for current tasks (WIP).

This allows team members to see and manage workflows in real time. The board must be divided into at least 3 columns because each process can be divided into at least three stages - Request, Execution, and Result.

You can organize individual tasks (cards) in the visual pipeline with stages and move the cards along the pipeline as they move through certain stages (each stage has its own column) to completion.

The Kanban board helps you bring clarity to your workflow and increase efficiency.

You can start building your process management system by setting up the simplest Kanban board with three main columns - "What to do", "In progress" and "Done". Or organize a simple customer relationship management (CRM) system, using such steps for leads as "Raw", "Interested", "Contacted" and "Converted" (consumers).

Kanban cards

The Kanban card is a visual image of a working element (tasks, opportunities, ideas) that moves on the Kanban board from left to right, going through various stages until completion. They contain important information about the task and its status, such as description, deadline, size, responsible persons, etc. Kanban translated from Japanese literally means visual (kan) card (ban). This is a key element of the Kanban system, as it represents work that has been commissioned or is already being performed.

A card can be something you need to do, such as a blog post or something to remember - "Write an article" or "Write a post on a social network".

Cards can contain a variety of useful information. Drag the cards through the lists to show progress.

The cards "radiate" information for one work item so that teams can stay up to date and quickly identify problems.

Kanban columns

The columns break the Kanban board vertically, and each represents a different stage of the workflow. Each Kanban board has at least three default columns: Need, In Process, Done. Depending on the complexity of the workflow, these three steps can be divided into many smaller columns.

The lists contain cards organized at different stages of the project (stages of the process). They can be used to create a workflow when cards are moved through lists from start to finish, or simply act as a place to keep track of ideas and information. There are no limits to the number of lists you can add to the board, and they can be arranged as you wish.

Basic (and effective) setting up lists for the board can be simple "What to do", "Work" and "Done" when the cards start from the "What to do" list and move to the "Done" list. The Svit.One platform is tailored to your unique needs, the most important thing is to customize the workflow according to the needs of your team.

Restrictions on current operation Restrictions on WIP.

WIP stands for Work In Progress. WIP is the number of tasks the team is currently working on. This metric determines the workflow potential of your team at any given time.

Limiting your current work means limiting the number of tasks your team can work on at a time to create a smooth workflow and to avoid overwork and distractions.

Limits of work in progress (WIP).

WIP stands for Work In Progress. WIP is the number of tasks the team is currently working on. This metric determines the workflow potential of your team at any given time.

Limiting your current work means limiting the number of tasks your team can work on at a time to create a smooth workflow and to avoid overwork and distractions.

Work in progress (WIP) limits the maximum number of work items at different stages of the workflow (kanban board columns). They can be defined for each person, for stages of work, or for the whole work system. Implementing WIP restrictions allows you to perform individual work tasks faster, focusing your team on current tasks before starting new ones.

Limiting the amount of work in progress makes it easier to identify inefficiencies in a team's workflow. The bottlenecks in the assembly line are clearly visible before the situation becomes dire.

WIP constraints improve bandwidth and reduce the amount of "almost done" work, forcing the team to focus on a smaller set of tasks. At a fundamental level, WIP constraints encourage a "done" culture. More importantly, WIP restrictions show blockages and bottlenecks.

In short, limiting work in progress with Kanban contributes to higher quality and improved performance. The WIP constraint helps to optimize performance by allowing new work to be performed only when available.

Other terms Kanban

Swimlanes that break the Kanban board into pieces. Teams use them to visually separate different types of work on one board and group homogeneous tasks.

Cycle Time: Cycle time begins when a new task enters the workflow stage and someone is actually working on it.

Lead Time: lead time starts from the moment a new task is set (it doesn't matter if someone is actually working on it) and ends with the final logout.

Throughput: the number of work items that complete (complete) a system or process over a period of time. Bandwidth is a key indicator of how productive your team is over time.

Kanban Cadence: Cyclical meetings that stimulate evolutionary change and service delivery according to purpose.

Kanban software: belongs to the digital system that allows the practical application of Kanban methods and principles for various teams and organizations of all sizes. The program interface works in drag-and-drop format, all data is updated dynamically in the background.

Who Is Kanban For?

Marketing Teams

• Board: Ideas → In Progress → Review → Scheduled → Published

• Value: See where content is stuck and who is holding up the deadline.

Software Development

• Board: Backlog → Dev → Code Review → QA → Done

• Value: An overload in the "Dev" column is an immediate signal.

HR / Recruiters

• Board: Open Positions → Screening → Interview → Offer → Closed

• Value: Track the status of every candidate without Excel chaos.

Customer Support

• Board: New Tickets → In Progress → Escalated → Resolved

• Value: SLAs are controlled by WIP limits.

Content Teams

• Board: Pitch → Draft → Editing → SEO → Published

• Value: A single source of truth for copywriters and designers.

In Svit.One, you can save multiple board templates and enable a Kanban view directly within your CRM pipeline.

Kanban vs. Scrum — What to Choose?

While both are Agile methodologies, they have key differences in their approach.

Kanban:

• Flow: A continuous process where tasks are "pulled" as capacity becomes available.

• Roles: Flexible. Often, a "process owner" who oversees the flow is sufficient.

• Planning: Happens continuously, on-demand.

• Metrics: Key metrics include Cycle Time and the Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD).

• Best for: Teams with a steady stream of tasks or rapidly changing priorities (e.g., customer support, content marketing).

Scrum:

• Flow: Work is done in fixed-length iterations called sprints (typically 1–4 weeks).

• Roles: Clearly defined: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team.

• Planning: Occurs at the beginning of each sprint (Sprint Planning).

• Metrics: Key metrics include team Velocity and the Sprint Review.

• Best for: Projects where value can be delivered in clear, distinct increments.

Svit.One supports hybrid models, allowing you to combine the structure of sprints for major releases with the flexibility of Kanban for daily tasks and support.

How to Start with Kanban: 5 Simple Steps

1. Visualize your process — Write down all the stages a task goes through.

2. Create your first board in Svit.One — Sign up, choose the "Kanban" template, and add the columns "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done."

3. Add your cards — Transfer your current tasks or import them from a CSV file.

4. Set WIP limits — For example, set a limit of no more than 3 cards in the "In Progress" column per team member.

5. Analyze and improve — Every Friday, review your Cycle Time in Svit.One Analytics and update your process.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

• Overloaded Board: 20+ cards in a single column.

Solution in Svit.One: Enable a color alert when a limit is exceeded.

• Ignoring WIP Limits: The "In Progress" column never empties.

Solution: Implement a hard stop—cards cannot be moved forward until capacity is freed up.

• Overly-Detailed Start: 10 columns and 5 labels create chaos from day one.

Solution: Start with three columns and expand after retrospectives.

• Lack of Regular Reviews: Performance metrics aren't improving.

Solution: The built-in calendar reminds you of your weekly Kanban cadence.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• What is the main difference between Kanban and Scrum?

The main difference lies in the approach to work. Scrum uses fixed iterations (sprints), while Kanban focuses on a continuous flow of tasks. Many teams successfully combine both approaches.

• How many columns are needed to start?

A minimum of three: "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done." This is the foundation. In Svit.One, you can easily add specific stages (e.g., "Testing," "Awaiting Approval") as your process matures.

• Why are WIP limits necessary if you can work without them?

Without WIP limits, your board risks turning into a simple to-do list where all tasks are "in progress" and nothing gets finished. Limits force the team to focus on finishing tasks rather than constantly starting new ones, which is the key to efficiency.

• What is Cycle Time?

It's the time that elapses from the moment the team starts working on a task until its full completion. The shorter the Cycle Time, the faster you deliver value to the customer. Svit.One analytics helps track this metric automatically.

• Can I use Kanban for personal tasks?

Yes, absolutely! It's an excellent tool for self-organization, planning a home renovation, preparing for exams, or tracking personal goals.

• Does Svit.One have a free plan for Kanban?

Yes, Svit.One offers a permanent free plan that includes all core Kanban features without a time limit.

Ready to Give It a Try?

📊 Test out a Kanban board in Svit.One today—for free. Import your existing tasks, enable WIP limits with a single click, and view your analytics in real-time.