“Agile Workflow Guide: Steps, Frameworks, How-to’s & Templates” on SmartSheet, September 25, 2024.
How to Use Kanban Boards for Transparency
Kanban and other task boards enhance transparency by visualizing workflow stages and task progress in real time. Teams can easily track tasks as Kanban cards and identify bottlenecks. By making work visible, Kanban boards promote accountability, collaboration, and efficiency.
Alan Zucker, Founding Principal of Project Management Essentials, explains how this works in typical organizations: “If we perform our daily stand-up referencing a Kanban board, it allows us to collaborate and say, ‘Hey, looks like you seem to be stuck on something. Do you need help?’ The visualization also creates accountability. A board is more than tickets in the back of the machine that no one really sees or people looking at a long list in a spreadsheet. We actually see the work — it’s tangible, it’s there.”
With Kanban boards, people can easily observe and ask questions about work progress or delays. In addition, automated workflows offer real-time tracking and control for jobs that need approvals.
How to Analyze Your Agile Workflow Efficiency
Sprint retrospectives are also vital to optimizing Agile project workflows. Biweekly or monthly retrospectives present opportunities to discuss practices and fine-tune workflows.
“We can track the stories or the features, and that’s great,” explains Zucker. “But we get better by saying, ‘It seems like we always have a problem in this step. Why are we having a problem here?’”
Challenges of Scaling Agile Workflows and Tips to Overcome Them
Here are some tips for scaling Agile workflows effectively.
- Unify the Organization: Understand that this will make the organization more value-driven. The whole company can respond better to market changes and risks. For Zucker, connected task boards have value: “By connecting all these boards, you create an organizational structure where every layer regularly feeds information to the layer above it or vice versa. As a result, whenever any emerging and unexpected changes occur, you have the management system in place to take necessary actions as soon as possible.”
- Be Flexible: According to Zucker, every team might have a slightly different Kanban board. However, for enterprise portfolios, you might have a high-level task board with varying levels of detail expressed through color.
- Keep It Simple: Minimalist workflows are the easiest to understand and follow. Avoid excess customization and complication.
- Agree on a Definition of Done: For shared projects, all teams should agree on when work transitions between workflow phases.
- Review Workflows: Work changes and teams change. Ensure that your workflow serves everyone, and adjust as needed if it doesn’t.
- Try Kanban: Kanban can support segues from current to new processes and reduce resistance to change.
- Be Patient: People may be overwhelmed because they think they must become proficient Agile ambassadors in a day. However, the continuous improvement philosophy and Agile culture emphasize evolution rather than revolution. Reassure teams that continuous improvement means gradual, not sudden, change.