Kanban Framework Template
Manage your workflow in a highly flexible and visual way.
About the Kanban method
What is the Kanban method?
The Kanban method was created in the 1950s by Toyota Automotive employee, Taiichi Ohno, as a simple planning system to optimize production stages in an effort to keep up with American manufacturing (the gold standard at the time). However, it wasn’t until 2004 that David J. Anderson used the concept and applied it to IT and software. Now Kanban is a popular method of lean workflow management valued for its real time visualization of work capacity, and full transparency of the work being done.
When to use the Kanban method
The Kanban method follows a set of lean principles and practices for managing and improving workflow. Follow them and you will successfully be able to use Kanban to optimize processes, improve flow, and increase value to the end user. Teams use Kanban not only to closely monitor the progress of all work, but it’s a powerful way to display work to yourself and cross-functional partners so that the behind-the-scenes nature of software becomes visible.
Benefits of using the Kanban method
Based on the principles of just-in-time manufacturing, Kanban helps your team reduce waste and other issues, and collaborate on fixing them together. The beauty (and power) of the Kanban method is that it’s a visual way to gradually improve an organization's processes and therefore can be used by anyone across any function.
Create your own Kanban board
Making your own Kanban board is easy with Miro’s ready-to-use template, the perfect canvas to create and share. Get started by selecting the Kanban template, then take the following steps to customize it according to the needs of your organization.
Open this Kanban Template to make one of your own.
Customize your Kanban. You can label rows and columns according to your needs. David Anderson’s original method established that Kanban boards can be broken down into: visual signals, columns, work-in-progress limits, a commitment point, and a delivery point. But many also label using: backlog, in progress, and done.
Add task cards. Cards open up to allow you to add details, tags, or assign an owner. Ask your team to write all backlog projects or in-progress projects as singular notes in the appropriate column. Make sure you add columns as needed, to customize your workflow.
Get to work! As steps are completed make sure you move each piece through your workflow so you can see your work pipeline from beginning to end.
Get started with this template right now. It’s free
Feature Canvas
When you’re working on a new feature that solves a problem for your users, it’s easy to dive right in and start looking for solutions. However, it’s important to understand the initial user problem first. Use the Feature Canvas template to do a deep-dive into the user’s problems, the context in which they will use your feature, and the value proposition you will deliver to your users. The template enables you to spend more time exploring the problem to anticipate any potential blind spots before jumping into solutions mode.
Change Control Process
You can predict, research, and plan for every detail of a project to go a certain way—then along comes the unforeseen and modifications are needed. That’s when a change control process comes into play. It helps define the right steps to take, gives stakeholders full visibility, and reduces the chances of errors and disruption. And this template is easy to use and highly effective—for ensuring that proposed changes are reviewed before they’re implemented, and empowering teams to veto changes that might prove unnecessary or disruptive.
Prototype
A prototype is a live mockup of your product that defines the product’s structure, user flow, and navigational details (such as buttons and menus) without committing to final details like visual design. Prototyping allows you to simulate how a user might experience your product or service, map out user contexts and task flows, create scenarios to understand personas, and collect feedback on your product. Using a prototype helps you save money by locating roadblocks early in the process. Prototypes can vary, but they generally contain a series of screens or artboards connected by arrows or links.
STAR
STAR is a framework that stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Use this strategy to answer interview questions with concrete examples to show that you have the skills and experience you need. Many hiring managers or interviewer panels will ask prospective employees competency-based questions such as, “Tell me about a time when you …” or “Share an example of a situation where. …” If you’re an employer, you can use STAR to clarify with your team what skills and personality traits make someone a successful, high-level performer.
Product Backlog
Development teams are often juggling many products at once. A product backlog is a project management tool that helps teams keep track of projects in flight as they build and iterate, so you can store everyone's ideas, plan epics, and prioritize tasks. The highest-priority tasks are at the top of the product backlog, so your team knows what to work on first. Product backlogs make it easier for teams to plan and allocate resources, but it also provides a single source of truth for everyone to know what development teams are working on.
Risk Assessment
A risk assessment matrix is a simple framework you can use to plan your project or product development cycle. Also known as a probability and severity risk matrix, the framework can enable you to figure out how to prioritize project or product-related risks based on likelihood and potential business impact. Risks can be ranked according to low probability and severity (1, color-coded green) to the highest possible likelihood (10, color-coded red). Ranking each risk lets you and your team prioritize risks and tackle the biggest threats with a strong action plan. The grid format allows you to control the amount of risk you’re likely to face during the project by visualizing and qualifying it.