Project Management Made Easy with KanBo

Project management is both an art and science of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and finalizing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet predetermined success criteria. 

The discipline also includes project collaboration which enables teams as well as team leaders to plan, control, coordinate, and monitor the project they are working on. This collaborative approach works across departmental, corporate and national boundaries and helps with projects as they grow in complexity.

One of the key aspects of effective project management is the communication of information in a timely manner. If the members of a project group have instant access to information they are searching for, they can accomplish their tasks on time ensuring high efficiency and productivity. Another significant component of project management is being able to view information from a multitude of perspectives so you can make informed decisions.

Project Management with KanBo

When it comes to managing project, team leaders often look for a one-stop solution which empowers them to monitor and manage everything through one central hub. That’s exactly what KanBo delivers – a uniquely tailored focused center of information that enables both teams and team members to stay on top of every aspect of their project. With KanBo, each team member can view the status of the overall project and the task they are responsible for.

KanBo deploys a user-friendly and intuitive UI and UX which means that it is easy for an untrained employee to navigate around the KanBo project management board and acquire the information they are looking for. Here’s a detailed look into how project management works in KanBo software.

Project Management Board

Project management is one of the essential boards in KanBo and acts as a focal point of all information. When you go to the board, you will see a number of components with each component delivering a key piece of information. Some of the major elements include the following:

• Members

On the very top, you will notice that there is a horizontal list of people. These are the employees who are part of the team and you can see who is currently active and who isn’t. You can click on the person you want to talk with.

• Lists

The colored catalogs you see that take up most of the screen are lists that are categorized based on the nature of the information. Some of the common and essential lists include Project Information, Open Questions, To-Do, Doing, Done, and more. These lists can be created for a number of tasks and help everyone involved stay updated about the project. You can also add basic information about the objective of each list. If you want to redirect the viewer to another page, links can also be added.

• Timeline

On top of the lists, you can see the dates specified horizontally. This is the main timeline that provides you with insight into the project status with respect to deadlines. You can see a red dot on the dates when key deliverables are due.

• Views

These are basically different types of filters that enable teams and team leaders to see the information from a number of perspectives. For instance, you can view the lists ‘By Team’ and you will see what every team is working on and what they have already accomplished.

If someone wants the general basic information about the project, they can acquire it through the top menu. A small pop-up window will open with all the details you are looking for including the person responsible for the entire project, its estimated budget, time duration, and a brief description of the project. Here, you will also find information about the number of members who are involved in the project and the number of cards that are related to this particular project.

Lists

Lists are one of the essential components of the project management board and take the majority of the space on the screen. These are basically small registers of categorized information that allow everyone to view the overall status of the project. Team leaders can see the macro-level progress while members can keep an eye on the micro-level tasks. The lists provide a high level of transparency across different departments and allow people to be efficient and productive. Some of the essential lists include the following:

• Project Information

As the name suggests, this list includes the basic information about the project including its timeline, stakeholders, and weekly updates. You can also add other aspects of the project to the list to enhance its scope and functionality.

• Open Questions

If any stakeholder or a team member has any question or concern, they can raise it through this list. What this particular list does is enhances the visibility of potential bottlenecks, weaknesses, and queries so the concerned person can address them right away. This ensures quick communication and coordination without getting caught up in emails or one-on-one meetings.

This type of lists reduce dependencies and eliminates any confusions that team members may have. This way KanBo software provides a lot of transparency so everyone can stay updated.

• To-Do

Another self-explanatory list highlights all the tasks that are required to be completed but haven’t been started yet. With this list, team leaders can see who is responsible for what along with their department. This provides a quick and convenient way for managers to keep an eye on the workload that’s in the pipeline so they can manage accordingly.

• Doing

This particular list includes the tasks that are currently underway. Managers and team leaders can view who is working on these tasks and how much of the task has already been completed. The list also provides other information about the task as well such as the expected timeline.

• Done

Any task that has been completed can be dragged from the ‘Doing’ list to the ‘Done’ list so the concerned stakeholders and team members get notified timely.

You have to keep in mind that KanBo software is only a tool and it can go only as far as you want it to. That’s why it is essential for better and effective project management that you create a highly informative and helpful board so anyone who is in search of information can find exactly what they need.

Views

Another helpful feature that KanBo offers is the ability to create “Views”. When you are on the main board, “All” shows you the default view but you can create different views based on different filters such as By Team, Calendar, etc. For instance, if you click on the ‘By Team’ view, you will be shown labels of different teams and their workload along with specific tasks and their detailed information. This will allow you to see the workload and progress of each team.

A view can be generated based on numerous filters and it’s your project management requirements and challenges that will dictate the type of views you need to manage your tasks in an effective manner. In the ‘Filter’ option, you can see which parameters have been selected and you can add or subtract depending on your search needs. By default, the timeline is disabled in Views but you have the option to enable or disable the timeline. Another view type is calendar view which shows you weekly and monthly progress.

Chat

KanBo also provides its users with a chat option that can be used to discuss issues and challenges in real-time.

Blockers

You can also see blocks which are basically bottlenecks created due to circumstances. For instance, if the engineer has left the company right in the middle of the project and the replacement hasn’t been found yet, that’ll create a block. These blocks can be defined on a different basis as well as on the enterprise level.

Conclusion

KanBo project management focuses on three pillars, namely collaboration, communication, and planning. All the features included in the software, from Board and Lists to Views and Filters, have been designed to facilitate effective communication, cross-departmental transparency, informed planning, and robust collaboration. With KanBo project management software, teams have everything they need to know right in front of them so they can come together to accomplish their tasks in a timely manner.