A Kanban board is a visual project management method and tool where each task is represented as a card and is organized into different status columns. Examples of status columns are "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done." This allows teams to quickly understand the progress of all tasks at a glance.
As work begins, task cards move between status columns based on their current stage. This visual flow lets teams see what is in progress, what has been completed, and whether any tasks are stuck, without the need for additional status reports or manual updates.
Compared to time-based management tools such as a Gantt chart, Kanban focuses more on which stage a task is currently in, making it suitable for projects with simpler or more flexible workflows.
Because all tasks are displayed as cards on a single board, Kanban makes it easy to see:
This real-time visibility helps teams adjust priorities and allocate resources as needed, preventing work from becoming overly concentrated on specific team members or stages.
Kanban works especially well for projects where:
Because of this, Kanban is commonly used in software development, marketing execution, customer support, and internal process management.
Both Kanban boards and Gantt charts are visual project management tools, but they emphasize different aspects. Kanban focuses on task status and workflow movement, while Gantt charts are time-based, showing each task's start and end dates as well as the dependencies between tasks.
Gantt charts are often used for projects that require strict schedule control. On the other hand, Kanban boards are usually more intuitive for real-time progress and workload tracking.
Kanban is a management concept and does not require specific software. It can be implemented using whiteboards and sticky notes or through built-in Kaban views in various project management tools. Other popular Kanban-based tools include Trello.
Using software-based Kanban boards further support remote collaboration, preserved historical records, and enables integration with other project and data management tools.
