Kanban Board

A task list can grow while very little work gets finished. A Kanban board makes the position of each task visible by placing it in a column for its current stage. Moving a card from waiting to active work, and then to completion, records progress through that workflow.

Each card represents a piece of work with a recognizable finish. For a home repair project, “Arrange the electrician’s visit” is more useful than “Electricity” because it names an outcome. Columns describe the stages that matter to the project, such as waiting to start, underway, and awaiting inspection. Clear entry and completion criteria make those positions meaningful.

Work in progress

Work that has started and has not yet finished, often shortened to WIP. A WIP limit sets an agreed amount of unfinished work so that starting another task becomes a deliberate choice.

Blocked work

A task that cannot currently move forward, perhaps because a part, decision, or reply is missing. It remains unfinished while it waits.

A crowded active column is a reason to review what can be finished or unblocked before starting more work. A low limit may leave too little room for work that can proceed independently; a high limit may allow many tasks to remain unfinished. The useful choice depends on how the work actually progresses.

Card counts describe the number of tasks, not their effort or duration. Calling a supplier and rewiring a room can each occupy one card despite very different workloads. A due date adds an intended deadline, but a board alone cannot show that the date is achievable. Keeping card positions and blocker notes current is what makes the board useful for deciding what to do next.

How to Use This Tool:

The board opens with a website-launch sample unless a saved board can be restored from this browser. You can try the sample or start your own project.

1. Choose New for an empty board, or Open board to reopen a saved Kanban board file. Confirm replacement only after saving any current work you want to keep.
2. Open Columns to name the board, arrange its stages, and set column WIP limits. Choose Apply columns to keep those changes. A column must be empty before you can remove it, and at least one column must remain.
3. Choose Add card and enter a title that names the task. Add notes, a label, or a due date when useful, then choose its column and mark Blocked if work cannot proceed.
4. Select Apply card to put the task and its edits on the board. If a title or date is rejected, enter a nonblank title or a real calendar date and apply again.
   Unapplied changes means the edits are still waiting. Apply or cancel them before moving cards, using Undo or Redo, or exporting. Collapsing Card details does not apply the edits.
5. Move tasks as their work progresses. Drag a card to a column or position, or select it and use Previous column, Next column, Move up, or Move down. With a card focused, Alt plus the arrow keys provides the same adjacent moves.
6. Save a portable copy with Save / export and Save board file. For a spreadsheet task list, choose Export tasks CSV. Check the board’s saving message before leaving the page, especially if it says the current work is unsaved.

Interpreting Results:

The number beside a column name is its card count. When a limit is set, the second number is that limit. Over WIP limit asks you to review the workload; the move is still accepted. The board summary reports all cards, all cards marked blocked, and the number of columns over their limits.

Blocked is a flag you set yourself. It does not prevent a move or clear automatically when the card reaches another column. Due dates are recorded on cards without reminders, automatic sorting, or an overdue calculation.

On a phone, Visible column chooses the stage shown. Moving a card to another column brings that column into view. With Card details open, the column heading and its Over WIP limit cue stay at the top of the board’s scrolling area while you scroll through the cards.

A board file keeps the full editable board, including empty columns, WIP limits, card order, and original text. CSV contains one row per task in board order and does not preserve the full board setup. Formula-like text may receive a leading apostrophe in CSV; the board file keeps that text unchanged. Open board accepts board files, not CSV task lists.

Undo and Redo cover recent applied changes during the current visit, including card moves and deletions. History holds up to 40 changes, with fewer retained for large boards. Reloading the page clears that history.

Technical Details:

Column membership and card order describe different things. The column records a task’s stage; its position records the order chosen within that stage. Moving an existing card changes one or both without changing the board’s total number of cards. Labels and dates do not determine either position.

Rule Core

A column is over its WIP limit only when the limit is greater than zero and its card count is strictly greater than the limit. Every card in that column counts, including blocked cards. Zero means no WIP limit.

Lowering a limit can therefore create a warning without moving or removing any work. Marking one of those cards blocked leaves the column count unchanged and adds it to the blocked count.

Column names do not change the counting rules. A column named Done still contributes to the board’s total and can have its own WIP limit. That total is a count of every recorded task, not a measure of unfinished work across the project. No elapsed work time or completion rate is calculated.

Board limits

The board accepts the following sizes. These limits bound the editable document; they do not recommend how many tasks to work on at once.

Board names, column names, and card titles must contain more than whitespace. Notes, labels, and due dates may be empty. Some symbols, including many emoji, use two places in the text limits. A supplied due date must be a real Gregorian calendar date from year 1 to year 9999, so an impossible date such as February 30 is rejected.

Privacy Notes:

Board editing and file processing happen in your browser. Board contents are not uploaded by the tool or placed in the page address. There is one active board saved for this site in the current browser, with no account synchronization or shared live editing. Someone using the same browser profile may be able to reopen that saved board.

• Applied changes normally save automatically. Browser storage can be cleared, full, or unavailable. If saving fails, the current board remains in memory; save a board file or use Retry local save. If another tab has changed the saved board, review the replacement confirmation before overwriting that copy.
• Imported and saved board files must fit within 1 MiB, or 1,048,576 bytes. Long notes can reach this bound before the card limit. Open board accepts this tool’s version 1 board format; malformed, unsupported, or oversized files are rejected while the current board is preserved.
• If stored data cannot be restored, it is left untouched and further local saving stops. The visible board may then be the sample. Save any current work you need before resetting local data.
• Reset local board clears this board’s browser copy, the current board, unapplied edits, and Undo/Redo history after confirmation. Downloaded files and other tools’ data are unaffected. The next applied edit starts local saving again.

References:

• The Kanban Guide, Kanban Guides, May 2025.