Kanban boards are useful project planning tools which allow you to optimise work delivery across multiple teams and handle even the most complex projects in a single environment. Given that social impact projects can be complex and multifacted they are a useful tool to havein your Digital Social Impact toolbox.
Defining, managing, and improving work flows
15 min / 45 min
Kanban can be used by students in their project design. They can also be used by lecturers during the design phase to keep track of the various small and big tasks that need to be done before the students start their work.
Lectures and Students
Mural, Trello, MS Teams Planner, etc.
1 The Kanban method is based on visualization. Hence, the first thing you should do if you want to implement it is to create a Kanban task board. It can be either a digital, or a physical board. There is no difference between them. The principle of their work is always the same. A Kanban task board must have a number of columns that represent all stages of work from “to do” to “done”. The tasks are placed in these columns depending on the stage of their performance
2 WIP stands for “Work in Progress”. Limitation of WIP units is one of the main principles of Kanban. You should definitely limit the amount of tasks you work on while implementing Kanban. That will allow you to spend your time more efficiently. Some people think that it is good to handle lots of tasks at the same time. However, for Kanban it is not so. This type of project management works only if you limit the amount of WIP units.
3 Your Kanban board, and your Kanban practice, should be ever evolving. This isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing: Your board today might reflect your process exactly, but that doesn’t mean it will be equally relevant three months from now. Be flexible and stay open to improvement, so that you can continue to maximize value from your Kanban system.
