Using a Kanban workflow to plan your tasks is the best way to piece together the various pieces that make up a large project. Its visual nature means that you and your team can easily see the progress and status of your project. Whether you use the agile or waterfall workflow, Kanban is the perfect base for planning a successful project.
Agile workflow with Kanban
Also known as scrum, this workflow process is the preferred option of Redbooth’s very own development team! The premise of this workflow is continuous deployment, whereby the entire team works together towards a common goal. It offers a great depth of flexibility and allows for unforeseen challenges to be easily addressed.
Follow this example to get it working best for you and your team using Redbooth:
In the workspace, create 5 different task lists: Backlog, To Do, In Progress, Done, and Retrospective. You will be working to a sprint, and before getting started, your team will meet and decide which tasks are to be included in it.
Drag and drop chosen tasks from Backlog to the To Do task list. These are the tasks you want the team to work on during the next sprint.
BACKLOG → TO DO
The sprint starts with dragging and dropping the tasks into the In Progress task list — this is where your team actively work on resolving them. All tasks in this task list have an assignee, who documents the progress in the task comments.
TO DO → IN PROGRESS
As soon as a task is completed, they are drag and dropped into the Done task list. This way, everyone can see which tasks are done and which are still in progress when viewing the workspace.
IN PROGRESS → DONE
Once the sprint is finished, a retrospective review is done and all tasks in the Done task list are resolved. Any improvements that can be implemented to future sprints are left in the Retrospective task list.
→RETROSPECTIVE
How to do a retrospective in Redbooth?
This workflow is dependent on daily communication and briefing, with an appointed Scrum Master keeping the team on track with its goals. An important part of a scrum is the learning process. This is why a retrospective is important, as it allows members of the team to discuss the previous sprint openly.
At Redbooth, we like to incorporate the Redbooth platform into our retrospectives in a few different ways:
- Store scrum metrics in the Files section of the workspace — this allows easy access for all members to see their performance
- Use conversations for adding the notes and photos from the retrospective
Pro tips for an agile workflow
- Have a Scrum Master to guide the team
- Quickly move your tasks by dragging and dropping
- Hold daily meetings to track progress
- Use task list templates for repetitive actions
- Tag your tasks — this is useful if a task is completed but is pending the completion of another (#pending / #hold / #complete)
- Monitor work in progress (WIP) to avoid bottlenecking of tasks
- Track time spent on tasks and note it in the Retrospective task list
Waterfall workflow with Kanban
The waterfall workflow consists of different stages which are completed in order — you cannot complete one stage without first completing the previous one.
Follow this example to get it working best for you and your team:
In the workspace, create one task list with the following tasks (examples): Planning, Research, Writing, Reviewing, and Publication.
Pro tips for a waterfall workflow
- Create one workspace per client or project
- Prioritize tasks by using tags — this ensures that important tasks are easy to find and clearly marked
- Visualize project progress in Timeline