Are you using Confluence as your team’s main communication platform? Do you want to use a tried and tested visual management tool to level up or augment your Confluence boards? Of course, there are many options, but one of the best choices is Kanban boards.
Kanban boards have a reputation for being straightforward and easy-to-use tools. Some popular sites offer them as a main product, such as Trello, and they sell because of their functionality and easiness of use. In this article, you’ll learn how to use Kanban boards in Confluence.
In this article
What Is Kanban?
It’s essential first to understand what a Kanban board is. This will help you appreciate the tool and how it works better. So, this section will answer the question of what a Kanban board is, which will help you understand why you should use Kanban in Confluence.
Kanban is a term coined from the Japanese term meaning “card” or “visual signal.” It means a board of cards or visual signals. It first came into development when Toyota, in the 1940s, wanted to track work items in different stages of the manufacturing process.
Today, Kanban boards are used in different scenarios, including:
- Software development. Kanban boards are almost a staple in software development. Many developers use tools like Trello to track bug reports that have already been addressed. These can even include the code review process and feature development workflows.
- Marketing. Marketing teams can significantly benefit from Kanban boards because marketers can easily track pending materials that need to be made, captions to be written, and more.
- HR processes. In human resources management, Kanban boards serve to track pending complaints, interviews, leave management, and more. HR people will enjoy these boards because they can track the necessary work.
- Personal planner. The Kanban board is also a great tool if you need a personal planner. They can show you your to-do list for the day and which tasks are pending.
You can see how Kanban boards can benefit different aspects of life, so much so within your Confluence boards. Adding Kanban boards to your Confluence whiteboards is excellent since the Atlassian suite is geared toward team collaboration and project management.
How To Make a Kanban Board in Confluence
Confluence is Atlassian’s version of a collaborative workspace platform. It serves the core purpose of creating, sharing, and organizing knowledge as a digital team workspace. It’s a central hub for documentation, project planning, and team collaboration.
Think of Confluence as a digital headquarters for company information and resources, and you’ll understand that adding Kanban boards in Confluence is a great step to keep team members informed and on track with stuff to do.
This way, you won’t have to keep sending emails and messages to inform people of their to-do lists or use a separate app for reminders. Adding Kanban boards is a good idea if you’re using Confluence. To do that, you have to follow the steps below:
Step 1
Within your Confluence page, click the + icon beside CONTENT. Then, select Whiteboard.
Step 2
Click the Templates icon on the right-hand toolbar. Then, use the search bar to look for “Kanban Board.”
Step 3
Click Use template once the Kanban board option appears.
Step 4
Begin by editing the shapes under To do, In progress, In review, Blocked, or Done. Double-click them, then type away.
Note: You can edit the text styles by using the customization bar that appears.
Step 5
Press the Delete keyboard to delete any parts of the template. Copy or paste elements to add them to the Kanban board.
Tip: Follow the Helpful Tips section on the left part of the template for more actions.
As you can see, using a Confluence Kanban board is pretty straightforward. You don’t have to be a Kanban expert to utilize it. You just have to type what you want under the proper column in the template.
Why Use the Kanban Board in Confluence?
You should use Kanban boards in Confluence for many reasons, and probably the best reason is that they are well within your team’s preferences. Despite hundreds of features available in Confluence for Kanban boards, none matter so long as your team prefers a different approach.
However, Confluence’s excellent features cannot be discredited. It still offers a solid experience for those willing to learn it. So, here are some reasons why you should use Confluence’s Kanban Boards:
Document integration
Confluence is all about information sharing. So, you can even directly link relevant files to to-do lists and references for reviewers. If you already use the Atlassian suite, it’s easy to interlink the different tools with Kanban boards for easier access.
Customization options
Since there is native support for Kanban boards within Confluence, there is a long list of customization methods that you can follow. This means that you can tailor your Kanban boards according to what works with your team.
Permission management
Kanban boards being directly integrated into Confluence is a boon because they can add as many features as possible, including permission management. This will ensure the integrity of your Kanban boards. For example, you can lock the editing of the board to certain people only.
How to Make and Use A Kanban Board Easier
While Confluence is a great option, it’s not ideal for people looking solely for Kanban boards. You’ll have to pay to use all Atlassian suite’s tools even if you only want to use the Kanban board or will only use them. For this reason, it might not be a good option.
Also, the number of features in Atlassian can be overwhelming for non-tech users. So, Wondershare EdrawMind, a similarly professional yet more straightforward tool, is a great way to resolve this problem.
Wondershare EdrawMind is a mind-mapping tool that uses various task management tools like Kanban boards. Aside from that, you can enjoy visualization and other brainstorming tools like flowcharts. It’s an all-in-one tool for all task management or ideation requirements.
In three simple steps, you can start creating your Kanban boards in EdrawMind:
Step 1
Install, download, or launch Wondershare EdrawMind. Log in with a Wondershare, Google, X, Apple, or Facebook account.
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Step 2
Click + Create > Task Kanban from the upper left corner.
Step 3
Add the tasks you must do by clicking + New Card in the appropriate column. Then, adjust the Kanban cards’ style using the right-hand panel.
That’s how you can easily create Kanban boards in Confluence and EdrawMind. Remember to select what’s best for your team, whichever method you choose. However, taking advantage of EdrawMind’s diagramming and mind-mapping features can be a great step to improve collaboration and idea-storming.
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