--- title: "Kanban Board Documentation Template" description: "" type: skill canonical_url: https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/kanban-1 source: "Claudary" difficulty: intermediate author: "Claude Code Knowledge Pack" date: 2026-07-10T11:30:22.788Z license: CC-BY-4.0 attribution: "Kanban Board Documentation Template — Claudary (https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/kanban-1)" --- # Kanban Board Documentation Template ## Overview # Kanban Board Documentation Template > **Back to [Markdown Style Guide](../markdown_style_guide.md)** — Read the style guide first for formatting, citation, and emoji rules. **Use this template for:** Tracking work items, sprint boards, project task management, release planning, or any scenario where you need a persistent, markdown-based view of work status. This board IS the tracking system — a file in your repo that evolves with your codebase. **Key features:** Visual Mermaid kanban diagram, work item tables with status tracking, WIP limits, blocked items, explicit Won't Do decisions, aging indicators, flow efficiency metrics, and historical throughput. **Philosophy:** This board is a file. Modify it in your branch, merge it with your PR. The board evolves WITH the codebase — no external board tool required. Anyone with repo access sees the board, AI agents included. A kanban board's job is to make work visible. This template serves two purposes: (1) a living board that gets updated as work progresses, and (2) a historical snapshot when archived. The Mermaid diagram gives the instant visual overview; the tables give the detail. Together they answer: What's being worked on? What's blocked? What's done? What's next? When archived, the board becomes the historical record of what was worked on, what was blocked, and what was completed — all in git history, with full attribution and timestamps. This is the [Everything is Code](../markdown_style_guide.md#-everything-is-code) philosophy: project management data lives in the repo, versioned and portable. --- ## File Convention ``` docs/project/kanban/sprint-2026-w07-agentic-template-modernization.md docs/project/kanban/release-v2.3.0-launch-readiness.md docs/project/kanban/project-auth-migration-phase-1.md ``` - **Directory:** `docs/project/kanban/` - **Naming:** Prefix with board scope (`sprint-`, `release-`, `project-`) + identifier + short lowercase hyphenated description - **Archiving:** When a board is complete, keep it in place — it becomes the historical record --- ## The Template Everything below the line is the template. Copy from here: --- # [Board Name] — Kanban Board _[Scope: Sprint W07 2026 / Release v2.3.0 / Project: Auth Migration]_ _[Team/Owner] · Last updated: [YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM]_ --- ## 📋 Board Overview **Period:** [Start date] → [End date] **Goal:** [One sentence — what does "done" look like for this board?] **WIP Limit:** [Max items in "In Progress" — e.g., 3 per person, 6 total] ### Visual board _Kanban board showing current work distribution across backlog, in-progress, review, done, blocked, and Won't Do columns:_ ```mermaid kanban Backlog task1[🔧 Deploy monitoring] task2[📝 Write API docs] In Progress task3[⚙️ Build user dashboard] task4[🐛 Fix payment timeout] In Review task5[👀 Add export feature] Done task6[🚀 Set up CI pipeline] task7[📊 Database migration] Blocked task8[⛔ Waiting for security approval] Won't Do task9[❌ Drop mobile support in this sprint] ``` > ⚠️ Always show all 6 columns — Even if a column has no items, include it with a placeholder. This makes the board structure explicit and ensures categories are never forgotten. Use a placeholder like [No items yet] when a column is empty. --- ## 🚦 Board Status | Column | Count | WIP Limit | Status | | ------------------ | ----- | --------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | 📋 **Backlog** | [N] | — | [Notes] | | 🔄 **In Progress** | [N] | [Limit] | [🟢 Under limit / 🟡 At limit / 🔴 Over limit] | | 🔍 **In Review** | [N] | [Limit] | [Status] | | ✅ **Done** | [N] | — | [This period] | | 🚫 **Blocked** | [N] | — | [See blocked section below] | | 🚫 **Won't Do** | [N] | — | [Explicitly declined with rationale] | > ⚠️ **Always include all 6 columns** — Each column represents a workflow state. Even if count is 0, keep the row visible. This prevents categories from being overlooked. --- ## 📋 Backlog _Prioritized top-to-bottom. Top items are next to be pulled. Include at least one placeholder item if empty._ | # | Item | Priority | Estimate | Assignee | Notes | | --- | ----------------- | --------- | -------- | -------- | ----------------------- | | 1 | [Work item title] | 🔴 High | [S/M/L] | [Person] | [Context or dependency] | | 2 | [Work item title] | 🟡 Medium | [Size] | [Person] | [Notes] | | | _[No items yet]_ | | | | | --- ## 🔄 In Progress _Items currently being worked on. Include at least one placeholder item if empty._ | Item | Assignee | Started | Expected | Days in column | Aging | Status | | ----------- | -------- | ------- | -------- | -------------- | ----- | ---------------- | | [Work item] | [Person] | [Date] | [Date] | [N] | 🟢 | 🟢 On track | | | | | | | | _[No items yet]_ | > 💡 **Aging indicator:** 🟢 Under expected time · 🟡 At expected time · 🔴 Over expected time — items aging red need attention or re-scoping. > ⚠️ **WIP limit:** [N] / [Limit]. [Under limit / At limit — pull more work / Over limit — finish something before starting new work] --- ## 🔍 In Review _Items awaiting or in code review. Include at least one placeholder item if empty._ | Item | Author | Reviewer | PR | Days in review | Aging | Status | | ----------- | -------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------- | ----- | ------------------------------------------------ | | [Work item] | [Person] | [Person] | [#NNN](../../docs/project/pr/pr-00000001-agentic-docs-and-monorepo-modernization.md) | [N] | 🟢 | [Awaiting review / Changes requested / Approved] | | | | | | | | _[No items yet]_ | --- ## ✅ Done _Completed this period. Include at least one placeholder item if empty._ | Item | Assignee | Completed | Cycle time | PR | | ----------- | -------- | --------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [Work item] | [Person] | [Date] | [N days] | [#NNN](../../docs/project/pr/pr-00000001-agentic-docs-and-monorepo-modernization.md) | | | | | | _[No items completed this period]_ | --- ## 🚫 Blocked _Items that cannot proceed. Always include at least the placeholder — blocked items are high-signal and should never be hidden._ | Item | Assignee | Blocked since | Blocked by | Escalated to | Unblock action | | ----------- | -------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | ---------------------- | | [Work item] | [Person] | [Date] | [What's blocking — dependency, decision, external team] | [Person/team] | [What needs to happen] | | | | | | | _[No blocked items]_ | > 🔴 **[N] items blocked.** [Summary of what's needed to unblock them.] --- ## 🚫 Won't Do _Explicitly out of scope for this board period. Capture rationale so these decisions are transparent and auditable. Include placeholder if empty._ | Item | Date decided | Decision owner | Rationale | Revisit trigger | | ----------- | ------------ | -------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | | [Work item] | [Date] | [Person/team] | [Why this is intentionally excluded right now] | [What change would reopen this item] | | | | | _[No items explicitly declined]_ | | --- ## 📊 Metrics ### This period | Metric | Value | Target | Trend | | ---------------------------------- | -------- | -------- | ------- | | **Throughput** (items completed) | [N] | [Target] | [↑/→/↓] | | **Avg cycle time** (start → done) | [N days] | [Target] | [↑/→/↓] | | **Avg lead time** (created → done) | [N days] | [Target] | [↑/→/↓] | | **Avg review time** | [N days] | [Target] | [↑/→/↓] | | **Flow efficiency** | [N%] | [Target] | [↑/→/↓] | | **Blocked items** | [N] | 0 | [↑/→/↓] | | **WIP limit breaches** | [N] | 0 | [↑/→/↓] | | **Items aging red** | [N] | 0 | [↑/→/↓] | > 💡 **Flow efficiency** = active work time ÷ total cycle time × 100. A healthy team targets 40%+. Below 15% means items spend most of their time waiting, not being worked on.
📊 Historical Throughput | Period | Items completed | Avg cycle time | Blocked days | | ------------------- | --------------- | -------------- | ------------ | | [Previous period 3] | [N] | [N days] | [N] | | [Previous period 2] | [N] | [N days] | [N] | | [Previous period 1] | [N] | [N days] | [N] | | **Current** | [N] | [N days] | [N] |
--- ## 📝 Board Notes ### Decisions made this period - **[Date]:** [Decision and context — e.g., "Deprioritized auth refactor to focus on payment bug"] - **[Date]:** [Added/updated Won't Do decision with explicit rationale and revisit trigger] ### Carryover from last period - [Item carried over] — [Why it wasn't completed and current status] ### Upcoming dependencies - [Date]: [External dependency, release, or event that affects this board] --- ## 🔗 References - [Live project board](../../docs/project/kanban/sprint-2026-w08-crewai-review-hardening-and-memory.md) — Real-time tracking - [Previous board](../../docs/project/kanban/sprint-2026-w07-agentic-template-modernization.md) — Last period's snapshot - [Status report](../../docs/project/pr/pr-00000001-agentic-docs-and-monorepo-modernization.md) — Executive summary of this period --- _Next update: [Date] · Board owner: [Person/Team]_ --- Source: [Claudary](https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/kanban-1) · https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com