05 Nov 2024 Leveraging the Power of Kanban Boards to Optimize Association Workflow
Seeking more efficient workflow and better organization for your association or nonprofit? A kanban board may be exactly what your group needs. Here’s what you need to know about this simple tool for project management.
What Is a Kanban Board
A kanban board takes its meaning from its Japanse origins: “visual signal.” It’s a graphic tool to keep track of projects and workflow processes. Many organizations find them more flexible and elucidating than scrum boards, which focus more on speed.
At its most basic, a kanban board uses columns across the top to separate different stages of a project. Beneath each column are cards indicating various tasks or people associated with that stage. The cards can be moved from left to right to show progress.
For example, say you’re working on hosting a new association or nonprofit event. Your columns might read: “brainstorming,” “researching,” “scheduling,” and “promoting.” You could also use a kanban board with columns simply marked: “to do,” “in progress,” and “done.”
The cards underneath could be names of board members or volunteers working on those phases. Or they could be specific elements like:
● Develop budget
● Research costs
● Contact speakers
● Book venue
● Hire caterers and choose menu
● Add event to website calendar
● Send email announcements
● Set up registrations and payment portal
Kanban boards can be as simple or as complex as you need them to be. You can add cards to a column if you find you need more tasks or workers. Horizontal “swimlanes” across the columns can indicate different people performing their own jobs within a larger project.
Different Types of Kanban Boards
You can easily create a kanban board using a bulletin board with post-it notes or index cards. You can also draw a kanban board on a white board. For large group projects, it helps to keep the kanban board in place where everyone can see it. This way everyone knows what’s happening, and it boosts accountability.
Individuals can use kanban boards too in order to keep track of their own tasks. A sheet of paper with sticky notes that can be moved from column to column is simple to set up in minutes.
There are digital kanban boards as well, which are ideal if your team works remotely or is spread out geographically. They’re also great for individuals who prefer to track job progress on a mobile phone or laptop.
Some are simple apps available for iOS and Android download. Others are larger platforms that contain kanban boards or use a kanban-based system. Examples include:
● Kanban Tool
● Microsoft Planner
● Trello
● Asana
● Jira
● Pivotal Tracker
● Businessmap
● ClickUp
● Wrike
With online kanban boards, you just drag and drop the virtual cards you create into their respective columns as needed.
Using Kanban Boards for Association Project Management
It’s not surprising that kanban boards are particularly popular in the technology sector, with steps like “development,” “coding,” “testing,” “launching” etc. natural divisions for columns. But there are plenty of ways your association can use kanban boards to maximize workflow, such as:
● Course organization
● Certification steps
● Membership drives
● Website content management
● Planning conferences
Beyond helping you know where you are in the process, kanban boards can aid you in figuring out things like:
● Onboarding staff and board members
● Is a stage taking too long — is one person not pulling their weight, or do you perhaps need more people? Is the task feasible?
● Who is best suited for a job, based on how quickly they complete certain tasks?
● Are you being overly optimistic about how long it will take to finish a project?
● Are your tasks too general in nature? Do you need to break them into smaller jobs to understand all the different components?
● Are certain board members doing all the work, carrying others?
● Who is ready for a new task, since their name is currently in the “done” column?
You might discover that the process of printing a technical manual for certification candidates is much more involved than you originally thought, for instance. You moved cards to the right and then left again several times during the editing process. And you forgot to include hiring a layout specialist for the digital version.
When you start a new manual next time, you can anticipate these hurdles and create a more realistic and comprehensive task list and timeline. Plus, you now know that one board member is whiz at coming up with illustrations, while another thrives at proofreading.
Need help with other aspects of your association’s workflow? Jaffe Management can assist with mailing lists, membership drives, event planning, website development, and more. Contact us at: info@jaffemanagement.com or call us at 212-496-3155 to learn more about how we can help you reach your goals .