Something About Kanban - Improving project delivery with a card wall

Sep 12, 2026

A white paper explaining how Kanban, commonly described as a “card wall,” improves project delivery through a simple visual system. It outlines the Not Started, In Progress, and Complete flow, card-based representation of tasks, and chronological column layout that enables rapid status visibility. The paper also shows how software-driven card walls extend the approach with categorization, prioritization, ownership, sub-tasks, WIP limits, and dependency-driven rules to reduce stuck work and strengthen communication across teams.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Something About Kanban

Kanban? Card walls? What’s all that about?

Beyond the sticky note – software driven card walls

Productivity through card walls

WHITE PAPER December 2019 Something About Kanban Improving project delivery with nothing more than a card and a wall Sponsored By: Kanban. Weird word right? But if you are a project sponsor, stakeholder, manager or team member then not only do you need to know about it, it needs to be your new best friend. But here at TeamDynamix we hate jargon so we call Kanban what it really is – a card wall. And in this whitepaper, we want to show you how powerful it can be, and how it can improve how you deliver projects. Something About Kanban [2 ProjectManagement.com](2 ProjectManagement.com) Kanban? Card walls? What’s all that about? Let’s start by saying that we fully understand the value of waterfall and we embrace this methodology with gusto. But we also know that waterfall is not for everyone and it is definitely not for all projects – hence we would like to turn your attention to Kanban. Kanban– or as we often call it,“card wall” is a more simplistic approach to organizing work efforts, milestones, tasks and people. You start by identifying the phases of work for any particular task on a project or work item. Let’s make it really easy by listing just three: | Not Started | In Progress | Complete | | --- | --- | --- | | | | | Those headings are obviously simple, they don’t need to be explained to anyone. But they convey everything you need – a quick glance and you get it. Those headings are then arranged in columns in chronological order – the earliest on the left and the latest on the right. These represent the‘wall’part of your card wall. Then we identify the different pieces of work that have tobe done and we create a card for each of them. So a card gets created for ‘design screens’, or ‘test performance’ or any of the other things that have to be done on your piece of work, your project, or whatever it is you’re looking to manage. And then the last step is simply to put those cards into one of the phases of work – add them to the wall. Atthe start of the project everything is ‘not started’, then tasks begin to move into ‘in progress’ and eventually‘complete’. Once everything has moved to complete the work is finished. Not Started In Progress Complete Card walls have become popular recently because they are so straightforward. They can be produced with nothing more complicated than sticky notes on a whiteboard. Yet they immediately convey a lot of information about the project. It’s common to put these card walls outside the team’s work area so anyone stopping by can immediately see what’s going on. And because they are so easy to understand there is no need for them to be analyzed or studied. A sponsor passing by on their way to a meeting can immediately see what’s happening. That makes card walls one of the most powerful communication and work management tools available. Yet in a recent survey we 13.5 % In a recent survey we found that only around 13.5% of respondents used Kanban . found that only around 13.5% of respondents used Kanban. Why is that? We believe it’s simply a lack of awareness – we’re sure you’re already loving the idea and we haven’t even got to the good bits yet. Something About Kanban [3 ProjectManagement.com](3 ProjectManagement.com) Beyond the sticky note – software driven card walls The power of that communication and management can betaken to the next level when it’s driven by software. Now you can easily categorize and add detail to the cards – color code them for different types of work, arrange them based on priority, create sub tasks, assign owners, the list goes on. And all of that can be viewed at any level of detail team members aren’t starting a lot of things but not finishing them. These WIP limits can be applied for the overall project, for a particular group, or for an individual. Examples might be that no more than eight tasks can be in progress at any one time, that no individual can own more than two in progress tasks, etc. with a si

FAQs

What is Kanban, as described in the white paper?

Kanban is presented as a simplified approach to organizing work using a “card wall,” where tasks are represented by cards and tracked through clear project phases.

How does the card wall structure the work status?

Work is organized into three phases—Not Started, In Progress, and Complete—arranged in chronological columns so progress can be seen at a glance.

What additional benefits does software provide for card walls?

Software-driven card walls add categorization and detail to cards, enable color coding and prioritization, support sub-tasks and owners, and use WIP limits and rules to manage dependencies and prevent tasks from getting stuck.

Sep 12, 2026

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