Why you should customize your Kanban board in Jira?

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Kanban is a visual system to help teams organize and manage work. Picture a board with cards moving across columns that represent different stages of a task’s progress. This method is widely used, including by our team at DevSamurai, where we actively manage projects and workflows using Jira

Kanban boards give a clear snapshot of what’s happening now, what’s coming next, and what’s done. This clarity can seriously help everyone focus and work better together.

Common Challenges with Default Kanban Boards in Jira

Jira offers a powerful Kanban board out of the box, but it’s far from perfect. Many teams find themselves struggling with certain limitations that can slow their workflow and cause confusion. 

Let’s break down some of the top challenges Jira users face with its default Kanban setup.

📚 Overwhelming Task Overload in Columns

You might have noticed that your “In Progress” or “Selected for Development” columns sometimes get flooded with too many tasks at once.

Jira’s default setup doesn’t enforce strict limits here unless you configure them. The result? Your board starts to look like a traffic jam — cards everywhere, making it difficult to spot priorities or what’s actually moving forward. 

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and frankly, it’s exhausting trying to manage this pile-up when you just want to see clear progress.

⚙️ Generic Workflow That Doesn’t Always Fit

By default, Jira gives you columns like “Backlog,” “Selected for Development,” “In Progress,” and “Done.” It sounds good on paper, but real projects often need more detailed steps. Maybe you need a “Ready for QA” or “Blocked” column to reflect exactly where tasks are in your process. 

Without these, your view becomes fuzzy. You’re left guessing where things really stand, so important details fall through the cracks.

↕️ Prioritization is Not Always Clear

In Jira’s default board, all tasks can look pretty similar without obvious priority markers. Without clear visual cues, figuring out which tasks need immediate attention can turn into a time-consuming puzzle. 

Your team might waste energy sorting through cards instead of actually progressing work. We’ve all been there: wondering, “What should I really focus on next?”

🛑 Hidden Bottlenecks and Blocked Tasks

Tasks can get stuck for all sorts of reasons—in waiting for feedback, dependencies, or resources. 

Unfortunately, Jira’s default Kanban board doesn’t always make these bottlenecks easy to spot. Unless you add custom labels or detailed statuses, stuck work can silently delay the entire project. 

This unseen slowdown affects everyone and causes frustration.

🪧 Minimal Task Detail on Cards

Default Jira cards display basic info like task titles but often lack deeper context, such as subtasks, due dates, or assignee info right on the card face. 

This means you have to click into each card or chase updates through other channels, adding unnecessary steps. It’s like trying to work blindfolded—frustrating and inefficient.

📊 Clutter from Too Many Tags and Filters

Sometimes Jira users try to fix these issues by piling on tags, labels, and filters. But the opposite effect can happen: the board looks cluttered, confusing, and overwhelming. 

When there’s too much going on visually, it’s hard to get a clean overview, which defeats the purpose of using a Kanban board.

How Customizing Your Kanban Board Solves These Problems

The great news is Jira’s Kanban boards are highly customizable! By tweaking and tailoring your board, you can turn those frustrations into clear benefits. Let’s explore how.

🗂️ Control Task Overload with WIP Limits

One of the best fixes for that overwhelming column traffic jam is setting Work-in-Progress (WIP) limits. Jira allows you to define the maximum number of tasks allowed in each column. When the limit is hit, the board highlights it, so your team knows it’s time to focus on finishing those tasks before starting new ones.

To set the WIP limits in the Jira board, follow these steps:

• With a Company-managed project: 
  • Go to Board settings → Layout → Columns
  • Fill in the maximum number of work items for each column
• With a Team-managed project:
  • Go to Configure board → Board → Columns and statuses
  • Click on Edit column → Fill in the maximum number of work items

This simple step can transform chaos into calm and help keep your focus sharp.

🛠️ Adapt Columns to Fit Your Real Workflow

You aren’t stuck with Jira’s default column names and setup. Renaming, adding, or removing columns lets you mirror your exact process. You can configure this in the board settings. 

Need a “Blocked” column? Add it. 

Want a “Ready for QA” step? Easy. 

This customization turns your board into a true reflection of your work, making it much easier to see progress and bottlenecks at a glance.

🌈 Highlight Priorities with Labels and Colors

Use Jira’s label and color features to add instant clarity to your board. Color-coding tasks by priority or type means your team knows at a glance which cards are hot topics or require urgent attention. 

Make sure you added the label field for your work items.

To add card colors, follow these steps:

• Go to Board settings → Layout → Card colors
• Select the color methods: work types, priorities, assignees, or a custom one.

A simple red label for high-priority bugs or a green tag for low-priority tasks can stop the guesswork and help your team work smarter.

📝 Enrich Cards with Essential Details

Take advantage of Jira’s customization to include key info right on the card view — due dates, assignees, checklists, or even attachments. 

• Select the most suitable fields to display on the card in View settings → Fields.
• To add more field and edit the card layout, go to Board settings → Layout → Card layout

This added context reduces the need to dig through multiple places for updates, saving time and boosting clarity.

🏊 Use Swimlanes to Organize Work

If your team juggles multiple projects or priorities, swimlanes can help partition your board visually, creating neat rows that separate different types of work or teams. 

To use it, select your team's desired swimlane type in the Group option: Assignee, Epic, Stories, Queries or Projects. To customize the Queries, go to Board settings → Layout → Swimlanes. 

This keeps things organized and reduces distractions.

🔎 Regularly Review and Adjust Your Board

Lastly, remember your Kanban board isn’t set in stone. Make customization an ongoing process. Listen to your team’s feedback and tweak your board as your project needs and workflows evolve. Your board should grow and improve with you.

Still not meet your team needs? Introducing ProductGo's upcoming Custom Kanban feature

If all this sounds like a lot of work, there’s good news on the horizon! ProductGo, your favorite user story map tool, is rolling out an upcoming Custom Kanban feature designed to fix these common challenges with a simpler and more powerful interface.

Here’s what you can look forward to: 

• Assign any field to a column — tailor the board to your specific needs.
• Flexible swimlanes that adapt to your projects and teams.
• Built-in Release Roadmap to align your Kanban board with delivery timelines.
• Ability to group columns for cleaner visuals and better focus.
• Manage dependencies between tasks to avoid bottlenecks before they form.
• All with a simpler, easy-to-use interface that’s more intuitive than Jira’s complex menus.

Stay tuned for more updates on ProductGo’s Custom Kanban — it promises to make customizing your Kanban workflow smoother and more effective than ever.

Practical Tips for Customizing Your Kanban Board Effectively

If customization sounds a little intimidating, don’t worry! Here are some simple steps to get started:

• Gather your team and map out your real workflow.
• Rename or add columns to match your stages—don’t stick to defaults just because they’re easy.
• Set WIP limits gradually; start small and adjust as you learn.
• Pick a few colors and labels for high-impact clarity on priorities and task types.
• Add subtasks, due dates, and assignees directly on cards.
• Use swimlanes or filters if you handle multiple projects or teams.
• Make it a habit to review and refine your board every few weeks based on how work flows and team input.

Make Your Kanban Board Work for You

Kanban boards are meant to fit your team, not the other way around. Jira’s defaults get you started, but don’t stop there. Start customizing today to craft a board that mirrors how you actually work. It’s a bit of effort with huge payoffs—better clarity, smoother work, and a team that feels in control. When your Kanban board fits just right, workflows are easier, and everyone wins.

Remember, the perfect board is the one that feels natural for your team to use and adapt over time. So go ahead — make it yours!