Use a kanban board in Jira
10 min
Beginner
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Identify a kanban board and its five elements
- Navigate a kanban board in Jira
- View boards and backlogs
- Identify a board's workflow
Explore kanban boards
A kanban board is a physical or virtual board that shows tasks visually moving through a workflow from beginning to end.
The board allows everyone on the team to have full transparency of the project and see how the work is organized. It also helps identify blockers and dependencies so work can continue moving forward.
The most basic kanban board has three columns: To Do, In Progress, and Complete. Columns can be added or changed based on your team's needs.
👇 Here's an example of a simple kanban board.
Kanban is a "pull" system. That means the team pulls new work items to the board when they have capacity.
This is different than a "push" system, where tasks are pushed to the team at a whim. Pull systems prevent anyone from being overwhelmed with too many tasks at one time.
The board is the foundation of the kanban framework. It's where all your work is organized and documented. You can think of the board as the source of truth for all work across your team.
👇 Click the boxes below to explore the five components of a kanban board.
View a kanban board in Jira
If your team uses kanban, your kanban board will be your home in Jira.
To view your board, select your project under Projects in the left sidebar. The Kanban board also appears in the horizontal tabs of your project.
👇 Select Board or Kanban board in the horizontal tab navigation.
If you don't see a Board or Kanban board option, you might be in a scrum board. You may need to change to a different board, or your team may not have a kanban board yet.