Kanban looks simple: cards on columns, move left to right, done. But most teams set one up, add every task they can think of, and end up with a board that's more like a parking lot than a workflow.

Here's what actually makes kanban work.

Start with the right columns

The default "To Do / In Progress / Done" works for solo projects. For teams, you need columns that reflect your workflow — not a generic one.

A good starting point for software teams:

Backlog — Unrefined ideas. Not yet ready to work on.
Ready — Refined, estimated, unblocked. Pull from here.
In Progress — Active work. Strict WIP limit (see below).
In Review — Code review / QA. Separate column keeps it visible.
Done — Shipped or merged. Archive regularly.

Notice "Backlog" is separate from "Ready." This distinction is critical. Tasks in backlog aren't ready to be pulled — they might need more information, design input, or a decision. Ready means genuinely ready.

Keep your column count between 4 and 6. More than that and the board becomes a status tracker rather than a flow tool.

Set work-in-progress limits

This is the most important thing you're probably not doing.

WIP limits cap how many tasks can be in a column at once. If "In Progress" has a WIP limit of 3, a fourth card can't enter until one exits.

Why this matters: when you force the team to finish before starting new work, you surface blockers immediately. A card stuck in "In Review" for three days becomes obvious. Without WIP limits, it would just sit there unnoticed while everyone starts new tasks.

Recommended starting limits:

In Progress: number of team members
In Review: half the number of team members

Adjust based on your actual flow. The right limit is the one that causes occasional constraint — if it never causes constraint, it's too high.

Use subtasks for anything over 2 days

A task that takes more than two days is almost always multiple tasks. Break it down.

Large tasks create false confidence — the board looks like things are moving, but one card sits in "In Progress" for a week while everything else waits. Granular tasks give you real visibility.

In Krokanti Tasks, subtasks are one level deep — which is intentional. If you find yourself wanting subtasks of subtasks, that's a sign the parent task is a project, not a task.

Priority is not the same as urgency

Most teams misuse priority. They mark everything "High" because it feels urgent, until the priority field becomes meaningless.

A cleaner model:

Urgent — Must ship this week. Blocks something else or has a hard deadline.
High — Important, should be next in queue.
Medium — Should happen this sprint/cycle.
Low — Nice to have. Will get to it eventually.
No priority — Default. Assign priority when you pull it into Ready.

The key: priority should answer "when should this be worked on relative to other tasks," not "how important is this in the abstract."

If more than 20% of your tasks are "Urgent," your urgency labels are broken. Audit and reset.

Do a weekly board review

Pick one day — Friday or Monday works well — and spend 15 minutes reviewing the board as a team:

Archive everything in Done.
Unblock anything stuck in In Review.
Pull items from Backlog into Ready if they're groomed.
Flag anything that's been in In Progress for more than a week.

This cadence keeps the board healthy. Without it, Done fills up, Backlog grows unchecked, and the board stops reflecting reality.

What to do when the board gets messy

It will get messy. Here's a quick rescue:

Too many tasks in progress? Stop starting, start finishing. Block new work until in-progress clears.
Backlog is overwhelming? Do a "backlog flush" — anything not touched in 60 days goes to archived or deleted.
No one moves cards? The board is probably too high-friction. Simplify columns.

The goal isn't a perfect board. It's a board that reflects what's actually happening so you can see problems early.

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