What tools for managing Kanban would you recommend?
+8
A:
agilezen.com - simple & effective. The least friction I have seen from any agile planning tool, and as near as I've seen to cards and a whiteboard.
AgileZen is simple, and effective if it meets the needs. But it's not really a terribly-complete implementation of Kanban. Its creator has even said as much (at least to me, personally). AgileZen is a good start, but its too limited to teach you the fullness of what Kanban has to offer over the time that you use it.
Scott Bellware
2010-07-11 23:57:36
@Scott: When we spoke back before we launched AgileZen, what I actually said was that we aren't interested in being the "most accurate" kanban tool. It's possible that large organizations may benefit from a complex implementation of kanban, but with AZ, we're more interested in providing a simple and flexible way to manage any sort of project-oriented work. The vast majority of users simply don't need a "complete implementation" of kanban (whatever that is), and we don't want to require that our users earn a Ph.D. in queue theory before using our product.
Nate Kohari
2010-10-04 21:06:39
Couldn't agree more. As developers, we tend to want to throw tools at a solution rather than focusing on the process. Kanban is all about the process and improving that process... whiteboard and post-its are the least likely to get in the way.
mkedobbs
2009-12-16 07:05:09
+1
A:
We use a cork board and index cards, much as Pascal Thivent uses a whiteboard and post-it notes. For tracking metrics, we use Excel, although any spreadsheet program would work just as well. This allows us to easily create cumulative flow diagrams.
Update:
The Limited Work In Progress society is now maintaining a list of tools.
Chris Simmons
2009-10-14 03:44:06
+1
A:
You need a tool that will allow you to easily tweak and change your process as you begin to understand your cadence better. You won't get it right the first time, and so you need the flexibility.
Ideally, if your team is colocated, you do this on a whiteboard or cork board as others have said. Low-tech and totally malleable.
AgileZen (aglezen.com) is pretty solid as Jacob mentioned, and new features are being added constantly. I would use this for my team but a hosted solution is not an option for us due to company policies.
Scott C. Reynolds
2009-10-16 12:45:47
+1
A:
Version 4 of the excellent GreenHopper plugin for JIRA has KanBan support. I'm not sure if it's any good, but on the basis of Atlassian's track record, it's almost certainly worth looking at.
skaffman
2009-10-16 12:49:44
Atlassian acquired GreenHopper in June 2009 ago but GreenHopper has been initiated by Pyxis Technologies. Things might have changed with the acquisition but my experience (prior to the acquisition) isn't really positive, that plugin was just too heavy, driving me totally crazy (you really want this kind of tools to be fast).
Pascal Thivent
2010-01-27 15:37:55
+3
A:
If you are using multi-tier boards and like the look and feel of whiteboards and sticky notes, you should check out LeanKit Kanban
Board Image - http://tinypic.com/r/2j3gtjs/6
Stephen franklin
2009-12-05 04:57:39
A:
Presently, LeanKitKanban leads the pack specifically for a Kanban implementation in a hosted app.
All of the available tools are somewhat naive about their interpretation of Kanban and of what's important in a tool and a user experience. They tend to be overly-narrow perspectives of Kanban and Lean by only that part of software product development that is populated by programmers. But then, programmers are the folks most likely to build an app. I hope that we'll get a truly awesome Kanban app/service at some point - one built by a whole product development organization rather than just by passionate programmers jumping on the Next Big Thing.
For the time being, I find LeanKit to be the one that has the least naive implementation of Kanban, but I'll jump at a tool that reflects Lean more holistically and goes beyond mere automated enforcement of work-in-process limits.
Scott Bellware
2010-07-12 00:04:55
So Scott, are you saying that your tool is going to meet that need? Aren't you just a software developer too?
Nate Kohari
2010-10-04 21:08:25