How to Create a Custom Board in Kanbantool

Jack Wallen walks you through the process of creating a custom Kanban board using the cloud-centric Kanbantool service.

Kanban boards have become an integral part of project management. There’s a good reason for that. Kanban boards give you an at-a-glance view of the status of a project in a way most other project management tools can’t. And there are many services that offer Kanban boards, many of which also focus on other elements found in project management platforms, like Gantt charts and calendars.

However, one service goes the purist route and only offers Kanban boards, and that is Kanbantool. This service has an excellent user interface for creating Kanban boards and includes features such as task archiving, multiple projects, power-ups for additional functionality, real-time collaboration, time tracking, Android and iOS apps, third-party app integration, on-premises hosting , flexible workflow editor, board cloning, task transfer between boards, customizable card templates, up to 15 custom fields, file attachments and card cloning.

SEE: Hire Kit: Project Manager (TechRepublic Premium)

So, if you’re looking for a project management tool that focuses solely on Kanban, Kanbantool might be for you.

I’m going to show you how to take your first steps with this platform by creating a custom board.

What you need to create a custom board with Kanbantool

All you need is a web browser and a valid Kanbantool account. I suggest you start with the free tier so you can kick the hoops to see if this service is a good fit for you.

If you are interested in another pricing option, Kanbantool offers three tiers:

• Free: 2 boards for 2 users
• Team: $5 per user per month for unlimited boards and unlimited file attachments
• Company: $9 per user per month for unlimited boards, unlimited file attachments, time tracking and reporting, user group management, and process automation

However, the free tier should be enough for this tutorial. That’s it. Let’s create the first board.

How to create your first custom board

Login to your Kanbantool account and you should see two cards: Start with a Welcome Board and Create a Custom Board (Figure A).

Figure A

Click Create Custom Board.

The first step is to give your board a name and click Next (Figure B).

Figure B

In the next window you define the workflow for the board (Figure C). Essentially, this creates the different columns that you will use.

Figure C

By default you see 4 columns. You can rename these as needed. Once you name the fourth column, a fifth will appear. You can add as many columns as you like before clicking Next.

The next window allows you to customize the types of work items that appear on your board (Figure D).

Figure D

These items can be customer orders, reports, requests, maintenance, or pretty much anything you need to add to the cards on your board. Fill them out and click Next.

You can then choose a background for your board and create some initial tasks before clicking Create Board (Figure E).

Figure E

You can create some initial tasks or just click Create board and you will be taken to your new custom Kanban board (Figure F).

Figure F

Congratulations, you are now ready to manage your projects with the ease of Kanban and the simplicity and elegance of Kanbantool.

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