How it works
A kanban board shows your work as cards moving left to right: To do, Doing, Done. Personal kanban, as Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria describe it, has two rules: make your work visible, and limit how much is in progress at once. This board builds the second rule into its shape. Doing has a fixed number of slots, three to start (their guide suggests 2 to 3 for one person). A card you start takes a slot; a card you finish frees one. When every slot is full, nothing else can start until something finishes or you move it back, and the board tells you so instead of letting it slide.
You can rename columns, add up to six, and give any column its own limit, such as a Waiting column for things blocked on other people. Keep separate boards for work, home or a project.
Your boards stay in this browser on this device. Export a copy from Settings.
Questions people ask
- What is personal kanban?
- Personal kanban is a board of cards for one person's work, built on two rules: visualize your work and limit your work in progress. It was set out by Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria; the simplest board has three columns, often called To do, Doing and Done.
- What WIP limit should I use?
- Start small: the Personal Kanban guide suggests 2 to 3 things in Doing at once for one person, and this board starts at 3. The same guide says to look at the board regularly and adjust the limit based on what you learn; you can set it from 1 to 9 in Board settings.
- What happens when Doing is full?
- Nothing new can start until something finishes or you move a card back out. The buttons and drag say so instead of quietly letting a sixth thing in, which is the point of a limit: "When Doing is full, do not pull new work until something finishes," in the guide's words.
- Is this a free alternative to Trello?
- For one person's boards, yes: it's free, has no account and keeps everything on your device. It doesn't do what Trello does for teams (sharing, assignments, comments, attachments), and Trello's free plan covers up to 10 collaborators per workspace.
- Where are my boards kept?
- Only in this browser on this device; we never see them. Use Export in Settings to keep a copy or move them to another device.