Improve Team Efficiency With JIRA Kanban Boards
JIRA, from Atlassian, started as one of the bug-tracking programs for the development of software. Over the time, numerous features have been added to it, including project administration tools.
The functionalities of JIRA, however, is debatable. Some say it is difficult to use, while others find it easy. Irrespective of the difference in opinions, it is a fact that support and development teams all over the world use JIRA to solve critical issues.
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JIRA Kanban Boards
The essence of Kanban, pronounced as Kanban, is centred around work management processes, such as monitoring the Work-in-Progress (WIP), and ensuring Just-in-Time delivery (JIT) to customers.
Kanban boards are basically high-capacity visual tools that deploy an Agile Methodology to enhance the consistency of a project development, as well as the efficiency of team members working on it.
The smart boards bring to light various dependencies and setbacks across the organizational line, delivering an end-to-end solution that is capable of tracking the progress of work from its conceptualization till its delivery.
JIRA Kanban boards provide real-time reports on expected completion time, and the bottlenecks delaying a project in easy-to-view columns, which adds more visual power with overlapping knowledge within the team for in-depth analysis. This promotes team work in work environments without the dependency on one single person.
The Kanban boards, also known as smart-sheets, enable team members to pick up any task and complete it with shared knowledge through code reviews, allowing continuous integration in the ecosystem where any team member can code as well as test a development.
Kanban smart-sheets can be deployed relatively easily, without disrupting the already existing systems. In order to apply Kanban boards in Atlassian JIRA, users will have to execute it through the ‘JIRA Agile plugin’ available at Atlassian. The plug-in provides support for both Kanban boards, as well as Scrum.
The JIRA Kanban board is unique, because, in contrast to other popular methodologies like Scrum, it holds the whole team accountable for the assigned work items, instead of making any single person particularly responsible for cycling of the tasks.
The Evolution of Kanban Board
The origin of Kanban, however, dates back to as early as the 1940s, when it made its industrial debut as a manufacturing process management model in Japan’s Toyota Motor plant. The principle of Kanban is simple, and basically, revolves around the supply model used by stores to keep track of stock in order to meet the customer demands.
Toyota implemented the same system in its manufacturing environment to make sure parts and other necessary items reach the factory floor on time. A Kanban (Card) was used by the production unit to send orders to the storehouse for the supply of parts, and the storehouse, in turn, passed it to suppliers to ensure that proper quantities are available with them as and when required.
Later, a digital version of the Kanban model was developed to recreate the same environment, where work items can be passed on throughout the organizational level so that respective teams can conceptualize, share, and deliver solutions in real-time.
The Beauty of Virtual Smartsheets
The digital Kanban board of modern times, integrated into software applications like JIRA, also follows the simple card and whiteboard model to resolve and accomplish several mission-critical project tasks.
The Card View on Kanban board can introduce extensive details about the project, which enable cross-platform developments, real-time updates of work status, and up-to-date-reports. Work items are presented as digital cards, available to any team member, who can easily drag them through the columns.
Today’s internet connected Kanban boards can facilitate deep collaboration with remote teams, increase the overall visibility, and leverage seamless accessibility, with complete support for documentations and source codes.
Integration of JIRA Data Into Kanban Smartsheet
The Kanban Card View is an automated work management platform, which allows flexible views that help team members to adjust and prioritize work more vividly. The smart-sheet manages resources more efficiently, accelerates the work process, and ensures that work is performed in a systematic way.
Integration of JIRA data into the Kanban smartsheet adds rich features and functionalities like including images, colour coding, and custom fields that heighten visuality and focus of the entire team.
A simple installation of the JIRA add-on can do the magic. It can map columns, customize the fields, update information in real-time, highlight issues, overview the running of a project, and utilize conditional formatting in the smartsheet to drive a powerful and intuitive interface.
