Kanban board examples: 8 boards from different settings

A kanban board example shows how the same idea, visible work with limits, adapts to different settings. This guide gives eight illustrative boards, each with columns, WIP limits and the problem the board revealed.

All eight are constructed examples, not case studies. The numbers are made up to show the logic, so set your own limits. The kanban method explains the principles behind them.

Key takeaways

Every kanban board lists workflow steps as columns and caps the work each step can hold.

The same layout idea works in factories, hospitals, offices and personal life.

A board usually reveals a queue or bottleneck within days of going up.

A kanban card needs only the details the next person needs.

What does a good kanban board example show?

A good example shows the workflow, the limit on each step and the delay the board exposes. Without the last part, a board is only decoration.

Read each example below for three things. What are the columns, where is the limit, and what became visible?

If you want ready-to-copy layouts rather than stories, see the kanban board template guide.

Manufacturing: two-bin replenishment

The two-bin system is a classic physical kanban example, and it uses no board at all. A workstation holds two bins of a part. When the first is empty, it is sent for refill and the second bin is used.

Columns, in effect: Full bin in use, Empty bin returning, Full bin waiting. The limit is two bins per part.

Say a part runs out when a refill takes longer than the second bin lasts. The system shows this at once, so the team resizes the bin or speeds up refilling. This is the pull logic of just-in-time and a pull system, as used at Toyota.

Hospital bed management

A hospital bed board treats each bed as a card and each ward step as a column. It shows where patients wait, which is often discharge rather than admission.

Columns: Admission planned, In bed, Ready for discharge, Discharge in progress, Bed cleaning, Bed ready. Limit: the number of physical beds, with a cap on Bed cleaning.

Say many cards sit in Ready for discharge by late morning. The board shows that a bed is blocked by paperwork or transport, not by demand. This kind of visual flow is common in lean healthcare.

HR hiring pipeline

A hiring board puts each candidate on a card and moves them through stages. It shows where candidates wait, which affects whether they stay interested.

Columns: Applied, Screening (limit 10), Interview (limit 5), Offer (limit 2), Accepted.

Say Interview fills to its limit while Screening keeps feeding it. The board shows that interviewer time is the constraint. The team can add interview slots or stop adding screens until space opens.

Marketing content kanban board

A marketing board follows each piece from idea to publication. It shows how many pieces are half-finished at once.

Columns: Ideas, Briefed (limit 5), Drafting (limit 3), Design (limit 2), Review (limit 2), Scheduled, Published. Swimlanes can separate blog, email and social.

Say Design always holds two cards and Drafting keeps handing it more. The board shows design as the bottleneck. The team may batch visuals or pair writers with a template to relieve it.

Software team board

A software team board is a common knowledge-work example. It comes from David J. Anderson's work on the Kanban Method in the 2000s. It shows where code waits between steps.

Columns: Backlog, Analysis (limit 2), Development (limit 4), Review (limit 2), Testing (limit 3), Deploy, Done.

Say Review keeps overflowing. The board shows that developers start new work instead of reviewing. The team then agrees to review before starting a new card. See kanban project management for the method in detail.

Sales pipeline board

A sales board is a kanban board where each card is a deal. It shows how many deals one person can really work at a time.

Columns: Lead, Qualified (limit 15), Proposal (limit 6), Negotiation (limit 4), Closed. Limit: a cap per person on active proposals.

Say a rep has ten open proposals but time to chase only six. The board shows that extra proposals age without a decision. Setting a limit pushes the rep to follow up before sending more.

Personal task board

A personal board uses a few columns and a small limit to stop you starting too much. It is the simplest example to try this week.

Columns: Backlog, This week (limit 5), Doing (limit 2), Waiting, Done.

Say you move cards into Doing until nine are open. The limit stops that at two, and the Waiting column shows tasks stuck on other people. A free kanban board is enough to run this.

IT support board

An IT support board tracks tickets and uses classes of service to protect urgent work. It shows how long routine tickets wait behind urgent ones.

Columns: New, Triage (limit 3), Working (limit 6), Waiting for user, Resolved. Swimlanes: Urgent (limit 2) and Standard.

Say the Urgent lane is always full. The board shows that most urgent tickets are repeats of the same fault. The team can fix the cause, using a method such as the five whys.

What does a kanban card example look like?

A kanban card holds a title, an owner, a start date and anything that blocks it. Keep it short, because the board must be readable at a glance.

Example card fields: Title: Update returns policy page. Owner: Sam. Started: 3 March. Type: Standard. Blocked: waiting for legal wording.

Add a finish date when the card is done. Start and finish dates give you cycle time, which the flow metrics tools page covers.

Common patterns across the examples

In every example, the board exposes a queue in front of one constrained step. The fix is rarely working harder. It is limiting what enters that step.

Limits also reveal how much work was hidden. Teams often find more open items than they expected.

To see how work in progress, throughput and cycle time connect, use the Little's Law calculator. For the full method, read the kanban pillar guide.

Frequently asked questions