Generally, Kanban Board is a visual tool used for project management and optimizing workflows. It is usually designed in a way that teams are able to visualize their tasks, limit work in progress, and maximize efficiency. Kanban board is an effective tool in agile methodologies. Azure boards can be used to customize Kanban board to match the way a Software development team plan to work to ensure a successful delivery.

Basically, Kanban boards consist of the following components:

(a) Visual signals: At a glance, members of the team can assess the workflow and ascertain what has been done, any adjustment to be made, and next steps to be taken.

(b) Columns: Each column on the board represents a stage in the workflow such as To Do, In Progress, and Done. These are arranged from left to right to show how the work is progressing.

(c) Cards: These are used to represent work items on the board. They contain details about the tasks such as its status, priority and others.

(d) Limiting Work In Progress: This is an essential principle in using Kanban board. Number of tasks allowed in each column should be limited to avoid overloading so that the work can flow smoothly.

In this blog we will have a glimpse of how to customize Kanban board with Azure boards. This article is a continuation of the concepts I demonstrated in an article, Using Azure Boards to manage Sprints and Capacity

Come on, let's set out!

Step 1
Log in to Azure DevOps portal, in the list of Boards items, select Boards. On the Boards tab, click on the cogwheel icon for Configure board setting

Step 2
On the Settings panel, select the Tag color tab, then click on +Tag color
In the Tag textbox, type data and leave the default color in place. In this case the color is yellow.

Step 3
Next on the Settings panel of the Configure board settings, select the Annotations tab

As you can see here, the Annotation is enabled. This will make the child work items of that type easily accessible by clicking the visualization on each card.

Step 4
Select the Tests tab on the Settings panel. This will enable you to configure how tests appear and behave on the card
Now, click on Save and close to save the Styling rule.

Step 5
On the Board tab of the EShop-Web panel, open the work item representing the As a customer, I want to view new tutorials backlog item.

At the top of the panel, by the right side of the 0 comments entry, click Add tag and in the textbox type data and press the enter key
Click the Add tag again and enter ux in the textbox and press the enter key
Then, click on Save and close

The two tags data and ux are now showing on the card with data having color yellow as specified in Step 2 above

Step 6
Back on the Boards panel, click on the Configure Board setting cogwheel icon by the right side of the funnel icon
Select the Columns tab, click + Column
Under the Column name label, in the Name textbox, type QA Approved
In the WIP limit textbox, type 1. The figure 1 here signifies that its only one work item that should be in this stage at any point in time.

Step 7
On the Settings panel, click on the Column tab again. In front of QA Approved created earlier, there is an ellipsis, click on it and hold your cursor on it to move it twice to the right so that it will now be in the middle of Committed and Done. Then click Save and close

To make the QA Approved column visible on the Kanban board view, refresh the Boards portal

Step 8
Drag the work item, As a customer, I want to see tutorials I recently viewed from the Committed stage to the QA Approved stage

Drag the work item, As a customer, I want to view new tutorials from the Approved stage to the QA Approved stage

There is a signal on the panel showing figure 2 in red indicating that this stage has exceeded its limit. So we have to move the item, As a customer, I want to see tutorials I recently viewed
back to the Committed stage

Step 9
Go back to the Boards panel and click on the Configure board settings cogwheel icon by the right side of the funnel icon
On the Settings panel, select the Columns tab and go to the QA Approved tab. Here, we want to turn on split column. This will address the issue of when work gets moved into a column and when it actually starts. It will show the actual status of work in progress.

Scroll down to the bottom of the QA Approved panel, you will see the Definition of done textbox, type Passes all tests. This is a qualification that will apply to any work that is actually done.
On the Settings panel, click Save and close

As seen in the image below, the split consists of two columns, Doing and Done.

Also, the image below shows how the Definition of done appears on the Board panel

Step 10
Adding Swimlanes to your Kanban board enables you to visualize the status of work that supports different service-level classes.
Click on the Configure boards settings cogwheel icon and on the Settings panel, select the Swimlanes tab
Next, click on + Swimlane
In the Name textbox under the Swimlane Name label, type Expedite.
Now click Save and close

Step 11
Go back to the Board tab of the Boards panel, drag the work item on Committed stage and drop it on QA Approved|Doing stage of the Expedite Swimlane. This will make the work item have priority when the QA bandwidth becomes available

That is it! We have customized a Kanban Board. If you find this helpful kindly drop your feedback in the Comments section