I wrote elsewhere in this blog about the ‘texture’ of self-organizing teams. There I referred somewhat obliquely to the notion of a project ‘taskboard.’ Here, I want to describe what a ‘taskboard’ is and why I think it is so important to an agile team, particularly a team that is new to each other, or new to the agile way of working.

Here’s a picture of a taskboard (taken from Mike Cohn’s website):

Here’s a snapshot of an actual taskboard from a team I worked with some years ago:

In short, the taskboard shows progress for a given iteration or ’sprint’. At the beginning of an iteration, the team plans the work for that iteration, writing down tasks on index cards or PostIt notes, and pins or tapes them in the ‘To Do’ column. During the course of the iteration, the team meets each day to plan that day’s work. With a taskboard, team members can move tasks from the ‘To Do’ column into the ‘In Process’ column, or from the ‘In Process’ column into the ‘Verify’ column and so on. As the iteration unfolds, the team can readily see their progress as those cards move (or don’t move) across the board.

See Mike Cohn’s discussion of taskboards for more information on taskboards.

Yes, But … Why Taskboards Rather Than Software Tools?

Some organizations love to use software tools for managing iterations and sprints. I prefer taskboards for the following reasons:

1. They make things more visible in ways that make the most immediate and best sense to the team. Teams almost always find ways to customize their taskboard, through color coding of cards, adding stick-ons, etc. This makes it easy for a team member to, at any moment, look up at the board and see where things stand.

2. Taskboards facilitate more active and interactive iteration and sprint planning meetings. I find that when team members can plan together, informally, around a wall–taping and pinning work items up as they discover them and while they discuss the work they intend to do–with lots of chaos and talking and scheming, there is more aliveness and hence more alertness. Planning meetings go more quickly; they become an occasion for subtle forms of ‘team-building’ and bonding; and team members come to be more invested in the work since they so actively participating in defining it.

3. Taskboards facilitate more active and effective daily stand-up meetings. When teams can have their daily meetings around the taskboard, moving task cards as they discus their progress and what they commit to do for the day, everybody can see everything and, thus, have a clearer sense of what is happening. This builds confidence for team members. Also, it is another one of those ‘texture’ things which come together and support greater team collaboration, cross-functionality, and self-organization.

4. Gives managers a good reason to visit the room. With software tools its very easy to simply send management a report of the team’s progress. However, if there is a taskboard (along with burndown charts), a manager can walk into the team workroom and see in a matter of seconds what the team’s progress is. Meanwhile, they can get a sense of how the team is doing in other ways since, presumably, they will be working right there in the room.

5. Taskboards give teams yet another opportunity to put their personal stamp on their physical environment. When teams and groups can make their physical space their own it helps them in the important process of self-organizing since it allows them to define, together, aspects of their ‘identity’ as a team.

While software tools certainly help a team ‘manage’ their project, the loss of these subtler qualities is extremely expensive.