Project Management with Kanban Boards (as a Solo Business Owner)
Organise projects (and your life!) easily with Kanban boards, even as a one-person business owner, solopreneur or freelancer.
Please don't be put off by the fancy name 'Kanban', because there is absolutely nothing complicated about this tool - you might even be using one already without knowing!
A Kanban board is a visual tool originally coined by companies that use the ‘Lean/Agile’ methodologies in their business (particularly software, technology and engineering companies, but other industries use these too!) that helps a team of people keep track of what's going on in a project.
That being said, you can absolutely use these if you work alone - I use them for most aspects of my work AND life!
What is a Kanban board?
In the image above, I have illustrated a basic Kanban board (see, I told you it was simple!). You can draw these columns out on a white board or a large piece of paper.
Firstly, you (and traditionally your team if you were working with others) break up your project into chunks and write these chunks onto post-it notes, adding them to the 'To Do' column. As you go along, you move the post-its along throughout the columns so everyone, and yourself, knows what's going on.
Can you tell I'm a fan of post-it notes, by the way?
You can add extra information to these post-it notes (eg. who's responsible for the activity on the card, or how many hours you think it'll take). And you can also customise a Kanban board for your own needs too!
You may find it useful to add another column called 'Review' for your project, for example.
Traditionally, software companies might use this column to signal that their code needs to reviewed by a colleague as a quality check, but as a solo business owner, you could use this column to show that clients are reviewing your work here. If edits are requested, a post-it may need to move back to 'To Do', or if not, it is then moved along to 'Done'.
What is a virtual Kanban board?
Kanban boards don’t have to be physical whiteboards or pieces of paper - another option is to create a virtual Kanban board using a digital project management tool.
Using an online tool means you can access your kanban from anywhere, and you can add extra information that you wouldn't be able to easily on a physical board.
I use (and love) Trello for this; it has a great free plan and is incredibly intuitive. For example, you can add colour coded labels, attachments, descriptions, comments and due dates to cards (ie, post-its), as well as assign 'members' to each one if you did want to collaborate with a team or clients here.
(I have a full blog post on how to choose which project management tool is best for you and comparisons here too!).
Pros of virtual kanban boards:
You can access them from anywhere!
(Online, on apps or in the cloud)You can share them with anyone at any location
(whether that’s a team, clients or contractors)You can add much more detail to the cards/virtual ‘post-its’
(eg. colour coding, descriptions, attachments and more)You can automate and customise these endlessly
(I show how to do this in my Organised Designer’s Hub course)
Cons of virtual kanban boards:
They're not ‘in-your-face’ like a big whiteboard in your office
(You may forget to look at them)Some people prefer the physical act of moving a post-it
PS. In my course - The Organised Designer’s Hub - I give you allll my Trello templates that keep my clients, projects and business organised and streamlined!
Why use a Kanban board?
1 | THEY'RE GREAT FOR VISUAL PEOPLE
If you're a creative or just generally visual person, a Kanban board is so much more useful than just a list of 'To Dos' scribbled on a notepad.
2 | THEY'RE SIMPLE & EASY TO UNDERSTAND
If you're taking on a new team member, or are asked to show anything to a client, it is incredibly easy for people to instantly grasp the concept and understand what stage the project is at.
3 | THEY'RE A LIST-MAKER'S DREAM
Moving tasks along the columns and physically (with your hand or dragging with a mouse!) putting things in the 'Done' section is super, super satisfying. At the end of the day, you can look in this column and see exactly what you've accomplished.
4 | THEY CAN BE USED IN A NUMBER OF SITUATIONS
For example, you can use this to show your sales/client on-boarding process if that's your jam!
I've also written a blog post about how to use Trello as an editorial calendar for your blog or email marketing strategy.
These are just very simplified examples, but on Trello you can customise these to be super detailed and include subtasks and automations. I show you all of this inside The Organised Designer’s Hub.
5 | THEY ARE THE NO #1 THING THAT KEEPS ME ORGANISED
I couldn't live without using my Trello virtual Kanban boards. I've been using them for years (even before I knew what they were called), and I honestly find them the most effective way to keep on top of tasks in work and in life.
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