[Event Follow-Up] ‌🎓‌ Learn: Intro to Kanban Boards with Adobe Workfront

How to access Boards

We had lots of questions on how to access Boards!  

The Boards feature is available to all licenses, but you'll need to have your system administrator make it available on the Main Menu on the user’s Layout Templates. For more info, here’s the article: 

Customize the Main Menu using a layout template 

Interested in new Boards features? Here’s the article for Early feature opt-in for Adobe Workfront Boards. 

23.2 Agile Release Features 

Interested in the individual Agile enhancements included in the latest release? Here are some links to the short demos: 

• [Article] Add tasks and issues from object details to a Workfront board or workstream 
• [Video ~2min] Iteration functionality available in Adobe Workfront Boards 
• [Article] Add tasks and issues from lists and reports to a workstream card list 
• [Article] Add custom fields to cards on a board   
  • Note - this was demo'd live during the event!
    
• [Article] Add tasks and issues from lists and reports to a Workfront board 
• [Article] Log hours on connected cards on a board 
• [Video ~2min] Customize display of fields on a card 
• [Video ~2min] Define a default status for cards moved into a board column 
• [Video ~2min] Collections now available in Adobe Workfront Boards 
• [Article] Estimation field on connected cards maps to Story Points field on Workfront objects 

Natalie Mitchell @NatalieM27 and Patrick Muir @PatrickMu1 - do you have particular favorites from this last release? What are you looking forward to most for the future of Boards?

Tips for Kanban Ceremonies 

Like all Agile Methodologies, Kanban is supported by regular ceremonies to ensure that the team is working as efficiently as possible. Here are some of the great ideas that were shared. 

• For Planning:  
  • For our scrum projects we have our backlog groomed 8-10 sprints out, but we work in 2-week sprints. Anything out past the current and next sprint is easily adjusted but gives stakeholders an idea of when their projects are scheduled and allows for greater visibility for prioritization.  Thank you, Cori Zufelt! 

• For Stand-ups 
  • Only core members can speak at stand-ups. Everyone else, including Execs are strictly silent observers. 
  • Daily stand-ups are a requirement; they should be just long enough for quick updates. Keep it short (15-minutes). For long talkers, one team member talked for as long as he could hold a heavy kettle bell! 
  • One of our team leads was having issues with long talkers. So, she started using this timer app for each discussion  https://standuptimer.app/ 
    • Thank you, Natalie Mitchell & John Burbank!

• For Retrospectives:  
  • My boilerplate for retrospectives: "In my retrospective meetings, speak freely. There should be no worry of repercussions as this is an opportunity for honest discussion. That said, try to refrain from strong language (F-bombs can be so tempting!). Be deferential, respectful of others' perspectives, and when possible, facilitate productive conversations with topical, productive questions. This is a safe space - please be mindful that we all strive to build solutions with the best of intentions in mind."  Thank you, Neal Gardner @nealgardner_mattel! 

WIP Limits and Release Dates 

One of the coolest features of Boards is the Work in Progress Limit (or WIP Limit) and inspired some questions around the feature and release dates.  

• Q: How do you manage different WIP that are in different states and have different release dates? For example, how do you include the desired date the business wants to have a feature delivered and the team is working on multiple stories that have different desired release date? 
• Q: Do you have to have certain, specific release dates?  We used to do 1 or 2 times per month, but now we release to Prod every Friday.  Release to test goes as needed all week. We track these dates by using a custom field - Prod Install date 

Here are the ideas that were shared: 

• A: You can organize your work in sprints to coincide with planned completion. 
• A: here are a few different ways you can approach this. First, I would say that delivery dates should influence (not dictate) your priority. Second, I would say that "done" does not equal delivered/released. What i have seen work is essentially using a "done" column as a holding pen, even calling it "Ready to Release" or something like that. That way you know what's ready to go. You can also divide up your "ready to release" items into the appropriate dates to keep track of what is going when. It's really up to you to decide what works best for staying organized, but I think the biggest point is to make a distinction between done/ready to release and actually released. 

Thank you Herve Antoine @14629347 and Meghan Kaminski for the questions, and Neal Gardner and Natalie Mitchell for the ideas!

For more information on WIP Limits and Using Connected Cards, check out these articles: 

• Manage the Work in Progress (WIP) limit on a board 
• Use connected cards on boards 

Some “How To” Questions 

We had tons of engagement in the chat, so sharing a few highlighted questions and answers! 

Q: Can assignments on Boards show up in Workload Balancer if you are using boards for some teams and not others? 

A: Yes, as long as the Boards information is connected back to Workfront projects. 

Q: Can one do Kanban if some tasks are assigned to a Team and some to a specific person? 

A: Yep, absolutely. Just make sure that when an individual as tasks assigned to them and tasks they can take from a team assignment, they have clear understanding of what the top priorities are. 

Q: Where do I create custom team statuses vs custom group statuses? 

A: Here's some info on creating statuses! https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/workfront/using/administration-and-setup/customize/statuses-priority-labels/create-or-edit-a-status.html?lang=en 

• Pro-tip: You set the custom statuses at the group level.  If you want them associated with a team you could create a team that maps directly to a group.    

Q: Can assignments on Boards show up in Workload Balancer if you are using boards for some teams and not others? 

A: Yes, as long as the Boards information is connected back to Workfront projects. 

Q: Can we create a card from within the project/task that is auto-added to our Kanban board?  Our studio works out of a Kanban in Smartsheet separate from our Workfront instance, and I'm looking for an easy way to pull it into Workfront.  

A: By setting up your intake column correctly, it will automatically pull in the appropriate tasks from a project. https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/workfront/using/agile/agile-planning-boards/add-intake-column-to-board.html?lang=en 

I've created a Kanban board and have my intake sources setup correctly, which populates my backlog column with specific tasks from existing projects.

When I re-assign a card (or drag/drop it to the appropriate assignee) that person sees the task on their home screen.

If that person then starts the task (so it changes from New to In-Progress), the status of the task in the project and on the card (in the Kanban board) changes to In Progress however the card itself never moves to the In Progress column.

Is this expected behavior? Do cards need to be manually dragged to the appropriate column, or should they automatically move to the appropriate column when the status has changed?

@cynthiaboon Where would I find the most recent information on Kanban Boards. We are currently in the process of piloting Workfront for other teams/departments in our org and they use Kanban Boards; however, our team has not utilized this feature previously. They are currently able to define what custom fields are displayed on the cards and I am not sure how that works in Workfront. Also are you able to display only tasks for cards or can you display projects for the cards? Nichole, Leslie and you are always such a great resource for information. I am grateful for whatever guidance you can provide.

Thanks much!