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Kanban Tasks

Create a Kanban Diagram

A Kanban diagram is a board that allows team members to visualize work items that are represented as colored cards. The board is divided into a number of lanes and team members move the cards from left to right as work is completed towards providing value to the customer.

You can create a Kanban diagram by taking an existing diagram and setting its Kanban properties, but it is easier to use one of the diagram types provided by the MDG Technology for Kanban Diagrams as a starting point and then change its properties to suit your own project.

Step

Action

See also

1

In the Project Browser, right-click on the parent Package and select the 'Add Diagram' command.

2

In the 'New Diagram' dialog, select 'Kanban' in the 'Select From' list, and choose from the four diagram types (Basic, Backlog, Iteration and Complete). Give the new diagram a name in the 'Diagram' field and click on the OK button.

 Add New Diagrams

3

If you can't find 'Kanban' in the list, you must enable the Kanban MDG Technology.

 Manage MDG Technologies

Add Elements to a Kanban Diagram

Work items are represented visually on a Kanban diagram but first must be added to the diagram. They can be elements that already exist in the repository or new elements dragged from the Kanban toolbox and dropped onto the diagram. Any element type can appear on a Kanban board but the most typical types are Features, User Stories, Defects and Changes, Use Cases, Scenarios and Requirements are also sometimes added.

When you drop an element onto a Kanban diagram, the lane it is added to depends on whether the diagram has a property value defined, and also whether it has a default lane. If the Kanban diagram has a property value defined and the new element's property matches one of the lanes, then it will be added to that lane. Otherwise, it will be moved into the default lane, or to the right of the last lane if no default lane has been nominated.

You can define the Default lane on the 'Lanes' page of the 'Kanban Options' dialog.

The Kanban Toolbox page will open automatically whenever you open a diagram created from the MDG Technology for Kanban Diagrams. The Toolbox page provides a default set of elements that you can use to represent units of work on your Kanban diagrams, but any type of element can be added.

Step

Action

See also

1

Open your Kanban diagram. The Diagram Toolbox should appear with the Kanban page selected automatically.

  • If the Diagram Toolbox doesn't appear, click on the >> button in the top left corner of your diagram
  • If the Kanban page isn't automatically selected, click on the More tools button in the Toolbox and select 'Kanban' from the list

2

Drag elements from the Kanban page onto the Kanban diagram. The page provides these element types:

Import a Kanban Workflow Pattern

Each organization or team will typically want to define their own workflow that is appropriate for the initiatives they work on and each might have a number of workflows defined for different types of initiatives. While this can be done from scratch it is much easier to use one of the built-in Patterns, either 'As-Is' or as a starting point. A workflow can be made up of any number of Kanban boards linked together into a single workflow, for example a three stage workflow would contain three separate boards. Each board can be configured with any number of lanes and sub-lanes representing the stages in that part of the workflow. Team members can move Work Items between lanes in a single board and also between the boards that make up the entire workflow.

Kanban Workflow model Patterns help you to very quickly set up a one-, two- or three-stage workflow, using and linking the Backlog, Iteration and Complete Kanban diagrams.

Step

Action

See also

1

In the Project Browser, select the Package under which to create the Workflow Pattern.

2

Click on the Project Browser header and select the 'New Model from Pattern' option, or press Ctrl+Shift+M. The Model Wizard window displays.

3

Select the 'Model Patterns' page and, under 'Technology' in the left pane, select 'Business'. In the right pane, in the 'Kanban' group, click on the checkbox against one or more of the Patterns and then click on the OK button. The Patterns you can choose from are:

  • 1 stage workflow
  • 2 stage workflow
  • 3 stage workflow
 Kanban Workflow Patterns

4

If you have the 'Customize Pattern on import' checkbox selected, prompts display to select the Packages to import in the Patterns. Each Pattern contains one Package, which is automatically selected. Click on the OK button for each Pattern.

5

Open each of the new diagrams and consider whether they fit with your own workflow preferences. The diagrams provided can be changed to suit your style of working.

Moving Kanban Items

Work Items flow through Kanban boards typically from left to right as work is performed moving the item closer to delivering business value for the customer. In a one stage workflow work items will be move through a series of lanes through a single board but in workflows that are comprised of more than one Kanban board the items will also jump from one board to the next. For example in a two stage workflow there ia a backlog board and items will be prioritized in the board based on their priority. The work items which have the highest priority in the Backlog then need to be moved to the Iteration Board where implementers will pull them into the In-Progress lanes.

Moving Items in a Kanban Diagram

Moving items within a Kanban diagram is simple and intuitive and can be achieved by dragging and dropping a work item from one location to another. If an item is moved within the same lane its position is simply changed in that lane. If an item is dragged to a different lane and the lanes are bound to an element property or user defined Tagged Value the value of the item's property or tag will also be changed.

Step

Action

See also

1

Select the item in the Kanban diagram

2

Drag and drop it into a new position either in the same lane or a different lane

Notes

When an item is moved between lanes and the lanes are bound to a property or Tagged Value the value of the property or Tag will be automatically changed.

Example

Moving Items between Kanban Diagrams

Items can be moved between Kanban boards by using a drop zone positioned to the right of the diagram. The drop zones have the name of the other diagrams in the workflow and elements on the current board can simply be moved by dragging and dropping them on the drop zone.

To move the work item to another Kanban board simply drag it onto the appropriate zone (with the same name as the diagram you are moving elements to) and select 'Move to' to move the element to the new diagram or 'Create link on diagram' to create a link on the second diagram without removing it from the current diagram.

Step

Action

See also

1

Select the item in the Kanban diagram

2

Drag the item to the right of the Kanban diagram Lanes

3

Drop the item on the appropriately named drop zone element.

4

Select 'Move to' to move the element to the new diagram or 'Create link on diagram' to create a link on the second diagram without removing it from the current diagram

Example

In this diagram a work item representing a defect is being moved from the critical lane of a Backlog Kanban board to the Iteration board.

Search for Kanban Diagrams

A well organized repository will assist in quickly locating specific Kanban diagrams, but in large and complex initiatives it is common for some team members to need to search for Kanban Boards. Enterprise Architect has an easy-to-use yet sophisticated search facility with a built-in search to find all Kanban diagrams in the repository. Having located a diagram the user can continue moving objects from left to right across the board, contributing to the team's effort focused on providing value to the customer.

Step

Action

See also

1

Select the 'Construct > Task Management > Kanban > Find Kanban Diagram' ribbon option.

The search is immediately executed and the located diagrams are listed in the Find in Project view.

2

Double-click on any Kanban diagram that you want to open.

Layout Filter Panel

A project of any appreciable size will typically have a large number of in-flight work items, and product owners and team members will often want to filter the selection of items based on a set of conditions, such as high priority requirements or those applying to particular stakeholders or people. This can be achieved using filters at two levels; either the expedient ribbon Filter or the more sophisticated and persistent Diagram Filters facility.

Kanban diagrams with a large number of elements can be quickly filtered in real time using the Layout ribbon Filter panel.

  1. Access the Filter panel.
  2. Select the Filter property and the operator (if appropriate), and specify a search term.

Elements not matching the specified condition will be obscured in the filtered diagram.