Kanban Skill

Purpose

Manage work items through a visual workflow board, tracking tasks from inception through completion. This skill provides a lightweight but structured way to organize, prioritize, and monitor work without leaving the agent conversation.

The board is a thinking tool, not just a tracking tool. Making work visible exposes bottlenecks, forgotten tasks, and scope creep.

Workflow

Board Structure

The default kanban board has these columns:

Column	Meaning	WIP Limit
Backlog	Identified but not started	None
Ready	Refined and ready to pick up	None
In Progress	Actively being worked on	3
In Review	Completed, awaiting verification	2
Done	Verified and complete	None
Blocked	Cannot proceed -- needs resolution	None

WIP limits (Work In Progress) prevent overcommitment. If In Progress has 3 items, finish or move one before starting another.

Task Structure

Each task on the board has:

### [ID] [Title]
- **Status**: [column]
- **Priority**: Critical | High | Medium | Low
- **Created**: [date]
- **Updated**: [date]
- **Assignee**: [who -- typically "agent" or "user"]
- **Tags**: [searchable labels]
- **Description**: [what needs to be done]
- **Acceptance criteria**: [how to verify completion]
- **Blockers**: [what is preventing progress, if any]
- **Notes**: [additional context, decisions, links]

Actions

Action: View Board

Display the current board state.

Render the board as a table or column layout:

| Backlog | Ready | In Progress | In Review | Done | Blocked |
|---------|-------|-------------|-----------|------|---------|
| T-005   | T-003 | T-001       | T-004     | T-002| T-006   |
| T-007   |       | T-008       |           |      |         |

Show task summaries under the board -- ID, title, priority for each active task.
Highlight issues:
- WIP limit violations (column over limit)
- Stale tasks (in same column for too long)
- Blocked tasks (need attention)

Action: Add Task

Create a new task on the board.

Parse the task description from user input.
Assign an ID -- Sequential: T-001, T-002, etc.
Set defaults: Status = Backlog, Priority = Medium, Created = now.
Prompt for missing info if critical:
- Acceptance criteria (what does "done" look like?)
Add to the board and confirm.

Action: Move Task

Change a task's status (move between columns).

Identify the task by ID or description match.
Validate the move:
- Is the target column valid? (No skipping columns without explanation)
- Would this violate WIP limits?
- If moving to Done, are acceptance criteria met?
Apply the move and update the timestamp.
If blocked, prompt for blocker description.

Action: Update Task

Modify task details (priority, description, notes, etc.).

Identify the task by ID or description match.
Apply updates -- Only change what is specified.
Record the update in task history/notes.

Action: Archive

Move completed tasks to archive and clean the board.

Identify Done tasks that can be archived.
Move to archive with completion date and summary.
Update board statistics.
Optionally invoke plan-archive for tasks associated with a plan.

Action: Stats

Analyze board health and workflow metrics.

Count tasks by status and priority.
Identify bottlenecks:
- Which column has the most tasks? (potential bottleneck)
- How long are tasks sitting in each column?
- Are there stale tasks (no updates in 3+ interactions)?
Calculate throughput -- Tasks completed per session/day.
Identify risks:
- Too many tasks in progress (spreading thin)
- Too many blocked tasks (systemic issue)
- Empty Ready column (planning needed)
- Overflowing Backlog (scope creep or prioritization needed)
Produce the stats report:

## Board Statistics

| Column | Count | Avg Age | Oldest |
|--------|-------|---------|--------|
| Backlog | 5 | 2d | 5d |
| In Progress | 3 | 1d | 2d |
| Blocked | 1 | 3d | 3d |

### Health Indicators
- WIP: 3/3 (at limit)
- Blocked: 1 task needs attention
- Throughput: 4 tasks completed today
- Bottleneck: Review column (2 tasks waiting)

### Recommendations
- Unblock T-006 before starting new work
- Review T-004 and T-009 to free up Review column

Board File Format

When persisting to a file, use this format:

# Kanban Board

> Last updated: [timestamp]

## Backlog
### T-005: Set up CI/CD pipeline
- **Priority**: Medium
- **Tags**: devops, infrastructure

### T-007: Add rate limiting to API
- **Priority**: High
- **Tags**: security, api

## Ready
### T-003: Write user authentication tests
- **Priority**: High
- **Tags**: testing, auth

## In Progress
### T-001: Implement user registration endpoint
- **Priority**: High
- **Tags**: api, auth
- **Notes**: Schema is defined, starting controller logic

## In Review
### T-004: Design database schema
- **Priority**: Critical
- **Tags**: database
- **Acceptance**: ERD reviewed, migrations tested

## Done
### T-002: Project scaffolding and configuration
- **Priority**: High
- **Completed**: [date]

## Blocked
### T-006: Integrate payment gateway
- **Priority**: Medium
- **Blocker**: Waiting for API credentials from payment provider

Usage

View the board

/kanban
/kanban show board

Add tasks

/kanban add: Implement password reset flow (high priority)
/kanban add: Write API documentation (medium, tags: docs)

Move tasks

/kanban move T-001 to review
/kanban T-003 is done
/kanban T-006 is blocked -- waiting on third-party API access

Update tasks

/kanban update T-001 priority to critical
/kanban T-005 note: decided to use GitHub Actions

Get stats

/kanban stats
/kanban What is blocking progress?

From a plan

/kanban Create board from the authentication plan

Examples

Example: Creating a board from a plan

Input: Plan with 3 phases, 8 tasks total

Output: Board created with 8 tasks, all in Backlog. Phase 1 tasks tagged with phase-1 and moved to Ready.

Example: Identifying a bottleneck

Input: /kanban stats

Output: "3 tasks in Review, only 1 in Progress. The bottleneck is the review stage. Recommend reviewing T-004 and T-009 before starting new development work."

Guidelines

WIP limits are not suggestions -- They are rules. Finishing work is more valuable than starting work.
Blocked is a status, not a graveyard -- Blocked tasks need active resolution. Flag them prominently.
Tasks should be small -- If a task sits In Progress for more than a day, it is probably too large. Break it down.
Acceptance criteria matter -- A task without acceptance criteria is a task that is never truly done.
Update the board, do not let it rot -- A stale board is worse than no board. It gives false confidence.
Archive completed work -- Done tasks should not clutter the board. Archive them and celebrate progress.
The board reflects reality -- If reality changed, update the board. Do not pretend the plan is still valid.
Prioritize ruthlessly -- Not everything is high priority. If everything is high, nothing is.

kanban

SKILL.md.claude/skills/kanban/SKILL.md