kanban

ProgressionTimelineSeries

Kanban board — columns of cards by stage.

Colour coding

Use for status snapshots: what's in each lane (todo/doing/done or similar). Each column is a stage; each card is a work item. By default the board is a calm grid of neutral cards and spends colour only on STATUS, so a flagged card is the focal point; opt into keyline (colour-code cards by category) or tinted (colour-code columns by stage) when colour coding earns its keep.

swimlaneworkflowstatusagileownership

When to use

Status snapshot by stage. When the audience needs to see what is in each lane right now — backlog, in progress, review, done. The board reads as the current state of the work, not its history or schedule.
Mixed card density is informative. Lanes that bulge or thin out tell the story — a fat 'in progress' column flags a WIP overload; an empty 'review' column flags a handoff stall. The visual imbalance is the signal.
Cards carry size and status meta. Trailing inline-code badges (S/M/L/XL) sit in the title row; status pills (at-risk, blocked) push right on the meta row. The card stays scannable while the second channel of information rides along.

When not to use

Schedule, not status. If the question is when each task ships rather than where it sits today, reach for gantt (spans) or roadmap (phases). Kanban is a snapshot, not a timeline.
More than five lanes. Past five columns the cards compress and the column headers crowd. Group adjacent stages or split into two boards (e.g. by team) instead.
Cards without meta. A board of bare titles wastes the layout's affordances. Add at least a size badge and a lane label so the audience can scan workload and ownership at a glance.

Authoring

<!-- _class: kanban -->

`Eyebrow · context`

## Board status today.

- Backlog
  - First card `S`
    - team-a
  - Second card `M`
    - team-b `at-risk`
- In progress
  - Third card `M`
    - team-a
- Done
  - Fourth card `S`
    - team-b

Slots

Slot	Selector	Required	Description
`title`	`h2`	yes	Slide heading.
`lanes`	`ul > li`	yes	Three levels. Outer li = column header as plain text (e.g. Backlog). Each inner li = a card: title then a trailing inline-code size badge (S/M/L/XL; other codes are left in the title). Each card may carry its own nested bullet = a categorical lane label, optionally with a trailing status pill, e.g. - platform `at-risk`. A column titled Done / Completed / Shipped / Closed dims its cards. Status vocabulary matches the shared chart set (on-track / done / live / at-risk / warn / blocked / fail / deferred / pilot / decision).

Anatomy

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  header                                 │
│  Kanban heading.                        │
│                                         │
│  TODO         DOING        DONE         │
│  [card 1]     [card 4]     [card 7]     │
│  [card 2]     [card 5]     [card 8]     │
│  [card 3]     [card 6]                  │
│                                         │
│  footer                           1/19  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Variants

`keyline` — Keyline — colour by category

Restores category coding as ONE disciplined cue: every card is the same neutral tile marked by a single crisp coloured left edge, so a reader can scan one workstream's load down a column without the old per-card paint-swatch. Status stays on the chip.

<!-- _class: kanban keyline -->

`Delivery · week 30`

## Same board, now you can see who owns what.

The left edge colour-codes each card by workstream, so one team's load reads down a column at a glance — without the surface turning into a patchwork.

- Backlog
  - Per-team weighting `S`
    - framework
  - Calibration playbook `M`
    - governance
  - Adoption dashboard `S`
    - adoption
- In progress
  - Scoring model v2 `M`
    - framework `at-risk`
  - Board reporting pack `L`
    - governance
- Review
  - Weekly signal review `S`
    - adoption
- Done
  - Signal taxonomy `M`
    - framework
  - Pilot onboarding `S`
    - adoption

`tinted` — Tinted — colour by stage

Moves colour off the cards and onto the COLUMNS: each lane is whisper-tinted by pipeline stage with a hue-keyed header underline, while cards stay uniformly neutral and lift off the lane. Reinforces the left-to-right flow; status stays the one accent chip.

<!-- _class: kanban tinted -->

`Delivery · week 30`

## Colour tracks the pipeline, so the eye reads left to right.

Each lane is tinted by stage — backlog through done — so the shape of the flow registers before any single card does.

- Backlog
  - Per-team weighting `S`
    - framework
  - Calibration playbook `M`
    - governance
  - Adoption dashboard `S`
    - adoption
- In progress
  - Scoring model v2 `M`
    - framework `at-risk`
  - Board reporting pack `L`
    - governance
- Review
  - Weekly signal review `S`
    - adoption
- Done
  - Signal taxonomy `M`
    - framework
  - Pilot onboarding `S`
    - adoption

ganttschedule of overlapping tasks across lanes, not current state
roadmapphased grid of deliverables across workstreams
checklistsingle list of items with done/in-flight/planned states
verdict-gridoptions scored against shared criteria, not stage-tracked