A kanban board is a visual way to manage work in progress. The board is divided into columns, one for each stage the work passes through, and every piece of work is a card. Cards move from left to right as the work advances. Anyone who looks at the board sees three things at once: what is waiting, what is being worked on and where work is piling up. Kanban, the method behind the board, adds two rules that make it more than a coloured to-do list: each active column has a limit on how many cards it may hold, and people pull the next card only when they have room for it.
Columns are the stages of your process, not the people in it. The simplest board has three: To do, In progress and Done. For client work, add a fourth, Review, because work that waits for an internal check or a client’s approval is where deadlines often slip. Give each column a plain exit rule, such as “approved by the account manager”, so everyone knows when a card may move.
A card is one deliverable or task with one owner and a due date. If a card needs three people for three weeks, split it. Small cards move often, and a card that has not moved for several days is a signal to ask why.
A WIP (work in progress) limit is the maximum number of cards a column may hold at one time. When In progress is full, nobody starts anything new: the team first finishes what is already started or moves a stuck card forward. The limit makes overload visible instead of hiding it in a longer list, and when fewer things compete for the same people, each card tends to finish sooner.
"},{"heading":"Kanban board vs scrum board vs to-do list","html":"On screen the three look alike, and all three hold tasks. The difference is in the rules. A to-do list records what needs doing, with no stages and no limit, so it grows quietly. A kanban board adds stages and WIP limits and runs continuously: new work enters whenever a column has room. A scrum board belongs to Scrum, a framework that organises work in sprints, fixed periods of one month or less. The team commits to a set of items at sprint planning and starts each sprint with a fresh board. Client work rarely arrives in tidy sprints: requests, revisions and retainer deliverables come in all month, so a continuous board usually fits it better.
| Aspect | Kanban board | Scrum board | To-do list |
|---|---|---|---|
| How work is organised | Stage columns; cards move left to right | Sprint items move through stages | One list; items are ticked off |
| Time frame | Continuous, no fixed end | Sprints of one month or less | None |
| Limit on work in progress | A WIP limit per column | The scope committed for the sprint | None |
| When new work enters | When a column has room | At the next sprint planning | Any time |
| Roles | None required | Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers | None required |
| Fits best | Client requests, retainers, support, content production | Product development from a backlog | Personal tasks and small one-off jobs |
| In PLYNTUM | Board view on every plan | No sprints, story points or velocity charts | List view on every plan |
Here is what a kanban board for agencies can look like: a five-person marketing agency with monthly retainers and one website project. Its four columns are the same stages shown on the client board in PLYNTUM’s demo workspace: To do, In progress, Review and Done. The cards, owners and limits are an example, not a benchmark: start with them and adjust after two weeks of real work.
| To do | In progress (limit 5) | Review (limit 3) | Done |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dental clinic: November content plan (copywriter, due Monday) | Bakery chain: eight post designs for week 2 (designer, due Wednesday) | Law firm: landing page copy, waiting for the account manager (copywriter, due Tuesday) | Dental clinic: October report sent (account manager) |
| Hotel group: brief for the spring campaign video (account manager, due Friday) | Website project: homepage layout (designer, due Thursday) | Bakery chain: ads sent for client approval (ads specialist, due Wednesday) | Hotel group: monthly ad spend checked against budget (ads specialist) |
| Law firm: revisions from the client call (copywriter, due Thursday) | Hotel group: ad campaign setup (ads specialist, due Tuesday) | Website project: sitemap approved (designer) |
PLYNTUM’s online kanban board is one of five views of the same tasks: list, board, calendar, week and timeline. All five are on every plan, from Launch to Intelligence, and a change made in one view appears in the others. Boards belong to a company workspace, so each company keeps its own boards, fields and members. A card on the board is a full task: it belongs to a project, and the project belongs to a client. That is the difference from a standalone board: the card that shows progress also carries the hours logged against it.
Time is logged manually against the task on every plan; there is no background timer and no automatic or AI time capture today. From Core, project cost counts every logged hour, and a manager approves each person’s week, which locks it. See time tracking.
Task Composer is in development. It is designed to turn a brief into a draft plan that the team reviews before any work is assigned; buying a plan today does not activate it. Expanded team chat channels are also in development. WIP limits on columns are not among PLYNTUM’s listed board features, so agree them as a team rule and check them at the weekly review. More on projects and tasks.
"},{"heading":"Board limits by plan, and what it costs for a 10-person team","html":"PLYNTUM is priced per workspace with members included, not per user. Every plan has the board view; the plans differ in how many boards and projects a workspace can hold. For a team of 10, the matching plan is Core: $150 a month, or $120 a month billed annually ($1,440 a year), with 20 boards and 50 projects. If you keep one board per client, that is room for 20 clients. A team of five or fewer can start on Launch at $55 a month, with 10 boards and 20 projects. There is no free plan; Launch has a 7-day trial that needs no payment card.
| Plan | Members included | Boards | Projects | Monthly billing | Annual billing, per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | 5 | 10 | 20 | $55 | $44 |
| Core | 10 | 20 | 50 | $150 | $120 |
| Scale | 25 | No limit | No limit | $450 | $360 |
| Intelligence | 50 | No limit | No limit | $1,050 | $840 |
Beyond the board, Core adds timesheet approval, project profitability, billable rates and the client portal. Current limits and prices are on the pricing page.
"},{"heading":"When a standalone kanban tool such as Trello is enough","html":"If your team only needs to see work and move cards, standalone kanban board software is the simpler and cheaper answer. Trello, for example, organises work as boards, lists and cards, has a free plan, and is hard to beat for a small team that wants to see what is in progress. PLYNTUM costs more, and the difference is worth paying only when the board has to connect to hours, clients and money. A standalone kanban tool is enough when:
There is no Trello importer in PLYNTUM. Data import and export are on every plan, so move one client at a time: rebuild the open cards as tasks and leave finished cards in Trello. The Trello alternatives page compares seven options. Note that PLYNTUM’s AI Board is not a task board: it is a planned view of business risks, still in development.
"},{"heading":"Set up a kanban board in one week","html":"A board works when the team trusts it, and that takes a week of use on real work. Start with one client you are working for now, keep the four columns from the example above, and set up time logging and rules before you add more boards. The steps below work on every plan, including the Launch trial; only the weekly approval needs Core.
After the first week, move the next client. For the wider choice of agency tools, read the guide to agency management software; the terms used on this page are explained under work management.
"},{"heading":"Related pages","html":""}]},"keyFacts":[["What it is","A view of work as cards moving through stage columns, with a limit on work in progress in each column."],["Who it is for","Agencies and service companies that plan client work on boards and want the logged hours on the same task."],["Where it is in PLYNTUM","Projects and tasks: the board is one of five views of the same tasks, next to list, calendar, week and timeline."],["Which plan","The board view is on every plan: Launch, Core, Scale and Intelligence."],["Price from","$55 a month per workspace for up to 5 members (Launch), or $44 a month billed annually; 7-day trial, no free plan."],["Board limits","Launch: 10 boards and 20 projects. Core: 20 boards and 50 projects. Scale and Intelligence: no limit."]],"faq":[["What is a kanban board used for?","A kanban board is used to see and limit work in progress. Each task is a card that moves through columns such as To do, In progress, Review and Done. The board shows where work piles up, stops the team from starting new work before current work is finished, and gives everyone the same picture without a status meeting."],["What is the difference between kanban and scrum?","Kanban runs continuously: work enters when a column has room, and WIP limits cap how much is in progress. Scrum works in sprints of one month or less, with a set of items committed at sprint planning and the roles of Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers. Client work that arrives all month usually fits kanban better."],["What is a WIP limit on a kanban board?","A WIP (work in progress) limit is the most cards a column may hold at once. When the column is full, the team finishes or unblocks existing work before starting new work. WIP limits are not among PLYNTUM’s listed board features, so agree them as a team rule, for example one card in progress per person."],["Is PLYNTUM’s kanban board free?","No. PLYNTUM has no free plan. The board view is on every plan, starting with Launch at $55 a month per workspace for up to 5 members, with 10 boards and 20 projects. Launch has a 7-day free trial that needs no payment card. Core costs $150 a month for 10 members and includes 20 boards."],["Can clients see our board in PLYNTUM?","Not in the client portal. From Core, each client gets a private portal link showing their projects, invoices, payments and balance. Tasks, internal notes, tracked time and costs stay inside your team. If you want clients to work on cards with you, a board tool with guest access fits that better."],["Can I move my Trello boards into PLYNTUM?","There is no Trello importer. Data import and export are on every plan, so move one client at a time: archive the Trello board, rebuild the open cards as tasks in a PLYNTUM project, leave finished cards in Trello and log time from the first day."]]}