Kanban Board Views
The Kanban board offers four distinct visualization modes to match different working contexts. Switch between views instantly using the view toggle buttons in the toolbar, giving you the right perspective for planning, execution, or analysis.
The Problem This Solves
A single view cannot serve all needs. During sprint planning, you want to see all tasks in a sortable list. During daily work, you want the classic Kanban column layout. When reviewing progress, you want charts and metrics. Constantly switching between different tools or reports wastes time and loses context.
Multiple integrated views keep all perspectives within the same interface. Your data stays consistent, and switching views takes one click.
What You Are Looking At
The view toggle appears in the board toolbar as a group of four buttons with distinct icons. The currently active view shows with a highlighted state. Click any button to instantly switch to that visualization while maintaining your current filters and board selection.
Kanban View
The default Kanban view displays the classic column-based layout familiar to agile teams worldwide.
Layout: Work items appear as cards organized into vertical columns. Each column represents a workflow stage (Backlog, In Progress, Review, Done, etc.). Columns display horizontally, scrolling left and right as needed.
Features in this view:
- Drag and drop tasks between columns to update status
- Drag columns to reorder workflow stages
- Visual WIP limit indicators on columns
- Task cards with assignees, labels, and progress
- Column task counts in headers
- Quick-access column settings menus
Best for:
- Daily standup discussions
- Real-time work coordination
- Visual workflow management
- Drag-and-drop status updates
Keyboard and mouse: Click a task card to open its detail panel. Drag cards between columns to update workflow status. Hover over column headers to access settings.
List View
The list view presents all tasks in a tabular format optimized for scanning, sorting, and bulk operations.
Layout: Tasks appear as rows in a table with sortable columns. Key information displays inline without opening each task. The view supports pagination for large task sets.
Features in this view:
- Sortable columns for different attributes
- Compact density for seeing more tasks at once
- Quick access to task details
- Pagination for large projects
- Load more functionality for seamless browsing
Best for:
- Sprint planning sessions
- Bulk task review
- Finding specific tasks quickly
- Exporting or reporting needs
Pagination: Large projects paginate automatically. The view shows total task count and current page. Click "Load More" to fetch additional tasks without losing scroll position.
Flow View
The flow view provides analytics visualizations focused on workflow efficiency and throughput patterns.
Layout: Charts and graphs replace the card-based display. The Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) shows how work accumulates and moves through stages over time. Additional timeline views provide historical perspective.
Features in this view:
- Cumulative Flow Diagram with workflow breakdown
- Timeline visualization of task movement
- Historical trends for workflow stages
- Interactive chart elements for detailed data
Best for:
- Sprint retrospectives
- Identifying bottlenecks
- Tracking workflow improvements
- Capacity and throughput analysis
Reading the CFD: The Cumulative Flow Diagram stacks workflow stages as colored bands over time. Widening bands indicate work accumulating (potential bottleneck). Parallel bands show steady flow. The vertical distance between bands represents work-in-progress at any point.
Heatmap View
The heatmap view aggregates task activity and distribution into a visual density map, highlighting where work concentrates.
Layout: A grid or radial visualization shows task distribution across dimensions like assignees, time periods, or workflow stages. Color intensity indicates task density or activity level.
Features in this view:
- Visual representation of work distribution
- Activity hotspot identification
- Workload balance visibility
- Team capacity overview
Best for:
- Workload balancing decisions
- Identifying overloaded team members
- Spotting inactive areas
- Resource allocation discussions
Interpreting intensity: Darker or more saturated colors indicate higher task concentration. Use this to identify team members with too much assigned work or workflow stages where tasks accumulate.
Switching Between Views
Click any view button in the toolbar to switch instantly. The view change:
- Preserves your current board selection
- Maintains active filters
- Keeps your position in the project context
- Does not require page reload
You can switch views as often as needed during a work session. Each view loads data appropriate to its visualization needs.
View-Specific Filters
Some filters affect all views equally, while others have view-specific behavior:
Board selection: Affects all views. Changing boards refreshes all views with the new board's data.
Archived toggle: Shows or hides archived tasks across all views.
Search and filters: Applied consistently across views, though display varies by view type.
Performance Considerations
Different views have different data requirements:
Kanban view: Loads visible columns and task cards. Efficient for most project sizes.
List view: Paginates large datasets. Initial load is fast; additional pages load on demand.
Flow view: Requires historical data aggregation. May take longer to load for projects with extensive history.
Heatmap view: Aggregates current state data. Performance depends on task count and analysis timeframe.
Pro Tips
- View for the task: Use Kanban for quick status updates, List for finding specific tasks, Flow for retrospectives, and Heatmap for planning
- Keyboard shortcuts: Learn any view-switching shortcuts to move between perspectives without mouse navigation
- Consistent filtering: Apply filters in one view, then switch views to see the same filtered set from different angles
- Presentation mode: Flow and Heatmap views work well for team meetings and stakeholder updates
How to Report a Problem or Request a Feature
Your feedback matters. Here is how to share it:
If view switching behaves unexpectedly or you want additional visualization options, your input helps prioritize development.
In the Sidebar, click on Support Tickets and open a ticket for the problem. Everything is interactive and fast through the GitScrum Studio platform.