The poster is a limited size with columns known as lanes. The lanes are designed to be used with the standard sticky notes that you commonly find in offices. These notes are 3 inches x 3 inches. You can use larger notes but do not use smaller notes. Each lane holds 6 notes vertically and 2 notes horizontally for a total of 12 notes, with exception to the planning lane and bottom and left gutters. Put as many stickies as you want in the planning lane but never put more than 12 in each of the other lanes. Individuals using the board may want to only use 6 stickies per lane.
It works because it turns intangible tasks into tangible tasks.
Some will use the vertical position of the stickies to indicate priority. Some prefer to use color to indicate that or to indicate the type of task.
The bottom gutter is where you place blocked tasks. They may be blocked by a user or stakeholder, they may also be blocked by a vendor.
One strategy is to place the vendor blocked tasks on the left, tasks block by something internal like accounting or a colleague are placed in the center of the gutter, and customer / user / stakeholder blocked tasks on the right.
- Bug (red)
- Feature (green)
- Option (blue)
- Gotta have it (red)
- Need to have it (green)
- Nice to have it (blue)