What are lanes for and how to use them

You can add a horizontal division into lanes (tracks) on FlowFast boards.

Lanes are usually used to categorize tasks on the board - dividing tasks by priority, class or performer.

We advise to use lanes on boards if:

• you have a lot of tasks on your board;

• these tasks should go through the same stages of work (columns);

• these tasks can be broken down into groups in some way;

• you want to avoid confusing the tasks and make the board more visible.

Scenarios for using lanes

1. Dividing tasks on the board by priority

If you have many tasks on your board with different priorities, lanes can help highlight the highest priority tasks. The performers will understand which lane is most important for them to take the card to work from.

Create separate lanes for each type of task based on priority. For example, "High Priority'"and "Regular". Place the high priority lane at the top of the board and the lower priority lane below.

Agree within the team which tasks are most important and place them in the "High Priority" lane - so they are always at the top of the board.

2. Divide tasks on the board by performer

You can create different lanes for each performer so each employee knows where their tasks are located.

And your manager will see the progress of each employee directly on the board.

3. Divide tasks on the board by customer/client/requester

If tasks on your board come from different customers/clients/requesters, create separate lanes for each customer.

This way, all cards from the same person (or department) will be in the same place on your board. You can manage your resources more efficiently, and your customers/clients can easily track the progress of their tasks.

4. Divide tasks by functions performed

You can divide tasks by lanes if they belong to different functions or departments. For example, divide the targeted advertising tasks from the contextual advertising tasks, or the tasks of the branch office in city A from the tasks of the branch office in city B.

5. Separating backlog / queue tasks 

Lanes can not only be used on the working board but also on the queue one. This will help to prioritize and filter the tasks before they are even distributed to the boards.

You can create your own scenarios for using lanes - FlowFast doesn't limit you in any way!