Using Swimlanes to Supercharge Your Kanban Board
Vertical columns on a Kanban board show the stages work moves through, but what about categorizing tasks in other ways? That's where swimlanes—horizontal divisions on your board—create a powerful additional dimension for organizing and visualizing your work.
What Are Swimlanes?
Swimlanes are horizontal rows that span across your Kanban board, intersecting with the vertical columns. They create a grid that allows you to categorize work in multiple ways simultaneously:
- Vertical columns show workflow stages (To Do, In Progress, Done)
- Horizontal swimlanes group related items by a different attribute
This two-dimensional approach dramatically increases the information your board can convey at a glance.
Benefits of Using Swimlanes
Adding swimlanes to your Kanban board offers several advantages:
- Improved organization: Group related tasks visually
- Enhanced clarity: See patterns and distribution across categories
- Better resource allocation: Visualize who's working on what
- Risk management: Identify imbalances in work distribution
- Simplified prioritization: Dedicate lanes to high-priority work
- Process differentiation: Show different workflows for different types of work
Common Swimlane Arrangements
There are many ways to structure swimlanes, depending on your needs:
1. By Priority
Create swimlanes for different priority levels:
- Expedite: Emergency or time-critical items
- High Priority: Important but not urgent work
- Normal: Standard work items
- Low Priority: Nice-to-have items
This arrangement ensures high-priority work is always visible and receives appropriate attention.
2. By Team Member or Role
Dedicate a swimlane to each person or role:
- Designer
- Developer
- QA Tester
- Content Writer
This shows each person's workload and helps balance assignments.
3. By Work Type
Separate different categories of work:
- Features
- Bug Fixes
- Technical Debt
- Documentation
This helps ensure attention is distributed appropriately across work types.
4. By Product or Project
Organize work by the product or project it belongs to:
- Product A
- Product B
- Internal Tools
- Customer Support
This arrangement helps teams working on multiple products simultaneously.
5. By Class of Service
Group by how items should be handled:
- Standard: Normal workflow items
- Fixed Delivery Date: Items with specific deadlines
- Expedite: Items that bypass normal WIP limits
- Intangible: Research or learning tasks
This approach helps apply different policies to different types of work.
Implementing Swimlanes Effectively
Follow these best practices when adding swimlanes to your Kanban board:
Start Simple
Begin with just 3-4 swimlanes. You can always add more complexity later as your team gets comfortable with the system.
Establish Clear Criteria
Define explicit rules for what goes in each swimlane to avoid confusion:
- "Expedite lane is only for issues affecting multiple customers"
- "Technical debt lane requires approval from the tech lead"
Apply Lane-Specific Policies
Consider different handling rules for different lanes:
- Different WIP limits per lane
- Special approval requirements for certain lanes
- Lane-specific acceptance criteria
Avoid Too Many Divisions
If you have too many swimlanes, you lose the visual benefit. Typically, 3-7 swimlanes is optimal for most teams.
Review and Adjust
Periodically review your swimlane structure:
- Are there lanes that are consistently empty?
- Do some lanes become bottlenecks?
- Is there a better way to categorize work?
Advanced Swimlane Techniques
Once you're comfortable with basic swimlanes, try these advanced approaches:
Collapsible Swimlanes
Some digital Kanban tools allow collapsing unused or less relevant lanes to reduce visual clutter while maintaining organization.
Temporary Swimlanes
Create special swimlanes for:
- Quarterly objectives
- Special initiatives
- Time-limited projects
These can be added and removed as needed.
Nested Swimlanes
Create hierarchical organization with sublanes:
- Team A
- Developer 1 - Developer 2
- Team B
- Developer 3 - Developer 4
This works well for large, structured organizations.
Mixed-Mode Boards
Combine different swimlane types on the same board:
- High-level swimlanes for major projects
- Mid-level swimlanes for teams
- Low-level swimlanes for individuals
Common Swimlane Challenges and Solutions
Challenge: Overlapping Categories
Problem: A task could belong to multiple swimlanes (e.g., both "High Priority" and "Feature").
Solution: Decide on one primary categorization dimension. Use color-coding, tags, or icons for secondary dimensions.
Challenge: Too Many Empty Cells
Problem: A grid with many swimlanes creates many empty cells, making the board hard to read.
Solution: Consolidate swimlanes or switch to a different categorization scheme that better fits your work distribution.
Challenge: Tracking Items Across Lanes
Problem: Items sometimes need to move between swimlanes (e.g., priority changes).
Solution: Establish clear protocols for when and how items can change lanes, and ensure these movements are discussed during standups.
Swimlanes for Personal Kanban
Individual users can also benefit from swimlanes:
- Work/Personal/Health: Balance different life areas
- Energy Levels: Group tasks by required mental energy
- Locations: Organize by where tasks can be completed
- Projects: Separate different personal initiatives
Implementing Swimlanes on Free Kanban Boards
On your Free Kanban Boards, you can implement swimlanes by:
- Creating distinct sections on your board
- Using consistent labeling to maintain visual organization
- Color-coding cards to reinforce their swimlane categorization
- Maintaining clear visual separation between lanes
By thoughtfully implementing swimlanes on your Kanban board, you add a powerful dimension of organization that helps teams better visualize, prioritize, and manage complex work across multiple categories. Whether you're managing varied work types, balancing team workloads, or ensuring attention to different priorities, swimlanes transform a simple board into a sophisticated visual management system.