Agile Project Management: Understanding Timescale and Kanban Integration for Enhanced Task Tracking"
Understanding Your Agile Project Management Tool: Timescale and Kanban Integration
Our Agile Project Management tool offers two powerful, interconnected views to manage your project tasks: the Timescale view and the Kanban board. These views work together to give you complete control over task scheduling, progress tracking, and resource allocation. Learn more about Agilebars in our product guide
How The Two Views Work Together
The Timescale and Kanban views share the same underlying data, ensuring that changes made in one view are immediately reflected in the other:
- When you drag a task bar on the Timescale, its position on the Kanban board updates automatically
- When you move a task between lanes on the Kanban board, its dates and progress on the Timescale update to match
This integration allows you to use whichever view best suits your current need while maintaining complete data consistency. Understand how data is structured
Kanban Board Organization
The Kanban board features four main lanes, plus a specialized "Finalizing" sublane:
- Backlog (Lane 0): Tasks that are planned but not yet ready to be worked on
- Will Do (Lane 1): Tasks that are scheduled and ready to begin
- Doing (Lane 2): Tasks that are currently in progress (25% complete)
- Finalizing (Sublane 2.75): Tasks that are nearly complete (75% complete)
- Done (Lane 3): Tasks that are 100% complete
Explore Agilebars Kanban features
Progress Calculation in Each View
Kanban Board Progress
Each lane on the Kanban board corresponds to a specific progress percentage:
- Backlog/Will Do: 0% complete, no actual hours logged
- Doing: 25% complete, actual start date set to status date
- Finalizing: 75% complete, actual start date set, approaching completion
- Done: 100% complete, both actual start and finish dates are set
Managing progress for burndown charts
Timescale Progress
The Timescale view calculates progress based on a task's position relative to the status date (the vertical line on the timeline):
- Task hasn't started (entirely to the right of status date): 0% complete
- Task in progress (straddling the status date): Percentage complete is calculated based on elapsed duration
- Task completed (entirely to the left of status date): 100% complete
How to use the Timescaled Canvas
Key Scenarios and Behaviors
Scenario 1: Moving Tasks on the Timescale
When you drag a task on the Timescale, its dates and progress are recalculated based on its new position relative to the status date:
Moving a task to start before and end after the status date: The task becomes "in progress" with a percentage complete based on elapsed time. Its Kanban position will update to either the Doing or Finalizing lane depending on the calculated percentage.
Moving a task completely before the status date: The task becomes 100% complete, and automatically moves to the Done lane in the Kanban board.
Moving a task completely after the status date: The task is reset to 0% progress, but its Kanban lane position doesn't change automatically.
Create, update and delete bars & metadata
Scenario 2: Moving Tasks on the Kanban Board
When you move a task between lanes on the Kanban board:
Moving to Backlog or Will Do lanes: Progress is reset to 0%, actual dates are cleared.
Moving to Doing lane: The task is set to 25% complete, actual start date is set to the status date, and forecast finish date is adjusted accordingly.
Moving to Finalizing sublane: The task is set to 75% complete, with dates adjusted to reflect this progress.
Moving to Done lane: The task is set to 100% complete, actual finish date is set to the status date, remaining duration becomes 0.
The user interface - Canvas and associated buttons
Scenario 3: Updating the Status Date
When the status date is updated (either through the admin panel or by using the current date):
- All in-progress tasks will be recalculated based on the new status date
- Tasks that now fall completely before the status date will be marked as complete
- Tasks that now fall completely after the status date will be reset to 0% progress
Working with Durations and Hours
Duration Calculation
Task durations are always calculated in working days, automatically excluding weekends and holidays:
- When resizing a task on the Timescale, its duration is recalculated based on working days
- If a task spans a weekend or holiday, these non-working days don't count toward the duration
- All dates (start, finish, etc.) will automatically adjust to fall on working days
Hours and Costs
The system maintains four key metrics for each task:
- Forecast Hours: The total estimated hours for the task
- Actual Hours: Hours already spent (calculated based on % complete)
- Remaining Hours: Hours left to complete (Forecast - Actual hours)
- Percent Complete: Derived from actual hours / forecast hours
Costs follow the same pattern and are calculated based on hours. How to manage user controlled data
Fixed Sizing vs. Flexible Sizing
The system can operate in two modes:
Fixed Sizing: The forecast hours never change when a task is resized or progress is updated. Only actual and remaining hours are recalculated.
Flexible Sizing: The forecast hours can increase or decrease when a task's duration changes (e.g., when resizing a task).
This setting can be configured in the admin panel. Using spreadsheet sync for configuration
Tips for Effective Use
- Use the Timescale view for detailed scheduling, adjusting dates, and visualizing the project timeline
- Use the Kanban board for quick progress updates and workflow management
- The status date is your reference point for all progress calculations - keep it updated
- Finalize tasks using the specialized lane when they're nearly complete to better track closing efforts
- Resize tasks on the Timescale to adjust their duration as estimates change
By understanding the integration between these views, you can take full advantage of this tool to manage your agile projects efficiently and with maximum visibility. Learn about our product innovations
Published: March 16, 2025
Last updated: March 25, 2025