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

Agile Project Management: Understanding Timescale and Kanban Integration for Enhanced Task Tracking"