Organize Your Chaos: Building a Kanban Board for Writers

You’ve built your backlog. You’ve brain-dumped the chaos.

Now, it’s time to turn that beautiful mess into something you can actually see. Welcome to the power of the Kanban board — your new best friend for writing progress. Or life progress. Don’t let me stop you.

What’s a Kanban Board? (In Writer Terms)

At its core, Kanban is just a visual way to track your work.
You take all those tasks from your backlog and move them across a simple board as you work on them.

Usually, the board has three columns:

• To Do (Stuff you’re planning to work on soon)

• Doing (Stuff you’re actively working on right now)

• Done (Stuff you actually finished — yes, you get to celebrate)

That’s it. Seriously. That’s the whole system.
No complicated apps, no spreadsheets, no color-coded madness required (unless you want that—and if it is, I see you).

Why Writers Need Kanban

Because why not? Writing a book isn’t one task.
It’s dozens (sometimes hundreds) of tiny tasks stitched together over time.

When you use a Kanban board, you:

• See your real progress (even when it feels slow)

• Focus on fewer tasks at once (hello, sanity)

• Build momentum by moving things into “Done”

And let’s be honest — few things are more satisfying than dragging a sticky note into the Done column with a dramatic flourish.

How to Build Your First Kanban Board (No Tech Needed)

You can set this up in five minutes:

1. Draw three columns: To Do | Doing | Done

2. Fill the To Do column with 5–10 tasks from your backlog.

3. When you start working on something, move it to Doing.

4. When it’s finished, move it to Done.

5. Rinse and repeat.

Low-tech? Use a wall or whiteboard and sticky notes.
Digital? Tools like Trello, ClickUp, or even Google Sheets work great too.
Bonus? It’s weirdly fun to watch your Done column grow.

Keep It Agile: Tips for Kanban Success

• Limit your Doing column.
  Seriously. Only 1–3 tasks at a time. Multitasking kills focus faster than a plot hole in Act 2.

• Break down big tasks.
  “Finish draft” is too big. Try “Write 500 words” or “Edit Chapter 3 dialogue.”

• Celebrate Done.
  Moving tasks into Done is a real win. Small wins = finished books.

It seriously is that simple.

You don’t need more willpower to write a book.
You need a system that shows you where you are and what’s next — without overwhelming you.

Kanban keeps it simple, visible, and actually (dare I say it?) fun.

Want a freebie? I’ve made a small Kanban board at the end of the Agile Author Starter Kit. It works beautifully with 1 3/8 x 1 7/8 Post-It notes. (Post-It, hit me up, slide into my DMs, shoot me an email…. I collect every color of Post-It Note! No? Okay. If you change your mind…)

Next up, we’ll talk about how to work in short, powerful bursts using sprints — because doing everything at once isn’t the vibe anymore.