Visualize work progress with customizable Kanban boards for better task management
✓ Free to download · ✓ Excel 2016+ and Google Sheets · ✓ Custom version in 24h
A board in a spreadsheet is worth building only if it measures what a physical board cannot: how long things sit. This template timestamps column changes so cycle time and ageing are computable.
The actual columns, with sample rows
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Card | Owner | Column | Entered | Age (d) | WIP flag |
| 2 | Rework checkout | A. Duval | In progress | 2026-07-02 | 12 | ⚠ |
| 3 | Add SSO | K. Owens | In progress | 2026-07-11 | 3 | ⚠ |
| 4 | Fix invoice PDF | M. Ferrer | Review | 2026-07-13 | 1 | |
| 5 | Update docs | S. Novak | Backlog | 2026-06-20 | 24 |
Why each one is written the way it is
=TODAY()-[@Entered]
Days in the current column. Ageing is the signal a physical board hides completely — a card can sit in review for three weeks and look identical to one that arrived this morning.
=COUNTIFS(Cards[Column],[@Column],Cards[Owner],[@Owner])
Work in progress per person per column, for enforcing a WIP limit.
=IF(COUNTIFS(Cards[Column],"In progress",Cards[Owner],[@Owner])>WIPLimit,"⚠","")
WIP limit breach. The limit is the mechanism that makes a kanban board work; without it, it is a to-do list with columns.
=AVERAGEIFS(Done[Cycle],Done[Type],[@Type])
Average cycle time by work type, from the archive of completed cards. This is what makes a delivery forecast possible.
A worked example with real numbers
A four-person team had a healthy-looking board and a two-week average delivery time that felt much longer. Ageing by column showed cards spending 1.2 days in progress and 6.8 days in review — review was one person's part-time responsibility. Adding a second reviewer cut end-to-end time by more than half without changing how the work itself was done.
Tab by tab
| Tab | Contents |
|---|---|
| Cards | One row per card with column, owner and entry date. |
| Board | The board view, driven by the Cards table. |
| Done | Archive of completed cards with cycle time. |
| Metrics | Cycle time and throughput by type and week. |
| README | WIP limits and the rule for moving a card. |
What is included, and what to look at next
Specific to this workbook, not generic
Mostly you should not — dedicated tools are better boards. The case for a spreadsheet is when you want the history in a form you can analyse, or when the board has to sit alongside other data in the same file.
Start at one or two items in progress per person and lower it if throughput does not drop. High WIP feels productive and lengthens cycle time for everything.
From entering "In progress" to entering "Done", not from card creation. Backlog age is a different and less actionable measure.
"This Kanban board template has transformed our task management process. The visual workflow and metrics have helped us optimize our team's productivity significantly."