A Kanban board for client projects: columns that work

A Kanban board is a set of columns that work moves through, one card per task. For a freelancer the columns matter more than the tool: the default To do, In progress and Done hide the one state that delays most client projects, which is waiting for the client. This guide is part of the time and projects hub; the client onboarding checklist covers setting the board up at kickoff.

The six columns

The difference between Waiting on client and Review is who owes the next step and what kind. Waiting on client means you can't start or finish without something from them. Review means you finished and they need to approve. Keeping them separate tells you, at a glance, whether a late project is late because of you or because of them, which is the conversation you need to have when a deadline slips.

Set a work-in-progress limit

A WIP limit caps how many cards can sit in a column at once. The Kanban Guide treats controlling work in progress as one of the minimum parts of any Kanban system, and its 2020 edition describes limits set per column or per group of columns. For one person the useful limit is on Doing: two or three cards. When Doing is full you finish or move something to Waiting on client before you start anything new. Without the limit, Doing turns into a second Next column and nothing reaches Done.

1. Count the cards you actually touched last week; that is your real capacity.
2. Set the Doing limit to two if most tasks take more than half a day, three if they're shorter.
3. Write the limit in the column name, for example Doing (max 3), so you see it every time.
4. When a client sends something urgent and Doing is full, move a card back to Next and say so in your reply.

One board per client or one board for all?

Example: a website project on a board

That last card is where boards earn their keep. A request that lands in Inbox and isn't in the agreed scope gets priced before it reaches Next, which is the habit described in handling scope creep. Dates on Waiting on client cards are also what you'll point to if the project timeline moves.

Common mistakes

• Cards that are projects, not tasks. "Website" never moves; "Homepage mobile layout" does.
• No date on blocked cards. Without it you can't tell a two-day wait from a two-week one.
• Leaving Done full forever. Clear it at the end of each project so the board shows current work.
• Too many columns. Every column is a decision about where a card goes; six is plenty for one person.

Set it up in SoloWOS

1. In Notes & Boards, create a board and attach it to the client's project, so its pages and tasks show up together.
2. New boards start with To do, In progress and Done. Rename them and add columns until you have the six above; a board can have up to 12.
3. Open the Done column's settings and keep it marked as the done column, so tasks moved there count as completed.
4. Add tasks with due dates and labels, and start the Time Tracking timer from a task when you begin work on it.
5. Optional: an automation can add a task to the board when a form comes in or a proposal is accepted, so new work lands in Inbox on its own. See automations every freelancer should set up.

SoloWOS boards have no built-in WIP limit setting, so put the limit in the column name. If you are choosing between tools, the comparison of Notion vs Trello and the Trello alternative page cover the trade-offs.