What visual tool helps teams understand the current and planned flow of work?

The Kanban board is a visual tool designed specifically to help teams manage their workflow effectively. It displays the current and planned flow of work by using columns to represent different stages in the process, such as 'To Do,' 'In Progress,' and 'Done.' Each task or work item is represented by a card that moves across the board as it progresses through the workflow. This visualization allows team members to quickly assess the status of tasks, identify bottlenecks, and plan their work accordingly, fostering better communication and collaboration within the team.

While the Scrum framework provides a structure for managing work and emphasizes iterative progress through sprints, it does not serve as a visual representation of workflow in the same way a Kanban board does. Resource allocation charts detail how resources are assigned over a project but do not represent the flow of individual tasks. Project timelines focus on scheduling and deadlines but lack the real-time visual tracking of work items that a Kanban board offers.