The Problem
The first column on your Kanban board is often where everything starts: ideas, questions, half-baked thoughts, feature requests. The problem is, they all pile up.
You may think: “I need to write it down or I’ll forget it.”
But if your board becomes too long to scan at a glance, it’s not helping you remember anything — it’s just noise.
At Ampron, we hit this exact wall. So we restructured our board around Work-In-Progress (WIP) limits — and more importantly, we separated types of ideas to regain control.
The Fix: A Smarter Kanban Structure
We separate the workflow into five big buckets:
💡 Big Ideas (WIP-limited)
This is where unfiltered, early-stage ideas go.
To avoid clutter, we group ideas into theme cards — for example:
🗂 UI Ideas⚙️ Settings Ideas🔐 Security & Sync
Each card’s note holds bullet points of related concepts. This way, we preserve ideas without cluttering the board with individual cards.
We still apply a WIP limit to this column — typically 5 theme cards max — to maintain visual clarity.
🎯 Committed Ideas (WIP-limited)
This is where refined, research-backed, or decision-ready ideas go.
These are the ideas you’re preparing to act on soon. Keeping a WIP limit (we use 5 cards) here forces you to prioritise.
Suggested Board Layout
| Column | WIP Cap | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 💡 Big Ideas | ✅ 5 | Idea inbox, grouped by themes |
| 🎯 Committed Ideas | ✅ 5 | Focused ideas ready to act on |
| 🛠️ Next Up | ✅ 5 | Active planning queue |
| ⚠️ Bugs | ✅ 5 | Limit debugging distractions |
| ✅ Done | ✅ 5 | Archive when the limit is reached |
Suggested Workflow
To make this system work in real life, try this routine:
1. Add Freely
Drop any new ideas into 💡 Big Ideas, either inside existing theme cards or as a new themed card (up to a maximum of 5).
No filtering or judgment — write it down.
2. Review Weekly
Once a week, look at your Raw Ideas:
- Clean up duplicates
- Promote the best 1–2 into
🎯 Committed Ideas - Combine smaller notes or archive outdated thoughts
3. Respect the WIP Limits
If a column is full, don’t add more. Instead:
- Finish something first
- Combine multiple small cards into one
- Move ideas back to Raw or to Archive
This helps keep your attention on what matters now.
Why It Works
This system brings a few key benefits:
- You never lose a good idea, but you also don’t get buried in noise.
- You know where to focus — without being overwhelmed.
- You can see your priorities at a glance.
- You create space to finish, not just start.
TL;DR: Don’t Just Capture Everything — Curate It
If your board is feeling bloated or unfocused, try this:
- Split “Ideas” into
BigandCommitted - Group smaller notes into themed cards
- Apply WIP limits (we use 5 per column)
- Review and promote ideas weekly
It’s a light structure with a big impact, and your future self will thank you for the breathing room.
Shared from our team’s internal workflow at Ampron. Feel free to adapt it for your board — or share how you do it differently!
