How to Make a Kanban Board in Airtable (User Story Backlog)
Turn a user story backlog into a kanban board in Airtable: a kanban view stacked by status, cards you drag between columns, all on the free plan. A step by step tutorial for business analysts.
Step by step
The board
- Kanban in Airtable. A backlog in a grid is hard to scan. A kanban board shows each user story as a card, in a column for its status. Here we build one in Airtable on the free plan.
- A status field. The table holds the user stories. Status is a single select field with 3 options: To do, In progress and Done. A kanban board needs a field like this to sort the cards into columns.
Make the view
- Kanban view. In the view list, click Create new, pick Kanban, name the view Story board, and choose Status as the field to stack the cards by. Then hide the view list to give the board more room.
- Columns. Each Status option is now a column, with a count at the top. The To do column shows 6 stories still to start.
- Cards. Each card is one user story, with its title on top, such as Apply a discount code.
Move a card
- Drag to update. The team has just started on discount codes, so drag the Apply a discount code card from To do into the In progress column. The change saves at once. The story's Status is now In progress in every view of this table, not just on the board.
- Customize cards. Click Customize cards to choose which fields each card shows, such as the story points or the epic.
- Just a view. The board is only a view of the same table. Switch back to the grid view and every story is still there as a row.
Recap
- Grid to board. A kanban view needs a single select field to stack by. Drag a card and the record changes everywhere. You can make one board per team or per epic, all on the free plan.
Common mistakes
- No single select field to stack by. If Status is a plain text field, the kanban view has nothing to group the cards by. Change Status to a single select with options like To do, In progress and Done before you create the view.
- Treating the board as a separate copy. The board and the grid show the same records. Dragging a card changes that story's Status in every view, so don't track status a second time somewhere else.
- Cards that only show the title. With only titles, the team can't see the size or the epic at a glance. Use Customize cards to add fields like points or the epic.
When a business analyst uses this
In a backlog refinement workshop, a business analyst shares the Story board on screen and drags each user story to In progress as the team commits to it. The grid view stays up to date for the requirements log, and a separate board per epic gives each stakeholder group its own view.
Questions people ask
Can you make a kanban board in Airtable for free?
Yes. The kanban view is available on Airtable's free plan, so you can turn a user story table into a board without paying.
Does moving a card in an Airtable kanban view change the record?
Yes. Dragging a card to another column changes that record's stacking field, such as Status, and the change shows in every view of the table.
Can one Airtable table have more than one kanban board?
Yes. Each board is just a view, so you can make several on one table, for example one per team or one per epic.
