Wekan – Organizing Tasks and Projects with Kanban

by Catharina Berg — Image: © Catharina Berg / University of Bremen

Wekan is an open-source Kanban tool designed to help you visualize and organize tasks and workflows. It is particularly effective for teams collaborating on project planning, coordinating responsibilities, and maintaining transparency so that progress is easy to track. Wekan is equally powerful as a tool for personal organization.

Tasks are represented as “cards” on a digital board and are moved between columns based on their status—for example, moving from To Do → In Progress → Done. This allows every team member to see at a glance which tasks are pending, which are underway, and which have been completed.

What is Kanban?

The Kanban method originated in the 1950s as part of the Toyota Production System. Its primary goal was to make workflows transparent and ensure that materials or tasks were available exactly when needed (Sugimori 2003). Today, this principle is used far beyond the industrial sector and is an excellent fit for modern teaching and learning at universities.

Using Wekan in teaching and learning?

Wekan is versatile and can be applied to a wide range of academic scenarios. Here are a few examples:

For instructors

• Team Coordination: Collaboratively organize semester schedules, project seminars, exam administration, and the development of teaching materials.
• Structuring Coursework: Clearly outline tasks, milestones, and feedback phases for seminars or project-based courses.
• Supervising Group Work: Monitor student progress in real-time, track milestones, and provide targeted support.
• Thesis Supervision: Track the progress of bachelor’s, master’s, or research projects and coordinate supervision steps.

For students

• Personal Organization: Manage to-do lists, set priorities, and keep track of upcoming deadlines.
• Group Project Coordination: Assign tasks, define responsibilities, and monitor the group’s overall progress.
• Thesis and Term Paper Planning: Structure work steps, set milestones, and document progress (individually or in a team).
• Exam Preparation: Plan study tasks, organize materials, and track personal learning goals.

Getting started with Wekan

A Wekan board consists of three basic elements:

• Swimlanes: Horizontal dividers that split a board into different sections.
• Columns: Vertical categories that indicate the status of a task (e.g., “Open,” “In Progress,” or “Completed”).
• Cards: Individual tasks.

How it works

Wekan facilitates seamless collaboration by allowing all participants to work on a shared board. To invite others, ensure they have logged into Wekan at least once. Team members can simply drag and drop cards between columns to update their status, providing a continuous overview of the project. Columns can be customized to mirror your specific workflow or logic; when using swimlanes, the column headers apply to all lanes on the board.

Advanced features: To keep projects organized, cards can be assigned to specific individuals and enhanced with:

• Detailed descriptions and checklists
• Attachments and due dates
• A built-in comment feature for direct discussion, reducing the need for external communication channels.

For further organization, you can categorize tasks using labels or create templates for recurring tasks. Additionally, customizable roles and permissions ensure that boards are shared securely and managed effectively.

Data privacy and access

Wekan complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the data protection requirements of Universität Bremen.

References

Sugimori, Y. (2003). Toyota-Produktionssystem und Kanban-System: Materialisierung von Just-in-Time-System und Respekt für den Menschen. In M. Lewis (Hrsg.), Betriebsmanagement: Vol. 2 (S. 91–104). Routledge.