How to Set Kanban Columns for Beginners: Sample Boards for Sales, Hiring, Production, and Admin

A beginner template for teams of 4 to 7 deciding kanban columns: pick the closest sample from sales, hiring, production, or admin, then set exit conditions and return columns. It has four pages: page 1 lists today's flow and jams so you can see the gap between your current columns and the ones you want, page 2 picks a close sample and rewrites it in your own words, page 3 tabulates each column's exit condition, return column, and reviewer to spot columns to add or cut, and page 4 sets the morning routine, the first work to run, and a review date two weeks out. The task board has five columns, from Write it out to Reviewed, with four parent tasks matching the four pages and three subtasks each. Use it when sticky notes pile up in the In progress column and you cannot tell which work is stuck. Your limited-visibility team can fill it in together. A return column is the column where work that fails the condition goes back. WIP limits are out of scope.