What is a Scrum board and how to use it? (With step-by-step guide)
Tags: scrum, projects, scrumboard, scrumagile
Published: 2023-01-31 06:26:19

---
title: What is a Scrum board and how to use it? (With step-by-step guide)
published: true
date: 2022-12-08 14:00:06 UTC
tags: scrum,projects,scrumboard,scrumagile
canonical_url: https://blog.ones.com/what-is-a-scrum-board-and-how-to-use-it-with-step-by-step-guide
---

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*5ajdpo4DrrrCfKML.png)

With the introduction of Agile for software development, several frameworks and methodologies have been proposed that follow the **Agile Manifesto**. Out of these frameworks, **Scrum** is the most widely used and accepted framework for software development. One of the most important tools of the Scrum framework which is highly beneficial to a **software development team** is the **“Scrum Board’**.

In this post, we’ll describe what is a Scrum board, the structure of a Scrum Board, and most importantly, a step-by-step guide on how to use a Scrum board.

### What is a Scrum Board?

A Scrum board is also known as a **Sprint board** or a **Task board** that is used to visualize work to be done in a single sprint. A scrum board is a tool that is most widely used to help organize a project and view the project’s progress. **Agile teams** must learn to use a Scrum board to realize its benefits.

The Scrum board allows the Scrum team to:

1. Add tasks to be completed by the team members
2. Ensure that everyone is working on the tasks
3. View each team member’s progress in the current sprint

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*Ttl3buxQ4EVaP5E1.png)

### What is the Structure of a Scrum Board?

A Scrum board can be a physical board such as a whiteboard with sticky notes or can be based on software. The Scrum board contains columns, and each column can contain issues that are the work items of a specific project.

A Scrum board contains four main columns. These are

1. User stories
2. To Do
3. In Progress
4. Done

**User stories column** contains stories in the current sprint backlog that need to be divided into tasks.

**To Do column** contains tasks that the development team has not yet started to work on.

**In Progress column** contain tasks that the development team has started to work on.

**Done column** contains tasks that the development team has completed.

![Figure 1: A Scrum board template to give an idea of what we are talking about](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*GX4IPvqTkEM9apTZ.png)
_Figure 1: A Scrum board template to give an idea of what we are talking about_

### How to use a Scrum Task Board?

To get the best out of a scrum board, **Agile** teams must know how to use it. Below are steps to use a scrum board for maximum efficiency.

#### Step 1: Identify User Stories

During the **Sprint Planning** phase, your team should select the **user stories** from the **Product Backlog** to work in the upcoming Sprint. The team should add the selected user stories to the **Sprint backlog**.

#### Step 2: Assign Tasks

Once, the stories for the upcoming Sprint are put in the **Sprint Backlog** , your team should divide the user stories into individual tasks. These tasks are put in the ‘ **To do** ’ column.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/790/0*hhanvYj-SlklEjPA.png)
_Figure 2: The team put the tasks in the ‘To do’ column_

#### Step 3 Work on Tasks

As the Sprint progresses, your team members move the task from the ‘ **To do** ’ column to the ‘ **In progress** ’ column to indicate that they are working on the task. A Scrum team may add new tasks (if needed) during the ‘ **Daily Scrum** ’ meeting.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/790/0*Ut0tKjtzCNyTcyPT.png)
_Figure 3: The team member moves the task into the ‘In progress’ column indicating that work has begun on that task._

#### Step 4 Finish Tasks

As your team members complete the tasks, they move the tasks from the ‘ **In progress** ’ column to the ‘ **Done** ’ column to indicate that the work on that specific task has been completed. The team member continues to pick a new task from the ‘To do’ column and the entire process is repeated.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/789/0*gnAr1nEBsTBiivVy.png)
_Figure 4: The team member moves the task to the ‘Done’ column indicating that the task has been completed_

Your team can also add custom columns on the Scrum board as per the project’s needs.

This post described the purpose of a Scrum board, and how agile teams can use a Scrum board to organize their projects. A step-by-step process on how to utilize a Scrum board was also presented. Now, it’s time for you to try the scrum board with [ONES Project](https://ones.com/products/project)!

_Originally published at_ [_https://blog.ones.com_](https://blog.ones.com/what-is-a-scrum-board-and-how-to-use-it-with-step-by-step-guide) _on December 8, 2022._