Understanding Blocked Columns and Stalled Work in Project Boards

TL;DR; Using a separate “Blocked” column on project boards makes stalled work seem normal, leading to forgotten tasks, inflated work-in-progress, and lost context. Instead, keep blocked items visible in their current workflow state and highlight or tag them so the team addresses issues quickly. Review your process to ensure blocked work is surfaced and resolved without becoming invisible.

What to read next?

Generated via dense vector embeddings and cosine similarity, not clickbait heuristics. These are the closest semantic matches to this post; AI-approved, relevance-assured. Learn how it works.

Kanban Feb 20, 2025

Avoiding Blocked Columns in Azure DevOps

Explains why a “Blocked” column in Azure DevOps hinders workflow, and suggests using tags and tracking to manage blocked work more effectively and …

Kanban Feb 13, 2024

Blocked Columns Obscure Kanban Workflow

Using Blocked columns on Kanban boards hides workflow issues, causes task stagnation, and reduces transparency. Use tags to indicate blockages and …

Kanban Feb 15, 2025

Types of Delays: Waiting vs Blocked Tasks

Explains the difference between waiting and blocked tasks, why clear distinction matters in workflows, and how to track and address sources of delay …

Engineering Excellence Mar 4, 2024

3 Best Ways to Wreck Kanban: Ignoring Problems

Ignoring problems in Kanban leads to workflow blockages, technical debt, and crises. Learn why prompt issue resolution and transparency are vital for …

Kanban Jul 8, 2024

Mastering Your Kanban Board: Practical Guide

Learn how to design and customise Kanban boards to visualise workflows, identify bottlenecks, and boost team efficiency through clear, practical …

Kanban Aug 16, 2024

Mastering Your Kanban Board

Learn how to design, review, and adapt Kanban boards to accurately visualise workflows, identify bottlenecks, and support continuous improvement in …

Programs that align

Suggested based on semantic overlap with this post. These aren’t just top sellers—they align with the themes and intent of what you just read.

ProKanban.org ASPK Intermediate

Applying Scaled Portfolio Kanban

Learn to design and operate Portfolio Kanban boards, align work with strategy, manage dependencies, and improve transparency in large-scale portfolio …

Outcomes and Capabilities

These offerings complement the ideas in this post, helping you translate insights into impactful outcomes.

Faster, Predictable Software Delivery

Achieve faster delivery and predictable flow through engineering practices that improve lead times, reduce risk, and maintain quality at scale. Gain …

Cross Functional Alignment

When departments speak the same language, your decisions improve, forecasts gain credibility, and strategy translates into execution with less …

Engineering Excellence Mentorship

A practical guide to effective engineering mentorship, showing how to support growth and excellence with just one focused hour each week.

Clarity in Technology Roadmaps

You gain strategic confidence in technical direction. Investment decisions become defensible. Architecture, systems, and teams align towards coherent …

Technical Leadership

Weekly strategic coaching for CTOs, engineering directors, and technical leaders addressing strategy, architecture, organisational design, stakeholder …

Culture Transformation & Team Enablement

Teams that own outcomes, adapt to change, and deliver predictably, without burning out or disengaging.

Our Happy Clients

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.