Setting up a kanban board for agile work
Create Backlog, Ready, In Progress, In Review and Done automatically, and map user stories, acceptance criteria, story points and epics onto Trello cards.
Kanban Importer is built for teams running agile work on a Trello board, not just for moving rows around.
The columns, made for you
Tick Make sure the kanban columns exist and it creates
- Backlog
- Ready
- In Progress
- In Review
- Done
in that order, before importing anything, and only the ones that are missing. An empty board becomes a working kanban board in a single pass. A board that already has some of them just gets the gaps filled, and your own column names are left alone.
The preview tells you exactly which columns are about to be created before you commit.
Where agile ideas live on a card
| Agile idea | Where it lands |
|---|---|
| User story | The card title, in "As a member, I can ..." form |
| Acceptance criteria | A checklist on the card |
| Definition of done | The description |
| Work type | A label: story, bug, chore, spike |
| Priority | A label: P1, P2 |
| Kanban stage or workflow state | The list |
| Sprint target | The due date |
Writing acceptance criteria as a checklist is the part worth doing properly. It turns a vague card into something a reviewer can check off, and it is the one place Trello gives you a progress bar for free.
Story points and epics
Trello has no native story point or epic field, and Custom Fields require a paid Trello plan. Two ways to carry them anyway:
As part of the description. Keep Story Points and Epic as columns and tick Append unmapped columns to the card description. They appear at the bottom of each card as Story Points: 3.
As labels. Map the column onto Labels and you get 3 and Account access as coloured chips, visible on the board without opening a card. Better for scanning, noisier on the board.
A starting point
Download a template CSV gives you a filled in example built against your own board: one card per kanban stage, acceptance criteria as checklists, work type and priority as labels, and story points and epic as spare columns. Delete the rows, keep the header, fill in your own work.
Work in progress limits
Kanban Importer creates the columns but does not enforce WIP limits, which Trello does not do natively either. If you want them, the List Limits Power-Up adds them and the two work together fine.