Planview LeanKit: An in-depth and powerful approach to Kanban review

8Expert Score

Planview LeanKit is a complex enterprise Kanban platform that allows teams to visualise and plan while following a framework like DevOps, SAFe or ITSM. As a standalone product, many users may find this somewhat limited and overly complex. But it hits a particular need very well, and it can extend into other platforms that need granular level detail. However, you will get the best benefit if you are already a Planview customer, where you can leverage Planview Sync. Or can integrate a tool with Zapier into your board in LeanKit. Have a look at the Total Software Info review and see if Planview LeanKit is the enterprise Kanban solution for you!

PROS

Kanban is a popular view
Level of detail on cards very indepth
Smart use of API to connect data
Built in trending Agile and ITSM frameworks, namely SAFe, DevOps, Change and Incident Management

CONS

Overly complex for average users
No mobile app
Most likely need other applications to extend full functionality

Planview LeanKit Quick Info

What is Planview LeanKit?

The enterprise Kanban platform with a Lean approach!

Planview Leankit is a powerful Kanban visualisation tool that allows you to create a very in-depth and complex workflow. Leveraging the Planview platform, LeanKit.

Users that have seen tools like Trello understand how boards and Kanban are such a connecting way to manage the flow.

With LeanKit you can focus on your objectives and key results.

So how does it work?

Well once you get into the platform, you can set up Kanban boards. The Templates area is a great place to start, and it has a strong level of IT Operation and ITSM boards, as well as SAFe.

You can use unlimited boards.

You board contains lanes and cards. Lanes are like sections or work areas where particular tasks are worked on. There is no scope to how large a lane is.
Cards represent a body of work. Cards can contain multiple tasks. On other systems we use, this is typically referred to as task and subtask.

Going an even great step further in process depth, cards can have parent and child cards. This is where the body of work morphs and then produces multiple areas. Cards also have various card types. So for example you may have a card that is type Business Feature. Tasks are set up to explore the feature. Then a risk occurs, a child card can be set up as a Risk/Issue and then this card could have teams work through and potentially multiple tasks.

So you can see that the use of DevOps, Agile, ITSM and other strong process frameworks are key in utilising LeanKIt. This emphasises a strong approach to key IT and enterprise frameworks.

The API is very comprehensive and allows you to connect data sources to your boards, this is great if your data set requires strong use of Kanban but doesn’t support natively. You are also able to integrate Zapier, and if you are a Planview customer Planview Sync. These integrations allow other tools to populate cards and boards within your account. This is a useful option, for say DevOps where your board has a delivery lane that receives new requests.

It is very apparent however that, there is a level of over complexity here that other tools avoid deliberately. We see this as a key point to make, as LeanKit to us is a tool for a very specific type of complex customer. It could be that you are using other Planview platform applications and you want LeanKit to manage the workflow.

We also notice that the interface is a little dated seeming compared to tools like Asana and Wrike. However, the depth of LeanKit is vastly different. When we say dated, it reminds us of system design software used in courses back in 2001, when computers

With a complex and powerful Kanban engine, following strict process framework approaches. LeanKit is a powerful tool for the right customer, but overly complex for others.

Have a look at the in-depth Total Software Info that we have compiled for LeanKit, and see if this relates to you in your complex environment or if you will be better suited to a simpler tool!

Planview LeanKit Best Features

Planview LeanKit Tools Features

Here are what we think are the most popular key features for Planview LeanKit