SmartDraw offers a simple Kanban board that works like sticky notes on an electronic whiteboard.
To make a Kanban board in SmartDraw, open the Kanban Board template from the Project Planning category under New Document on the dashboard.
Set the Columns
You'll start with a simple template with some placeholder columns and cards.
Figure our what your columns should be for your board and rename the placeholder ones as needed.
Just double-click to select the text and edit it.
You can also add or remove columns using the right-click menu or the SmartPanel to the left of your workspace.
Deleting a row or column, will also delete all its contents.
Add Cards
You can add text to any card already in the template by double-clicking and typing.
You can also add drag and drop new tasks from the SmartPanel to the left of your workspace. Grab a new card and drag it to the column you want to add it to. You'll know your card is ready to be attached when you see your cursor change to an anchor symbol.
Note: Kanban boards are configured to only have a single column of cards in each column, so you can only add above or below existing cards not to the right or left.
You can also use your keyboard to enter new notes. Simply select an existing sticky note and then hit Ctrl and the arrow key in the direction you want to add a new note. Alternatively, you can click the yellow Action Buttons in the direction you want to add a new note.
Add Jira Cards
If you need specific details from Jira for your board, SmartDraw lets you import individual Jira cards as needed.
Go to the Plus (+) or Insert Content control and choose Jira Issues under Add Data Visualizer.
You'll be prompted to connect and login to your Atlassian account.
Once connected, you can search for issue keys in your Jira instance using a standard text based search, an advanced JQL expression, or a custom filter from your instance. SmartDraw will pull your Jira data in and let you see which issues to add to your visual.
Simply, check the boxes next to the issues you want to create shapes for and click Ok.
The selected issues will be added to your workspace in a frame. Each issue will contain the issue summary and key. SmartDraw will also pull in all the relevant icons, a link to Jira, the assignee, associated sprint, the issue priority, and so on.
You can drag and drop any issue into your Kanban board.
Update Your Jira Issues
Select the shape for any Jira issue, and click Update Jira Issue in the SmartPanel.
You can edit all the standard fields in the Jira issue like the issue type, summary, sprint, priority, assignee, and click OK to push your update to your Jira instance.
Create New Jira Issues
In addition to bringing in existing Jira issues from your Jira instance, you can actually create new cards in SmartDraw and push them to your instance.
Make sure one of the existing Jira issues is selected on your board to trigger the dynamic controls for Jira to appear to the left of your workspace. Next, click Create New Jira Issue in the SmartPanel.
You'll be presented with all the standard Jira fields you need to create a new issue. Clicking Ok will not just add a shape for the new Jira issue to your visual, but it will also push that issue into your connected Jira instance.