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The best tools and techniques absolutely depends on the project – board-style tools (or tools with that option like Trello etc.) are great for fast moving projects. They make it very easy to visualise upcoming and in-progress tasks. The problem is that when projects become a bit more complex boards become too big and lose that benefit of easy visualisation. Generally on long or complex projects I still find Brainstorming and Critical Path Analysis useful – never under-estimate just talking to people. Gantt charts less useful – I don’t use then anymore – although many modern tools provide similar benefits plus more.
Thanks for commenting Riya.
That’s a very fair observation about board-style tools – I’ve experienced that myself.
Visual boards are powerful because they simplify complexity but once the volume of work grows, that benefit can quickly be lost. If there are large backlogs, multiple workstreams and cross-dependencies boards just become overwhelming and of little use.
In practice, it can be possible to break the work into multiple boards in a layered approach e.g. high-level board for outcomes, detailed board for delivery teams etc. and make the boards effective again.
But in general, I’d agree that once boards stop supporting visual thinking, it’s often a sign that it’s time to redesign the workflow.