Activities become visible on the board through interactions that trigger decisions and changes, creating a living record of outcomes.
Core Question: How do activities become visible on the board?
Together with Board → Activities, this creates a continuous cycle: board state triggers interactions → interactions produce decisions → decisions change the board → new board state triggers the next interaction. The board is not just a passive display — it's a living record of interaction outcomes.
When someone looks at the board, they should see what happened in recent interactions without having been there. A blocker marker tells the story of a standup discussion. A reordered backlog tells the story of a planning session. The board becomes the shared memory of the team's decisions.
Details
Interaction Outcomes as Board Changes
Interaction | Typical Board Changes |
Daily Standup | Items move forward, blocker markers appear, focus is visible |
Refinement | Items move from Backlog to Ready, estimates appear |
Planning | Priority order changes, WIP limits set, items committed |
Demo | Items move to Done, completion dates stamped |
Sync (FL2) | Dependency markers appear, cross-team arrows |
Retrospective | Improvement items added to backlog |
Practical Examples
Standup → Board: Story B is blocked on Platform API. After standup, it gets a red blocker marker: "Waiting for Platform API — Sarah escalates by Thursday." Anyone can see the outcome without attending.
Refinement → Board: 5 items moved to "Ready" with story points, 2 have "needs clarification" labels. The board tells what refinement accomplished.
FL2 Sync → Board: New dependency arrows between Team A and Team B, with an unblock date of Friday.
Smells — When to Look Closer
- Interactions that produce no board changes — talking without deciding
- Delayed board updates — outcomes invisible when they matter
- Position-only updates — moving to "blocked" without recording why
- Board as separate reporting — treating updates as admin, not natural byproduct
Related Patterns
- Board → Activities is the other direction
- Board ↔ Meeting Alignment looks at this from the system level
- Meeting Canvas defines what outcomes a meeting should produce