Customise what shows on a kanban card

The point of a board is reading it without opening anything. That only works if the cards carry the fields you actually make decisions on.

Defaults are a starting point, not an answer — what your team needs on a card depends on how you sell.

Who this is for

Sales managers and admins configuring the board for their team.

Before you start

• Permission to manage pipelines or card settings.
• A view on what your team looks at before deciding to act on a deal.

Three or four fields, not everything
Every field you add makes the card taller and the board harder to scan. If a card shows ten things, it shows nothing — people stop reading and start clicking. Choose the smallest set that lets someone decide whether this deal needs attention today.

Configure the card

1. Work out what people decide from
   Ask what your team looks at before deciding to chase a deal. It is usually value, close date and last activity — not the full record.
2. Put value and close date on
   These two answer 'how big' and 'how soon', which is most of triage.
3. Add a signal field
   A label, an owner or a stage age — something that tells you which cards need attention rather than just what they are.
4. Stop at three or four
   Resist adding more. Card real estate is the constraint, and a scannable board is the whole point.
5. Look at the board afterwards
   Open it at normal zoom and try to triage. If you find yourself clicking into cards to decide, a field is missing; if you are squinting, there is one too many.

What you get

• A board you can triage without opening cards.
• Cards carrying the fields your team actually decides on.
• A board that stays scannable as deal counts grow.
• Fewer clicks in the most-used view in the product.

Frequently asked questions

How many fields should a card show?

Three or four. Enough to decide whether a deal needs attention, not enough to summarise the record.

Can different pipelines show different fields?

Card configuration goes with the pipeline, which matters when a renewals board needs different signals from a new-business one.

Which fields are most useful?

Value and expected close date almost always, plus one signal — owner, label, or how long it has sat in stage.

Should I show custom fields on the card?

Only if people decide from them. A custom field that is merely interesting belongs on the record, not the card.