The Kanban Board

The Kanban Board: a plan rendered as the three columns everyone actually understands - To Do, Doing, Done - reprinted at every state change while the plan runs. No standup, no sync meeting, no PM tool subscription: the orchestrator IS the board.

source on github

a real captured run

KANBAN (12 board states, 303ms wall, 2 people on the team)

at the start:
  TO DO            DOING            DONE
  --------------   --------------   --------------
  shoot photos     write copy
  edit photos
  layout page
  review
  publish
mid-flight:
  TO DO            DOING            DONE
  --------------   --------------   --------------
  review           layout page      write copy
  publish                           shoot photos
                                    edit photos
at the end:
  TO DO            DOING            DONE
  --------------   --------------   --------------
                                    write copy
                                    shoot photos
                                    edit photos
                                    layout page
                                    review
                                    publish
every frame above was captured live from lifecycle hooks - the
board is the plan's actual state, not somebody's memory of it.

source

# frozen_string_literal: true

# The Kanban Board: a plan rendered as the three columns everyone
# actually understands - To Do, Doing, Done - reprinted at every state
# change while the plan runs. No standup, no sync meeting, no PM tool
# subscription: the orchestrator IS the board.
#
#   bundle exec ruby examples/kanban_board.rb
#
# Runs offline; watch the cards move.

require class="s">"bundler/setup"
require class="s">"agentic"

CARDS = {
  class="s">"write copy" => 0.06,
  class="s">"shoot photos" => 0.10,
  class="s">"edit photos" => 0.05,
  class="s">"layout page" => 0.08,
  class="s">"review" => 0.04,
  class="s">"publish" => 0.03
}.freeze

DEPS = {
  class="s">"edit photos" => [class="s">"shoot photos"],
  class="s">"layout page" => [class="s">"write copy", class="s">"edit photos"],
  class="s">"review" => [class="s">"layout page"],
  class="s">"publish" => [class="s">"review"]
}.freeze

board = {todo: CARDS.keys.dup, doing: [], done: []}
frames = []

move = lambda do |card, from, to|
  board[from].delete(card)
  board[to] << card
  columns = [class="y">:todo, class="y">:doing, class="y">:done].map { |col| board[col] }
  height = columns.map(&class="y">:size).max
  frame = +class="s">"  %-16s %-16s %-16s\n" % [class="s">"TO DO", class="s">"DOING", class="s">"DONE"]
  frame << class="s">"  #{"-class="s">" * 14}   #{"-class="s">" * 14}   #{"-class="s">" * 14}\n"
  height.times do |i|
    frame << (class="s">"  %-16s %-16s %-16s\n" % columns.map { |col| col[i] || class="s">"" })
  end
  frames << frame
end

hooks = {
  task_slot_acquired: ->(task_id:, task:, waited:) { move.call(task.description, class="y">:todo, class="y">:doing) },
  after_task_success: ->(task_id:, task:, result:, duration:) { move.call(task.description, class="y">:doing, class="y">:done) }
}

orchestrator = Agentic:class="y">:PlanOrchestrator.new(concurrency_limit: 2, lifecycle_hooks: hooks)
tasks = {}
CARDS.each do |name, duration|
  tasks[name] = Agentic:class="y">:Task.new(
    description: name,
    agent_spec: {class="s">"name" => name, class="s">"instructions" => class="s">"do the work"},
    payload: duration
  )
  orchestrator.add_task(tasks[name], (DEPS[name] || []).map { |d| tasks.fetch(d) },
    agent: ->(t) { sleep(t.payload) || class="y">:done })
end

result = orchestrator.execute_plan

puts class="s">"KANBAN (#{frames.size} board states, #{(result.execution_time * 1000).round}ms wall, 2 people on the team)"
puts
# Show the opening, one mid-flight frame, and the final board
[frames.first, frames[frames.size / 2], frames.last].each_with_index do |frame, i|
  puts [class="s">"at the start:", class="s">"mid-flight:", class="s">"at the end:"][i]
  puts frame
end
puts class="s">"every frame above was captured live from lifecycle hooks - the"
puts class="s">"board is the plan's actual state, not somebody's memory of it."