The Debate: Physical vs. Digital Tools (Post-its vs. Software)

In the agile world, there is a constant choice between using physical tools (such as whiteboards and Post-it sticky notes) and digital tools (management software such as Jira, Trello, Asana, Miro) to visualize work, manage the backlog and facilitate collaboration.

The iconic image of agile teams surrounded by walls covered in Post-its reflects the origins of many practices.

However, the increasing prevalence of remote and distributed work, coupled with advanced software capabilities, has intensified the debate over which approach is more effective.

Both have advantages and disadvantages, and the optimal choice often depends on the specific context of the team and organization.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Physical Dashboards.

Advantages:

• Direct Visualization: They offer a tangible and easily accessible representation of workflow for co-located teams.
• Tactile Interaction: The physical act of moving or breaking notes can generate a sense of accomplishment.
• Low Initial Cost: They require minimal investment in materials.

Disadvantages:

• Remote Inaccessibility: They are useless for distributed teams or members working from home.
• Difficult to Maintain: Legibility can be a problem (poor handwriting), notes fall out, and updating requires constant manual effort.
• Limited Space: It is difficult to include details such as acceptance criteria or extensive comments on a Post-it note.
• Lack of Integration: They cannot be easily linked to other digital artifacts such as code repositories, designs or documentation.
• Limited Scalability: They quickly become chaotic with large volumes of work.

In general, their use for day-to-day workflow management is usually feasible only for very small, fully co-located teams, often as an initial phase before adopting software.

Alternative Applications for Physical Dashboards (Ideation, Niko-Niko)

Despite their limitations for day-to-day work tracking, physical boards and Post-its remain valuable tools for other collaborative and visual purposes:

Brainstorming and Ideation Sessions: they are excellent for generating ideas quickly (e.g., in retrospectives or Design Thinking workshops), grouping them visually, and facilitating discussion by moving physical notes around.

Inspiration or Information Boards: Can be used to visually display product vision, user images, prototypes, key metrics or recent achievements, keeping the team inspired and aligned. (They require constant updating).

Niko-Nik