The Harbour
A kanban that distinguishes ‘paused’ from ‘stuck’.
The Harbour is Narcove's board. It uses six maritime states — Harbour, Open Water, Underway, In Tow, At Anchor, Ashore — instead of To Do / Doing / Done. The vocabulary forces clearer thinking, and the system flags Adrift cards automatically so nothing rots quietly.
What it does
Three jobs the standard kanban doesn't do
Distinguish blocking from pausing. A card waiting on a dependency is structurally different from a card you've consciously parked. Most kanbans collapse both into "Doing, kind of". The Harbour gives them separate columns — In Tow for blocked, At Anchor for parked — and the Chart treats them differently. In Tow cards count against your projection; At Anchor cards don't.
Surface what's rotting. Cards stop moving. Most boards let that happen silently. The Harbour's Adrift flag fires automatically when a card's projection has slipped past its target AND it hasn't moved column in five working days. Adrift cards float to the top with a coral marker. You either pick them up or move them to At Anchor with a reason.
Force concrete WIP. Per-column WIP limits are real, not advisory. Drag a fourth card into a 3-cap column and the board refuses, surfaces the limit, and suggests moving an existing card to At Anchor or Ashore first. The over-commitment conversation happens in the moment instead of at retro.
The states
What each column actually means
| Column | State | Chart visual | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harbour | Triage | Kanban dot | New cards land here. Decide, route, or kill. |
| Open Water | Committed, not started | Outline bar | On the plan. Counted by the Tide. Not yet in flight. |
| Underway | Started, in progress | Solid bar | Active work. Soundings begins tightening estimates. |
| In Tow | Blocked by a dep | Hatched bar | Waiting on another card. Will start when its predecessor is done. |
| At Anchor | Intentionally paused | Faded bar | Parked on purpose. The Tide stops scheduling it. |
| Ashore | Done | Filled, dim | Complete. Forward-pull fires for the assignee's next card. |
How it works
Six steps from Harbour to Ashore
- 1
Start in the Harbour
All new cards land in the Harbour — including portal submissions and AI-planned cards. The Harbour is your triage column. Read, decide, and move.
- 2
Move to Open Water
Open Water is committed work. The card is on the schedule; the Tide cascade and the Chart treat it as part of the plan. Cards sit here until they're actively being worked on.
- 3
Underway when started
Drag to Underway when work begins. The card's start time is captured; Soundings begin tightening estimates from the moment work starts.
- 4
In Tow when blocked
If a card depends on another card not yet done, drag it to In Tow. The Chart shows the dependency line; the card waits for its predecessor without cluttering Underway.
- 5
At Anchor when paused
If a card is intentionally parked — waiting on a client, a release window, a strategic decision — drag to At Anchor. The Tide stops scheduling it; it doesn't count toward your delivery date.
- 6
Ashore when done
Drag to Ashore (or whichever column you've marked done) and the card completes. Forward-pull fires automatically: the assignee's next-ready card pulls into the freed capacity.
Use cases
Four ways the Harbour earns its vocabulary
Agencies
Killing the 'Doing' column that swallowed everything
Before Narcove, your kanban had a 'Doing' column with 14 cards in it. Half were actually moving. The rest were waiting on something — a client signoff, a copywriter's draft, a Stripe migration. Renaming the column to Underway and adding In Tow surfaces what was hidden: of the 14, only 5 are Underway. The other 9 are In Tow waiting on three specific things. Now you can chase those three things instead of feeling like the whole project is stuck.
Solo founders
Spotting the cards you're avoiding
It's been four weeks. The auth refactor card has been Adrift for three of them — same column, no movement, target date long gone. Most kanbans hide that. The Harbour shows it: Adrift cards float to the top with a coral indicator. You see what you've been avoiding. You either pick it up, descope it, or move it to At Anchor with a reason. Either way it stops being a silent guilt trip.
Product teams
Concrete WIP limits that nobody can negotiate around
Underway is capped at 3 per person. Engineer pulls a fourth card in — kanban refuses, surfaces the limit, suggests moving an existing card to At Anchor or Ashore first. The conversation about over-commitment happens at the moment, not at retro. WIP limits become a system, not a vibe.
Client services
Distinguishing 'we paused this' from 'this is stuck'
At Anchor is intentional. In Tow is structural. Adrift is bad. Three columns, three different conversations. When a client asks 'why is X not done yet?', you answer with the state — At Anchor because we're waiting on your design feedback, In Tow because we need API spec from finance, Adrift because nobody picked it up and that's on us. Honest tools build honest relationships.
Why this matters
Words shape work
The Spotify model gave engineering "squads" and people changed how they behaved. Toyota gave manufacturing "kanban" and a whole industry learned to limit work in progress. Vocabulary doesn't just describe a system; it shapes the thinking around it. We chose maritime words because they're visual, they're distinct, and they map cleanly to the states a project actually moves through.
When a card is "In Tow" you naturally ask what's towing it. When it's "At Anchor" you ask why. When it's "Adrift" you feel the cost of letting it stay there. The vocabulary makes the conversation concrete in a way "blocked" or "in progress" never could. That's the whole bet.
For teams who don't want maritime, we ship a minimal template with the same state machine and the standard names. The names are the affordance; the states are the system. Either works.
FAQ
Harbour questions
Why maritime vocabulary instead of To Do / Doing / Done?
Because To Do / Doing / Done is too coarse to be useful. A card that's been 'In Progress' for three weeks tells you nothing — is it being worked on, blocked, awaiting review, or quietly forgotten? Maritime states force a finer distinction: Underway means moving, In Tow means dependent on another card, At Anchor means parked on purpose, Adrift means stalled without a reason. Vocabulary changes thinking.
Can I rename the columns?
Yes. The default columns ship with maritime names — Harbour, Open Water, In Tow, Underway, At Anchor, Ashore — but every column is editable. Each column maps to a state (started/done/wip-limited/none). The Tide cascade and the Chart use the state, not the name.
What's the Adrift flag?
Adrift is automatic. A card is flagged Adrift when its projected completion is past its target AND it hasn't moved columns in over five working days. Adrift cards surface to the top of the Harbour with a coral indicator so they don't quietly rot. Clearing the flag is one click — typically because you've reassigned, replanned, or killed the card.
Can I have WIP limits?
Yes. Per-column WIP limits cap how many cards can be in a state at once. Hit the limit and dragging a new card in is blocked with a one-line explanation: 'Underway is at 3 / 3 — finish or move one out first.' WIP limits prevent everyone touching everything at once.
How do submissions land in the Harbour?
Public client portals submit new cards directly into the column you've designated as the Harbour (configurable per project, defaults to the leftmost column). Submissions arrive with the submitter's name, email, and message attached. You triage from there.
What if my team's used to To Do / Doing / Done?
We ship a 'minimal' template that uses those exact names. Switch to maritime vocabulary when the team is ready — the underlying state machine is identical. You can change the column names without losing data; only the labels move.
Related
How the Harbour fits with the rest of Narcove
The Tide
Cascade replan
When a card moves to Ashore, forward-pull pulls the assignee's next card into the freed slot.
The Chart
Timeline view
The Chart reads state directly. In Tow renders hatched, At Anchor faded, Adrift coral.
Client portals
Submission intake
New portal submissions land in the Harbour with sender attached. Triage from there.
Free for one project. Maritime or minimal template.