WPML keeps every translation as a row in wp_icl_translations with the state, the source, the destination, and the runtime stored alongside the slot. Related metadata lives in wp_icl_string_translations. The default admin screen shows that data as a flat list sorted by date, which is fine for record lookup but slow when an overnight translation has stalled and a translation operations lead needs to see whether it is untranslated, in progress, or has actually moved to published state.

SleekView Kanban points at the same translation records and renders them as four columns: Untranslated, In progress, Reviewed, and Published. Each card surfaces the translation label, the destination handle, and the runtime. When a published translation needs another attempt, the team drags the card back into untranslated and WPML picks it up on the next pass. No second list, no manual retry through a settings screen that buries the action behind tabs.

The team can filter the board by destination, schedule, or scope, then save that filtered view as a board for one site or one client. The kanban reads from the live translation records, so retrying a card here triggers the same code path that the standard run button uses, with the same hooks firing for notifications and logs.

WPML is a great language engine. The records hold the state, the destination map holds the targets, and the schedule slot holds the timing. What it does not give the team is a daily operating picture of which translations are healthy and which are not.

The default screen is a record list, designed to inspect a single translation, not to triage a column of published translations at once. The translation operations lead ends up keeping a separate sticky note of failed runs or wiring a notification plugin just to know which translation died overnight while the team slept. A kanban changes the shape of the work.

Instead of asking which translations need attention today, the team sees the answer as soon as the page loads, because every published translation is in the published column and every in progress one is in the in progress column. Moving a card writes the new status back to the record, so the picture stays accurate. The translation lead works the board, the manager reads the column counts, and the on-call engineer treats the published column as a single source of truth.