GTD Archive

1

Dr. Seuss Inspired by Personal Kanban

By
Derek Huether
– July 8, 2010Posted in: Project Management

Personal Kanban 101I met Jim Benson about a year or so ago.  He was in Washington DC and I met him for lunch down in Chinatown.  Jim’s a pretty smart cookie.  I like what he does.  I sometimes wish I could do what he does but it requires a little more of a balanced mind than I possess.  In the Star Wars universe, Jim would be a Kanban Jedi and I would be a mere Padawan.

I used kanban and limited my work-in-progress (WIP) at a previous job but don’t have the buyin from my current client to implement the practice here.  I still have a Kanban board hanging on my wall but it’s there for me to manage my own work.

Today I read an article on the Personal Kanban website titled “Would You, Could You on a Plane?” It was about a quick offline kanban for in-flight work.  It was informative, as always.  But, the mere title inspired me to write a bit of a ridiculous comment.  Perhaps I read too much Dr. Seuss during my off-time.

Say!
I like Kanban!
I do! I like it, Sam-I-am!
And I would limit WIP in a boat.
And I would limit WIP with a goat.
And I will limit WIP in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
Limiting WIP is so good so good you see!

So I will limit WIP in a box.
And I will limit WIP with a fox.
And I will limit WIP in a house.
And I will limit WIP with a mouse.
And I will limit WIP here and there.
Say! I will limit WIP ANYWHERE!

I do so like
Limiting WIP and Kanban!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-am

Strange how a simple title can get me started.  Thank you Jim for doing what you do, even if that means reading ridiculousness comments that I write.

Popularity: 1%

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8

My Merge of GTD and Kanban

By
Derek Huether
– January 11, 2010Posted in: Agile, Kanban

What is the next actionI’m not going sit here an boast of being some kind of expert on Kanban or guru of personal productivity.  I’m just a Project Manager/Leader who is always keeping his eyes and ears open for newer or better ways to manage time or work.  I believe you should always try to eliminate non-value-added processes, resulting in a positive impact of customer satisfaction, while reducing support costs.  How do you do that?  You get it done as effectively and efficiently as possible.

I recently completed Getting Things Done by David Allen.  It was an interesting book.  Though I use paperless processes to “get things done”, David offered one bit of advice that resonated with me.  To advance a task or activity to more of an actionable conclusion, he said to ask “What’s the next action?”

This parallels what I do with my Kanban (task) board.  I currently have 4 columns:  Backlog, Work In Progress (WIP), Blocked, Done.  When a prioritized task can not be worked, I put the task card (user story) in the “blocked” column.  I then ask myself the question.  What’s the next action? Without asking yourself that simple question, your task may be blocked longer than necessary.  You have to understand there may be 3 or 4 steps you need to complete before you can unblock your task and get it back to WIP.  So, ask the question.

As to not ignore the obvious, I recommend you write your tasks in a standard user story format. As a [perspective], I want to [activity], so I can [desired outcome]

It doesn’t matter if you use a physical or virtual Kanban (task) board.  I recommend following 3 simple rules:

  1. Keep your tasks visible
  2. Keep your tasks limited
  3. Keep your tasks actionable

Popularity: 2%

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0

Starting Is Easy; Finishing Is Hard

By
Derek Huether
– October 28, 2009Posted in: Agile, Kanban, Scrum

I once saw (via video podcast) a wise man (Jason Calacanis) say “starting is easy; finishing is hard.”

When he said that, it was a moment of absolute clarity for me.  I’m not saying he verbalized the meaning of life.  He did state, however, what I’ve often conceptualized but was never able to verbalize.

What Jason stated in 6 words is what I’ve seen many colleagues struggle with.  Who doesn’t have projects and tasks to complete and deadlines to meet?   I’ve tried multitasking, thinking it would make me more efficient.  I’ve tried using a productivity pyramid.   All I did was start more tasks, not finish more.  That’s the key right there.  It doesn’t matter how many things you start if you never finish them.

The solution to my past problems has been the use of kanbans, referring to them as information radiators.  These information radiators were large billboards strategically placed around the office so anyone could passively see the status of the current project.  You could see what the highest priority was, what was currently being completed, and what was being delayed.

I believe the key to those successes was in the ability to visualize our work.  Everyone knew exactly what they needed to complete and everyone else knew if it was getting done.  People were not allowed to go on to ancillary activities until their assigned tasks were completed.  Another important facet of the kanban, we limited our work-in-progress.  This forced-focus on limited tasks and constant feedback loop is very powerful and very productive.

If you would like to read my complete guest post at the Personal Kanban website, on how I visualize my work and FINISH it (don’t forget the comments), just follow the [link].

(Image courtesy of rkeohane on Flickr)

Popularity: 1%

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