PERSONAL KANBAN

Presented at IABC World Conference 2014 Sue Johnston, ABC, MC

It’s Understood Communication

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Table of Contents Personal Kanban

3 6 9 page page page

16 18 24 page page page

Intro Two Rules

What is

PK?

Stages How it’s

Used Wrap

Introduction

Personal Kanban is a tool that lets you see your work and manage its flow.

I can’t promise it will change your life . . .

but it might.

This document summarizes a session I led at the IABC* World Conference , in Toronto, June 9, 2014.

*International Association

of Business Communicators

Ready Doing Done

Intro

What is PK?

Two Rules

Stages

Ways to Use

Wrap

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Personal Kanban is a Communication Tool

PK tells a STORY

Personal kanban tells the story of your work and its value.

“Stickies on a whiteboard” sounds simple. Guess what? It is.

And it gets better. It’s easy, too.

PK creates CONVERSATION

Your personal kanban board creates opportunities to have

meaningful conversations with the people you’re

Few of us have work that’s predictable.

Our work is often driven by interruptions.

It’s work people think is simple.

And it’s work that feels like it will never end.

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Personal Kanban helps you see and manage your work

On each chapter intro page, you’ll see a mini version of a

kanban board, designed to show you how the process works.

At its simplest, headings are ‘Ready,’ ‘Doing’ and ‘Done.’

As you work through the booklet, we pull work from the

Ready column and you’ll see the sticky notes move across

the three columns.

READY DOING DONE

Tasks that are

available for

you to do. You

pull from this

column when

you are ready.

Tasks you are

actually

working on at

any one time.

You limit their

number.

Tasks that are

completed.

You define

what ‘Done’

means.

What is Personal Kanban? A Brief History of Kanban

Stop Starting, Start Finishing

Ready Doing Done

Intro

What is PK?

Two Rules

Stages

Ways to Use

Wrap

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A Brief History of Personal Kanban

The English translation of ‘kanban’

is ‘signal card.’ Small cards were

used to identify steps in the

manufacturing process.

When folks in software develop-

ment began to use ‘lean’ and

‘agile’ processes, they adopted

kanban.

Kanban was developed in post-war

Japan. With no time or material to

waste, Toyota needed more

efficient manufacturing processes.

The focus on pull, rather than

push, helps us avoid situations

like the famous I Love Lucy scene

on the assembly line at the

chocolate factory.

Jim Benson, a city planner,

developed a ‘personal’ version of

kanban to improve individual work.

And he wrote a book about it.

The key to the kanban process is

that we pull work when we are

ready to do it. It’s not pushed on

us.

‘Kanban’ = Signal card

P U L L not

PUSH

‘Agile ‘ in Software

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Stop Starting Start Finishing

One of the reasons we often feel overwhelmed by our work is

that we keep starting new projects before we finish those we

already have on the go.

Personal Kanban makes everything you’re doing visible so you

can see what you’re working on. The very act of noticing what

you are doing helps you see what you can say, “Yes,” to.

Our work, home and social lives overlap and influence each

other. Having them visible at a glance helps us see the things

every new activity is competing with for our time, energy and

attention. It helps us make good choices about what to do next.

It’s tempting to take on a new project when we’re at a stuck

place. Knowing we can’t start the new thing till we finish

something already started helps us stay focussed and finish.

And that feeling of accomplishment – that little dopamine hit –

when we finish something is like “candy for the brain.”

Two Rules

Rule 1 Visibility Good choices

Rule 2 Limits Brain stuff Zeigarnik effect Context switching

Ready Doing Done

Intro

What is PK?

Two Rules

Stages

Ways to Use

Wrap

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Just Two Rules

MAKE YOUR

WORK VISIBLE

If you can view it, you can

do it. When you can see the

shape and nature of your

work, it’s easier to get your

brain around it.

The brain processes visual

information much faster than

words. Neuroscience is now

confirming that a picture is

worth 1,000 words.

LIMIT WORK IN

PROCESS (WIP)

Work can flow smoothly

when there’s ease in the

system. If you try to squeeze

in too much, everything

grinds to a halt.

Limiting the number of things

you’re working on at once

helps you get things done.

You stop starting and start

finishing.

1 2

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Rule 1. Make work visible

WHY?

When your work is visible, you can see:

• The shape of your work

• The bumps and bottlenecks

• Where you’ve been

• Where you’re going

• What you’ve done

• What’s left to do ONE WAY DETOUR

D - 1

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Knowledge work uses one muscle . . .

• It likes a story

• It has visual bias – processes visual info fastest

• It seeks and recognizes patterns

• It likes certainty – wants to know what’s coming

• It needs completion (Zeigarnik effect)

• It cannot multitask (context switching penalty)

• That one muscle wants to involve the body

Rule 2. Limit work in progress

WHY?

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In the 1920s, Russian psychologist Bluma

Zeigarnik discovered . . .

• There’s a tendency or “need” to complete a task,

once it’s started.

• Lack of closure from an unfinished task promotes

continued cognitive effort.

• This interferes with your ability to focus on what you

are currently doing.

• In other words, something you’ve started stays on

your mind until you deal with it. It ties up mental

energy and processing power, taking it away from

what you’re doing.

• More recent studies have confirmed Zeigarnik’s theory.

Task 1 Task 2 Task 3

The Zeigarnik Effect

Unfinished Task

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The Context Switching Penalty

Switching from one project to another

forces our brains to set up a new context

for the second project. It’s has to put

away the first one and all its related tools

and ideas and pick up new tools and

ideas. That adds to our cognitive load.

In other words, our brain has to work

to adjust to the new context – and that

takes time.

In his work with software developers,

author Gerald Weinberg calculated the

time lost as we switch contexts. His data

shows that the more work we tackle at

once, the more time we waste adjusting

to the switch.

Limiting our work in progress, Rule 2,

helps us avoid this context switching

penalty.

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Rule 2. Limit work in progress

Why your boss/client wants

you to limit your W.I.P.

Why YOU want to limit your

W.I.P.

Completion Quality Focus Clarity

Visibility provides awareness • You understand your capacity

• You focus on tasks at hand

• You feel in control

• You lose that helpless feeling

• You do better work

Stages of Personal Kanban

Start simple

Prioritize

Adapt to suit you

Keep it simple

Ready Doing Done

Intro

What is PK?

Two Rules

Stages

Ways to Use

Wrap

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Start simple – shape PK to suit your work and workstyle

Effort

Value At this stage,

resist the (very

common)

temptation to

overcomplicate

your board.

Keep things

simple.

Kanban in Use

A typical PK board

A team board

An organizational board

Portable boards

Electronic boards

Ready Doing Done

Intro

What is PK?

Two Rules

Stages

Ways to Use

Wrap

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Some examples of real boards

This is my personal kanban board,

which hangs on the door to my office. It

may be more elaborate than necessary.

As my board evolved, I added rows for the

two primary areas of my business so I

could keep track of those. Recently, I

added rows for marketing, admin and one

for learning/volunteering.

I added a column for “waiting” and add a

smaller sticky describing what/who I’m

waiting for to the original sticky. My WIP

limit is 3 – waiting doesn’t count.

I’ve colour coded meetings, creative work,

writing and planning so I see where my

time goes.

I have an area for things on the horizon

and for recurring events (like

bookkeeping).

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This team has been using kanban for just a few

months and its board is evolving. It’s placed

where not only team members can see it - their

internal clients can see, for themselves, the

status of their projects. Team members track the

stages of every element of their projects.

The rows E and U stand for “Expedite”

(“Emergencies?”) and “Unplanned.” If your work

is interrupt-driven, make “Chaos,” “Surprises” or

“Unplanned” one of the tasks of your Work In

Progress limit.

Each member of this team has a set number of

magnets with their name on it equal to their W|P

limit. (The images are LEGO people.) When

someone’s magnets are gone, s/he can’t take

on new work till something is finished.

Did you notice they’ve written, “Stop

starting, start finishing” right on the board?

Here’s an example of a team board for

a marketing department.

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Every project in this organization is

tracked and updated as work

progresses. Departments have their

own more detailed boards, such as the

one on the previous page.

The division executives meet by the

board twice a week and, within a few

minutes, know the status of every

initiative. They can make decisions

required to clear bumps and bottlenecks

that their departments can’t clear by

themselves.

As you can imagine, it took several

months to get to this stage. But, after

two years, they have developed a

cadence – and nobody misses a

meeting.

This kanban board fills all four

walls of a conference room.

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When I travel or work in someone else’s

office, I take along my portable kanban

– just a file folder.

The board below is in a small Moleskine

notebook.

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Yes, there are online versions of kanban.

They’re good when your team is scattered,

but are less powerful as they are not

always visible.

Trello and LeanKit are two online kanban systems I have

used. These screen shots are from the free versions. .

Summary

Fun for the whole family

Keeps meetings on track

Find out more

How to contact Sue

Ready Doing Done

Intro

What is PK?

Two Rules

Stages

Ways to Use

Wrap

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Some examples of real boards

People of any age can use Personal

Kanban.

You can use it at home as well as at

work. A friend has one for books she’s

reading. I add personal things to my

big board. But I have a separate board

for sewing projects.

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Some examples of real boards

These ladies are using a PK-related

process called Lean Coffee to

manage their meeting.

Participants each bring a few topics

they want to discuss. Using “dot

voting” they select the topics of

highest interestt and place them in

the Ready column.

One at a time, they pull topics into

Doing and discuss each for a set

time.

When time’s up, they can vote for

more time or move the topic to Done.

Learn more at http://leancoffee.org/

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Jim Benson

@OurFounder

Tonianne DeMaria Barry

@Sprezzsatura

moduscooperandi.com

personalkanban.com

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sue@itsunderstood.com

itsunderstood.com

talktomebook.com

@itsunderstood

The End

Ready Doing Done

Intro

What is PK?

Two Rules

Stages

Ways to Use

Wrap