Discussion Forum > Promised AF4 Revision
I do vaguely remember looking at the Kanban software demo someone flagged up some months ago and thinking that I couldn't see how it could possibly work for personal tasks (as opposed to progress on major projects).
I guess the 3T system would be Kanbanesque, in that one takes three tasks and isn't allowed to move on until two of them have been completed, but I can't see that dividing tasks into New, Old, Recurring and Unfinished is in the least bit Kanbanic. As Eric says no pull is created.
Perhaps readers could make suggestions about how to create that pull in AF4R?
I guess the 3T system would be Kanbanesque, in that one takes three tasks and isn't allowed to move on until two of them have been completed, but I can't see that dividing tasks into New, Old, Recurring and Unfinished is in the least bit Kanbanic. As Eric says no pull is created.
Perhaps readers could make suggestions about how to create that pull in AF4R?
December 11, 2010 at 13:27 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Alan:
How do you decide when you should be working on the Backlog Table and when on the Maintenance Table?
How long are tasks held in Done before they are transferred back to Maintenance?
What does the Prepare column achieve? Isn't preparation just a part of work - what's the reason for differentiating them? If you have a Prepare column, shouldn't you have a Clear Up column as well?
How do you keep track of all this?
How do you decide when you should be working on the Backlog Table and when on the Maintenance Table?
How long are tasks held in Done before they are transferred back to Maintenance?
What does the Prepare column achieve? Isn't preparation just a part of work - what's the reason for differentiating them? If you have a Prepare column, shouldn't you have a Clear Up column as well?
How do you keep track of all this?
December 11, 2010 at 13:42 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Hoo boy! Questions.
The fundamental rule is this: you may work anything at any time provided there is room. The goal is to minimize work in progress which minimizes time to finish and maximizes throughput.
As to deciding: Kanban is driven by sight more than by rules. In a team setting you would choose on building screws because the assembler down the line needs screws to assemble something. On a board you would see he's needing screws. But if he's plenty busy you make bolts instead for someone else.
So if you have company coming that pulls vacuuming out. If nothing is urgent you choose whatever you feel like.
Multiple columns aim to standardize work and to divide work across people. In this case it is quite useless, just illustrates what a column might be.
You could have a cleanup column if you like though.
Track: a card on a spot means you need to work on it. There is no historical record of where cards were. It is common to date the cards when they were written or last worked on.
The fundamental rule is this: you may work anything at any time provided there is room. The goal is to minimize work in progress which minimizes time to finish and maximizes throughput.
As to deciding: Kanban is driven by sight more than by rules. In a team setting you would choose on building screws because the assembler down the line needs screws to assemble something. On a board you would see he's needing screws. But if he's plenty busy you make bolts instead for someone else.
So if you have company coming that pulls vacuuming out. If nothing is urgent you choose whatever you feel like.
Multiple columns aim to standardize work and to divide work across people. In this case it is quite useless, just illustrates what a column might be.
You could have a cleanup column if you like though.
Track: a card on a spot means you need to work on it. There is no historical record of where cards were. It is common to date the cards when they were written or last worked on.
December 11, 2010 at 16:27 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
This link explains it better. http://www.personalkanban.com/pk/personal-kanban-101/
December 11, 2010 at 18:28 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Just a thought...
Time management vary based on focus as much as logistics. GTD (context) Franklin Covey (priority of task/role), Total Workday Control (urgency - when to be done), etc. The kanban discussion tends towards TWC.
Anyway...perhaps instead of separate lists for unfinished, recurring, new and old...What we could do is have them for tasks/projects that are:
- MAYBE (ideas that we haven't committed to acting on yet)
- PENDED (things we are going to do, but not yet: Tickler items with future dates & Someday)
- ASAP or backlog (we are committed to doing them and will do so as soon as they feel ready to be acted upon)
- NOW (those limited items we've pulled from the the pages above to do NOW). These are the items Mark pulled in his 3 task experiment...
You could see tasks flow through these categories and have an idea of the volume of each...plus you would always be able to turn your focus on to the critical items you know you want to do first.
Time management vary based on focus as much as logistics. GTD (context) Franklin Covey (priority of task/role), Total Workday Control (urgency - when to be done), etc. The kanban discussion tends towards TWC.
Anyway...perhaps instead of separate lists for unfinished, recurring, new and old...What we could do is have them for tasks/projects that are:
- MAYBE (ideas that we haven't committed to acting on yet)
- PENDED (things we are going to do, but not yet: Tickler items with future dates & Someday)
- ASAP or backlog (we are committed to doing them and will do so as soon as they feel ready to be acted upon)
- NOW (those limited items we've pulled from the the pages above to do NOW). These are the items Mark pulled in his 3 task experiment...
You could see tasks flow through these categories and have an idea of the volume of each...plus you would always be able to turn your focus on to the critical items you know you want to do first.
December 11, 2010 at 19:03 |
Scott Hutchins
Scott Hutchins
After having tried a variety of systems, I find that simply dividing into the categories of what I plan to do today and everything else is as good a system as anything. Most of us know what we really should be doing and working on in a given day. When we resist this, it is not really a time management issue. Triple task like plan your day is a way to think about what needs to be accomplished today.
Gerry
Gerry
December 11, 2010 at 21:50 |
Gerry
Gerry
Touché Gerry! A running master task list and a daily list are very effective. When the master (backlog) grows really long, it would be helpful to have something built into the system to regulate prioritizing & pruning...and move stuff along without letting things fall through the cracks.
But, Gerry is right. It's easy to make this more complex than it needs to be.
But, Gerry is right. It's easy to make this more complex than it needs to be.
December 11, 2010 at 22:18 |
Scott Hutchins
Scott Hutchins
There is a slight difference between kanban and personal kanban.
But first I should point out that a kanban is what you want it to be; you try a sequence of steps with work in progress limits and tweak things as you see problems arise always striving to have the most streamlined process.
The kanban is perfect for teams. The personal kanban goes against that since you are an individual. And as Mark points it out, the are not many columns necessary (to do, doing, done). I personally have also the Checklist from which I take things and put them on the backlog to be processed. I soon figured out that adding columns was complicating things instead of simplifying them and life is not an assembly line. But I needed more power to choose what was important to me now. So I color coded different tasks with different activities. You could do it with areas of life if you prefer.
All is very visual so it's not that hard to decide on what you want to work next and you soon figure out where things get bogged down!
But first I should point out that a kanban is what you want it to be; you try a sequence of steps with work in progress limits and tweak things as you see problems arise always striving to have the most streamlined process.
The kanban is perfect for teams. The personal kanban goes against that since you are an individual. And as Mark points it out, the are not many columns necessary (to do, doing, done). I personally have also the Checklist from which I take things and put them on the backlog to be processed. I soon figured out that adding columns was complicating things instead of simplifying them and life is not an assembly line. But I needed more power to choose what was important to me now. So I color coded different tasks with different activities. You could do it with areas of life if you prefer.
All is very visual so it's not that hard to decide on what you want to work next and you soon figure out where things get bogged down!
December 11, 2010 at 22:51 |
Erik
Erik
Here are column headings for two tables:
Backlog | Prepare | Work | Done
Maintainance | Work | Done
Backlog is like New/Old without a rule for dismissing. It collects tasks as you think of them.
Now let's say you choose Clean Yard. Move that card to Prepare.
First step is to get the rake, bags, shears, warm clothes.
Once Prepare is done, move it to Work. This spot is like Unfinished. The task will stay there while you ignore it, work on it, or do something else. The work limits (like 3 in your 3 task system) urge you to get the Yard clean so you can work on something else.
In maintenance, we have recurring items. you would pull an item out of M, work on it, and put it to done when finished. Once done, put it back to Maintenance for the next time.
In fact kanban has one way to encourage dismissal though it isn't often used this way: the column limits. If say you restrict your backlog count to 20, then if you think of a 21st item, you need to dismiss something to make room.