Personal Kanban Design Patterns

Inspiration to Discover Your Flow

Modus Cooperandi InfoPak 3

The Personal Kanban Design Pattern Catalog

Introduction"Personal?"

Design Patterns for the IndividualBasic Personal KanbanSequestering ApproachSubproject ApproachThroughput ApproachTask-Based Personal KanbanTime Capsule ApproachPolar State TrackingPersonal Kanban and GTD"Biblioban"

Design Patterns for "Teams"Mission-Based Personal KanbanRouting-SlipbanThe Churn Chart

Special Personal Kanban"Kidzban""Authorban

Reflections and Coping MechanismsOrange DaysPomodoro and Personal KanbanRetrospectives

IntroductionPersonal Kanban is an open concept that encourages people to visualize their work and limit their work in progress (WIP). To understand the basics of Personal Kanban see: http://personalkanban.com/personal-kanban-101/

All too often personal productivity tools claim they have the workflow for personal work all mapped out. However, personal work tends to be highly contextual. Some projects you embark upon alone, others you work on with a team. Some you can see to fruition, while others require outside input. Sometimes work flows in a linear path from start to finish, other times it is recursive with lots of loops.

What follows is a series of design patterns, ways you can employ Personal Kanban. Please keep in mind this document is intended to serve as inspiration, and should not be confused with a how-to manual. Take these suggestions, customize them, improve upon them.

New design patterns are emerging daily. Watch the personalkanban.com site for more.

- Jim Benson-Tonianne DeMaria Barry

Washington DC, December 2009

"Personal?"In life and in business, we create value. For Personal Kanban, “personal” relates to personal value. Personal Kanban tracks and visualizes items of personal value – tasks, work, and goals.

Industrial-style kanban – as it was conceptualized by Taiichi Ohno and notably implemented at Toyota – tracks industrial objects of value (tasks) as they travel thru a production stream that is often predictable. These objects have primary value to the organization. This model, while flexible, still tracks relatively well-defined objects through a relatively well-defined value stream. Tracking a crank case over its assembly process is markedly different from tracking the workflow of your upcoming move or your daughter’s wedding.

In contrast, “Personal Kanban” tracks items of personal value as they travel thru a less predictable path. These objects are often smaller and more varied.

In Personal Kanban, even when tracking the tasks of a team, the object of value – and by extension the resultant epiphany about the nature of that work – is still connected primarily to the individual.

Small teams work better when using a group Personal Kanban because such epiphanies are not only shared, but they can likewise be distributed. A realization that something can be improved does not have to be limited to your individual work.

Design Patterns for the Individual

Individuals Are OverloadedHumankind has the best of intentions. Innately sociable, we have an almost reflexive willingness to cooperate.

We want to be productive. We want to help others. To these ends, we take on numerous little and not-so-little tasks. Combined, these tasks form our backlog. Few of us really understand the true weight of our backlog.

Our backlog is something we carry. But we can only carry so much and remain effective.

A goal of Personal Kanban is to understand how much backlog we can actually carry, so that we can avoid being overloaded.

The Basic Personal KanbanThe most basic Personal Kanban tracks:

Backlog - Tasks waiting to be doneDoing - What you are working on right nowDone - Tasks that are completed

The procession from the left to the right side of the Personal Kanban is called your "value stream."

...more Personal Kanban 101

Sequestering ApproachPersonal tasks are often repetitive or open-ended. Daily phone calls with your kids, an on-going email thread with your college roommate, or follow-up with potential clients are tasks that need to be carried out, but don’t fit neatly into a kanban. If you need to check in with 3 customers on a daily basis, putting a card on your kanban every day that says “check in with 3 customers” is foolish. Repetitive tasks like this – while they may create value – can also be seen as overhead.

What you can do with these types of tasks is sequester them in a “Recurring Tasks” category. On your Personal Kanban, you can list these in a sequestered box, simply checking them off when complete. Then, erase the checkbox when they need to be done again.

...more on the Sequestering Approach

The PenPersonal work is messy. It seldom begins and ends as we'd like. Consequently, tasks are often left in states where we've done our part, but completion depends on the input of others.

In such cases we use something called "The Pen," a place where tasks rest while they are awaiting action to be taken by others before we can resume work again.

It helps to note on these tasks what is causing the delay. It could be that completion depends on a return phone call, or on an external decision. (And yes, for really frustrating tasks you may need to blow off some steam in the description.)

In our Personal Kanban, we've limited ourselves to 20 tasks in the pen. We rarely let over 6 tasks sit in there. You don't want it to become a black productivity hole where work disappears.

On a daily basis we try to review what is in the pen, and attempt to tasks out of there as quickly as possible.

(A sheepish note on procrastination and Personal Kanban - it's possible, but you get caught! Look at "Eye Exam!" We've completed literally hundreds of tasks while I've consistently put that one off...)

The Subproject Approach

...more on the Subproject Approach

Personal Kanban is not a static to-do list. Instead, Personal Kanban tracks tasks so individuals can measure their work and the value they derive from it.

Your Personal Kanban can have multiple "swim lanes," and they in no way need to be coordinate. A task-based swim lane can rest above one or more subproject swim lanes with a full value stream.

This allows you to see your current work simultaneously in both a task view and a project view.

The more you can move large projects into workflow-based subprojects, the more control you'll have over them, and the more insight you'll achieve into their flow.

You have some choices with the subproject approach when it's combined with the Personal Kanban.

The Throughput Approach

...more on the Throughput Approach

In the throughput approach, small items are placed daily, and addressed first. The larger items can be handled throughout the day, and will remain on the board as long as it takes to move them to completion.

The goal here is to ensure that at least a minimum amount of small tasks are completed regularly, to help avoid the pain of a marathon "Time Capsule" day.

Take into account that there will be “flares” – tasks that arise and are completed during the course of a day that don’t make it onto the board. Say your lawyer calls and asks you to track down an email and forward it to her. That takes you maybe 15 minutes, but it never makes it onto the board.

Don’t move small completed tasks off a throughput board until the end of the day. The goal is to focus on a certain number of small and large tasks.

Task-Based Personal KanbanSometimes we are presented with a major task that occurs over a short period of time, and requires we track more sub-tasks than will fit in our usual WIP. These times also require additional information than can be conveyed on static sticky notes.

To combat this, we use a task-based Personal Kanban:

1. Tasks are listed in a static list down the left

2. The tasks have a work flow3. The work flow for each task is checked

off upon its completion4. There is a column for notes as work is

being done

The task-based approach assumes that many of these tasks will be unfinished at any point in time. WIP in the task-based approach is what you are actively working on.

Having a small sticky note that you can put on the line you are working on at any given time can be handy. During a time of mayhem (i.e. an office move) you can assume that interruptions will be frequent.

...more on the Task-Based Approach

Time Capsule ApproachSometimes little tasks accumulate as we focus on the "big things" that need to be done. In these situations, the "Time Capsule Approach" can help.

Simply pull the small tasks off your Personal Kanban, and place them on your desk. If you are using an electronic Personal Kanban MAKE THE STICKIES. Why? Because this is a tactile exercise. You physically move a task from Backlog to in process to complete.

Psychologically, this is fulfilling. It takes the stress out of hurrying and replaces it with the satisfaction of slapping that sticky in the complete position.

You can combine this with Pomodoro or other time management strategies and blast through a tremendous amount of work. ...more on the Time Capsule Approach

Polar State Tracking

A Polar State Tracker is a visual control that tracks YES / NO or DONE / NOT DONE events.

Each line represents a week.

Each oval represents a day of the week, Sunday through Saturday.

Polar State Trackers are handy for tasks you perform daily, like opening the mail or bringing out the recyclables. Monday it happens, you check off the first box, continuing to check the box for each successive day of the week.

At the end of the week, you add up the total.

There are several goals here:1. To remind us to do repetitive tasks2. To show us how often we actually do them3. To highlight the variation over the spread of

several weeks

There is also a "Notes" section, were you can record reasons for variation or changes in your "habit."

...more on Polar State Tracking

Habit Tracker by James Mallison

Personal Kanban and GTDDavid Allen's "Getting Things Done" (GTD) and Personal Kanban can be mutually reinforcing. Below are some ways they work well together.

GTD benefits from Personal Kanban's flow and WIP limiting. Visualizing the work flow is a more natural system than lists or folders. It helps manage the backlog, remove expired tasks, and allows constant refinement of work processes. GTD, on the other hand, extends Personal Kanban by helping achieve focus, setting long term goals, and sticking to goals while not losing them in the constant flow of tasks.There are several much longer posts about GTD and Personal Kanban at the link below.

...more on Personal Kanban and GTD

For the General Reader - "Biblioban"For the avid reader, the "Biblioban" elegantly provides focus and priority to a long and overwhelming reading list. It describes the process from left to right, first prioritizing the reading, then taking you thru to book completion. With the exception of the backlog and the completed step, each of the steps display WIP limit. WIP limiting enables the narrowing of prioritization and tight focus on the act of reading, while a WIP of two allows for a fiction and non-fiction book on the go. To complete a book, we pull a book off the backlog through the process to add to the flow of books being read over time.

...more on the General Reader "Biblioban"

Design Patterns for Teams

The TeamTeams are often fragmented.

People tend to have conflicting ideas regarding their project's goals.

People tend to have diverse interpretations of what the definition of "done" entails.

People tend to have varying assumptions regarding their specific role.

People likewise have different understandings of who is doing what.

A visual control such as Personal Kanban provides a shared context, thus removing many of these issues. People quickly see the goals embodied in the work. They see a common interpreation of what done means. They normalize their assumptions about their work. They understand who is doing what, when, and why.

Mission-Based Personal KanbanSome days you get together with a colleague and you need to run through a project quickly. The project is of short duration, and requires the creation of a set of “things.” Pictured here is a Mission-Based Personal Kanban I created in about 3 minutes when my editor and I needed to quickly populate my book's website with fairly uniform content.The green list down the left side represents specific blog posts that needed to be written. Across the top in alternating blue and red are the actions that needed to occur for each post. The blue tasks were mine, the red tasks were hers.As we worked through each task, we drew a box to show the one we were currently working on. A line through the box meant the task was completed and could be “pulled” into the next item in the value stream. The value stream here is: Draft -> Edit -> Accept -> Publish Due to the directed nature of this project and the uniformity of tasks, we had a WIP of one. Each of us worked on one task until it was completed, and then we’d move on to the next.In a very simple pattern, this method establishes a value stream, limits WIP, assigns tasks, and provides a visual control for the project.

...more on Mission-Based Kanban

Routing-SlipbanRouting-Slipban – This pattern is pictured here as a circle but it can, of course, assume any shape you choose. Routing-Slipban owes its admittedly inelegant name to the now-antiquated paper trail tracker that used to accompany documents as they circulated throughout an office. People would read the material, take appropriate action, pass on the envelope to the next person on the list and the process would repeat.

With Routing-Slipban, the attached stickey note includes a short routing slip showing who has and has not touched the task. When an individual is done with a task, they move it into the backlog of whomever they feel should handle it next. I would assume this pattern would be best used by small groups where the individual members had a very clear idea of whose attention was appropriate for this task next. (This pushes work and therefore can be dangerous)

...more on Recursive Patterns

The Churn ChartWe created this pattern in response to a project at the World Bank. The Churn Chart lists elements in churn, the people responsible for them, their relative state of completion, and any issues they may be facing. If the group can meet regularly (or if an automated system can be developed) Churn Charts are useful for reporting how close to done the element is in that phase.

...an entire InfoPak on the Churn Chart and the World Bank project

Special KanbanSome Personal Kanban are Task Specific

"Kidzban"Games – even video games – are also generally tactile. There are specific body movements to make, controllers to hold, buttons to press. This kinesthetic feedback reinforces the conceptual exercise of goal attainment. The "Kidzban" has this same kinesthetic feedback. You move a tag to “done,” you feel the achievement. Components of a Kidzban:Phases:

Ready – Total backlog of tasks. No limit.Set – Tasks selected to do next. Limit 3.Go – Tasks now in progress. Limit 1.Done – Finished!

Here, one large sticky note for the project, and smaller stickies for tasks within the project are used. They can be populated with either words or images. Morgan first moves 3 tasks from “Ready” into the “Set” queue. She then pulls one of these into “Go” when she starts it. When the task is complete, she moves it to “Done,” replenishes the “Set” queue, and pulls the next task into “Go.” When all tasks are done, she moves the large project sticky note to Done. Kanban works with a kid’s brain. Cause and effect of chores and rewards is clearly laid out. Imagine never having to ask again “did you do your chores?”You may still have to quality check the work, but you won’t have to nag them to action. The kanban will do the nagging for you. And, oddly enough, it’s fun!

...more on Kidzban

"Authorban"Surprisingly, many authors I’ve spoken with have expressed how they wound up hating their book. One explanation for this is that a book represents literally millions of individual tasks that are undifferentiated. Undifferentiated tasks cause stress. For authors, stress detracts from the creative process. I would hazard to guess that thousands of amazing books were never published because they crumbled under the author's existential overhead.

While writing Instant Karma, Tonianne and I have truly benefitted from our Personal Kanban. Now the items in the workflow are the way Tonianne and I work, not necessarily the way you should work. We follow these steps:

1. Pre-Writing – Jim quickly writes initial text for a chapter. He has three chapters going at any given time. His fast writing style would overwhelm Tonianne as she is focused and detail oriented.

2. Scrutiny – Tonianne takes one chapter at a time and runs it through the ringer. Editing and re-editing sections. Researching vignettes. Checking sources. Giving Jim directed re-writing assignments.

3. Internal Review – The chapter is then sent to another editor who gives it a once over. 4. Crowdsource Prep – Jim and Tonianne take the reviewed chapter, respond to comments, and release it for

crowdsouring.5. Crowdsourcing – The chapters go to a very large group of reviews who provide yet another round of

feedback.6. Through 10. If everything looks nice, it’s ready to sell.

... read more about Authorban here

Reflections and Coping Mechanisms

Orange DaysI am famous (perhaps too famous) for detesting administrative work. I'll do anything to avoid it, and so it frequently piles up. Understanding this, in our online Personal Kanban I now differentiate those hateful administrative tasks by coloring them bright orange. That way if I dynamically deprioritized them in a subconscious attempt to avoid them, they continue to call out to me, confronting me daily as they overrun my backlog.Being able to visualize these annoying tasks demonstrates the weight of their existential overhead, until finally I have to give up and just plow through them en masse.Whether through shape or color or font, use a little creativity to call out certain kinds of tasks that may require special attention – either they need to be grouped or you just need a little extra reminder about their importance.

Pomodoro - Productivity Workouts

...more on Pomodoro and Personal Kanban

While Personal Kanban manages your work extremely well, maintaining focus is something you might need a little help with. Getting the tasks out of WIP and into Done sometimes requires that extra nudge.

The Pomodoro technique says set that egg timer for 25 minutes, work straight until it goes BRRRRRING, then rest for a bit, and repeat as needed. During those focused bursts of work, you are directing your undivided attention on the task at hand. Thinking hard, working hard, eschewing distractions. Once the timer goes off, you can kick back and let your brain say “ahhhhhh.”

It’s just like an effective workout – you don’t walk into the gym and spend an hour doing 100 pound curls. You do short bursts of directed and focused activity.

Personal Kanban dovetails nicely with Pomodoro. Your work in progress is handled in these 25 minute bursts of activity. Your Personal Kanban is always filtering and prioritizing what fits into those bursts. It takes on the role of your trainer – watching what you do, recommending the next set, helping you understand your exercises and optimize for the next ones.

True focus requires clarity, concentration, and commitment. Personal Kanban gives you the organization to focus, while Pomodoro structures your time.

... just like a workout, during your Pomodoro breaks it’s a very good

idea to hydrate.

RetrospectivesPersonal Kanban is meant to be epiphany heavy, but process light. The approaches contained in this InfoPak are meant to provide simple suggestions for visualizing how your work actually flows. Some tasks are going to be horrible. They are going to take longer than you expect, be harder to complete than anticipated, or even just really annoy you.

Life's too short not to focus on things that make you happy while avoiding things that don’t. So why not start taking notice of what you don’t like to do or what takes you away from doing the things you like?

Retrospectives shed light on patterns that help you make choices like:

when to delegate taskswhen to refuse workwhat processes you might want to recreatewhether of not you want a new careerwhen to cry

The act of looking back on your work and making positive changes is called a "retrospective." Personal Kanban gives you the information you need to look back, evaluate, and act.

...more on Retrospectives and Personal Kanban

About Modus Cooperandi and Personal Kanban

PersonalKanban.com | Modus Cooperandi | Other InfoPaks

Webinars

Monthly webinars on Personal Kanban and related applications. See the Personal Kanban site (personalkanban.com) for topics, schedule, and prices.

Consulting / Training / Team LaunchesWe offer direct training for corporate clients. Teams learn to improve their communication both internally and with the rest of the organization using the visualization and clarity facilitated by Personal Kanban. Training includes the techniques of Personal Kanban, the integration of Personal Kanban for individuals and teams into workflows, value stream mapping, metrics, and the use of retrospectives to create cultures of continuous improvement.

Training should never occur out of context, so most training includes an examination of actual team workflows, management styles, communications channels, policies, and practices that impact productivity and value creation. During the course of the training, we help teams discover better ways of managing and communicating that will survive beyond the training session. Our training is never a talking head, it is highly relevant and participatory.

Consulting projects tend to focus on working with teams and individuals to identify clear and low-impact processes to quickly create value. See our recent project at the World Bank for an idea of the issues we might cover.Supporting Documents

A series of information packages designed to discuss these issues with decision makers is on its way.

ContactReach us by e-mailon the web at www.moduscooperandi.comor www.personalkanban.comfollow us on twitter at @personalkanbanvia phone at +1.206.383.6088or skype at ourfounder

Images Used in this InfoPakImages under Creative Commons License from Flickr:

"Solitude" by UrvishJ"Overload!" by AntwerpenR"Family Portrait" by Hrtmnstrfr"I Hate the Sound of Breaking Glass" by Netream"Stethoscope" by Biology Big Brother "Pomodoro Timer" by Abhishek Baxi"Soliloquy" by Only Alice

"Morgan and her Kidzban" courtesy of Janice Linden-Reed.

All other images by Tonianne DeMaria Barry or Jim Benson.