This is the fifth post in my Personal Kanban series. The massive variance in work item types, sizes, and dependencies make personal kanban a very different animal than work group kanban.
What follows are a few personal kanban approaches I’ve used to try to overcome these variability issues. Some of the approaches are not coordinate with traditional kanban rules, but the variability of personal work requires some creative application. If any of these don't make sense now, stay tuned. In a few days I'll have detailed posts on how I've used these.
Time capsule approach: Say you are faced with a ton of small tasks that have been building up. I feel it’s okay to set aside one day, and address all of them as quickly as possible – even if they are not in your current workload. I have, from time to time, pulled as many as 20 tiny tasks off my board. I lined them up on one side of my desk, plowed through them, moving them to the other side of my desk upon completion. That type of day tends to prove highly productive. And at the end of it, my backlog is refreshingly purged. But to do so, I have clearly violated a primary rule of kanban – to finish something once you’ve started. My original tasks are still there in my “main” kanban. I've simply taken a "day off" to do the small tasks that were cluttering my backlog.
Throughput approach: The variable nature of personal work means that small tasks can languish behind larger tasks. A throughput approach can be to have one big task in process at any given point in time, but to set aside a few hours in the day for small tasks to make sure that throughput doesn’t suffer. Creating swim lanes for items of varying sizes can help with this.
Subproject Approach: At any given point-in-time, I might have two or three major projects going on. Some of these projects have clear value streams. Converting sections of your backlog to traditional kanban work flows is, in my opinion, highly necessary. Subprojects with specific work flows let you dual manage the project and your backlog. With subprojects, your WIP gets a little funky. Your work each day may or may not include items from any given subproject.
Sequestering Approach: Phone tag, email threads, on-going discussions, recurring tasks all greatly mess up a kanban. Something you are supposed to do every Monday, is simply something you are supposed to do every Monday. In normal kanban, recurring tasks live outside the kanban because the kanban is tracking value and not individual tasks. Monday morning meetings are just part of life, they impact throughput but are not individually tracked. In a personal kanban, these are tasks you at the very least need to remember.
I have experimented with sequestering these tasks and placing them in a pen to be examined daily. At the beginning of my day, I know what floating tasks are out there and what expectations they will create.
Task Based Kanban: At the beginning of June, I was suddenly faced with a large number of tasks that had to be accomplished in a very short period of time. All of them involved interactions with others. So I built a task-based kanban where each swim lane was a specific task, and the adjudication of the tasks was categorized under “Assembling,” “Assembled,” “Processing,” “Completed,” and “Notes.” I knew that my WIP was toast, there was simply no way I could limit WIP when the tasks were so inter-dependent. I needed to be able to launch things quickly, and then let them resolve naturally. Each project had objects that needed to be assembled. I allowed myself to have a WIP of three for assembling. So at any given point in time, I’d have three tasks with stars next to them. I would then gather all the background materials I needed for those things. When they were completed, they would be “assembled.” As items were assembled, I would start the process to complete the task (calling people, emailing them, etc.), allowing me to put a check in the “processing” column. I would take notes and place text reminders in the “notes” column until the matter was settled. Then it would get a “Completed.”
Coming up: Time Capsule Personal Kanban in Detail...
This explanation was very helpful for me today. Today is my first day of setting up the personal kanban for myself and I plan to put the throughput approach into action. However, I know I might have to also put the task based kanban into practice at some point in the near future because I have a large number of tasks that have to be accomplished in a very short period of time. I'm excited to see the kanban in action and how it's going to work for me.
Posted by: topsurf | 14 July 2009 at 05:24
Over the next four or five posts, I will have detail on how to do each of them. Thank you!
Posted by: Jim Benson | 14 July 2009 at 08:40