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Personal Kanban Mapping work | Navigating Life

Personal Kanban Mapping work | Navigating Life by Jim Benson and Torianne DeMaria Berry.

i have an interest in lean or agile development , be cause it gives great opportunities for making improvments in a place where you don’t have fixed processes. Kanban is one of the principles related to ie scrum. It is a little different how you are visulatizing the data.

 

Personal Kanban is about visualizing the work you are doing so you are able to handle it. I think the kanban part is really important because it gives some great options for users. This is normally done on a board of some part.

 

An important part is to limit your Work in progress (WIP). This is all the task that you are currently working on in any way. If you can reduce the number of distinct items you are working on at any one point you have more mental capacity and it will be easier to handle the different work items.

 

With the visualisation you will be able to see what your throughput is and how long time it takes to handle any one task.

 

We are dealing with the real world, so it is not always that we are able to block everything off and just work on what we want. A good example is now when I was just interrupted by a Text message that I choose to react to. It could be import, but it was not.

Personally we often get stuck in the state over complication, where we make everything way to complicated to handle.

The goal is to have task that are pulled, where you as a person decide which one to use. Push is just to take the first thing in the inbox and react on it.

A list programmer is most often superior because they take the time to know why they are building the software in the first place. This gives some clarity and makes it more compelling to workon. I guess that it is something like building a wall or a cathedral. The clarity helps with giving growth.

I you cannot see the work it is uncontrolled and we should never do more work than we can handle. I guess that it is an important part that we are able to know what we can do and not do more.

Currently I think I have too many tasks on that I’m working on to be successful with it. I know that it is difficult to say no to projects whey they are there and you think it is good for you.

The last thing is the POMODORO principle where you are focusing on some work for 25 minutes and then take 5 mintus of. This will help build your focus and make sure that you can get much longer in your progress. It is a really difficult discipline to use and it requires a lot of self control. It is so nice and much easier to work on other peoples projects than our own.

I’m currently reading about how to use normal Kanban in product development.

I did like the book it gave an overview of what kanban is about and the importace of stopping with all the work that you are doing.

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Plan your life: Getting Things Done or Rappid planing method

I always want to improve myself and become better at producing results. I have listen to the audio program Getting Things Done (GTD) by Tim Allen and read the book Making it All work. It is always really interesting to be inspired to organize my life and become more effective and efficient with my projects.

I have been using Nozbe.com to organize my life. Nozbe is a Web interface to implement GTD with software. It is really easy to start to use, it is more the mechanics of Nozbe also have an Iphone app which makes it possible to get the information when you are offline. I have not been able to implement the change in my life really. I was also on a course by personligworkflow, how teaches the GTD method and help people and organizations implement it.

The implementation of GTD is a bit complex and you probably need coaching. The basis is really simple and easy to understand, but once you get to figure out to apply the mechanics is difficult. I have never been able to focus on using GTD for a long time.

As a part of a Business Mastery program with Tony Robbins, I got the program The Time of your Life. In this program the focus is on creating a Results Focused Purpose Driven, Massive Action Plan (RPM). I have just listened to the program as is really eager to get it rolling and use the program. I will update with a new post, when I have used RPM for a while.

Both methods has the following similarities

  • Have a weekly planning process, where you are looking for what to do in the next program.
  • The both have a capturing phase, where you find ideas on how to process with the idea.
  • Work on multiply levels from daily, weekly and more global ideas.

What I like from GTD is:

  • The concept with the inbox, where all the thought you are getting is stored and you can process it when you have time. A great tool for capturing.
  • The concept of context, where you only focus on what you can do when you are at you computer or telephone.
  • I have an idea that GTD is really well implemented in Silicon Valley, so there are a host of programs/services which support the process. I like the idea of having multiply vendors to choose from, because you get a better choose. I don’t like to carry to much stuff around so I would like an electronic system that can run on my phone.
  • GTD has multiply levels of project you are creating. It focuses on 10.000, 20.000, 30.000 and 40.000 feet. 10.000 is project you have to implement today, while the 40.000 is on your life purpose. RPM also have a similarly grouping.
  • The 2 minute rule, where you work on an interruption if it takes less than 2 minutes. Could vary dependant on your state/situation.

The key concepts that I really like from the RPM

  • Tony Robbins’s amazing way he is presenting and telling stories. It is really compelling. It is a long series with 10 days and 17 CD so it is something which takes lots of time. I think the GTD was just 6 CD’s. So it has to be really good to be used.
  • RPM focus on you vision/roles/purpose and then based on that figuring out what is most important to work with for the current day. GTD makes you focus on organizing your current life and when you have figured that out you will be able to work on a higher level.
  • When you are planning you try to capture the task you have for the day into groups. Those groups could be similarly to GTDs projects. But you instead of a project you create a Result/outcome for the group. It makes it a bit more interesting to work on “creating the perfect body” then just work out. This makes the projects a bit juicier. It might take some more time but it makes you wanting to work on the task.
  • I like different tools describe in the process like the stacking of emotions or the ideas on how you can create your visions and driving forces. The exercises are useful and it seems like something you can implement after a while.

Improvements on the RPM program

  • I think it is a bit too much focus on selling Robbins products. I would though not have tried to use the program, if it was not for the sales pitches in other programs.
  • You spend a lot of time on the CDs, but you can do a lot of other things while you are listing.
  • There are a lot of stories/ideas that I already had heard on other programs. Initial it is irritating but once you appreciate to get the other tools refreshed it works good.
  • Why not deliverer the program as a MP3 on a CD. The only place it makes sense to use a CD is in the car. I decided to rip the CD and copy it to my Ipod, so I could listen to the program when I was doing something else. It would be much easier just to download the files.
  • I have not looked at what kids of gadgets/software/tools are availed for the program except that I know that Robbins has a paper based planer and some software.