Two boards to rule them all
I've spoken extensively about the kanban board and its benefits for the
mental life of any busy person (and who isn't a busy person these
days)... I've recently added to my arsenal a second productivity weapon,
not so well publicized although it should.
The thing I've found is, the kanban board works as a charm for one-time-projects: you have to do this, then that, then the other, and the project gets done. End. Period. Next one please. Kanban is like a todo list with the second dimension added in (The To-Do is a line, the Kanban a plane that self evolves as you understand your work...)
But the thing is, like Benson and others say, when you're not using it for one time projects, but for routine work that you have to do every day, a kanban board can feel a bit stupid sometimes. Taking the same post it from "options" to "done" every day... at some moment you become kind of numb, and there's no added learning nor the nice feeling of accomplishment in reaching the finish line as with the projects.
Benson solves the problem by using the Kanban as an "information irradiator"; in addition to the colums, the kanban space gets filled with all kind of stuff relevant to your work day, tables, checkboxes, etc. I have to admit that it looks very "arty", but I prefer (or my all-over-the-place mind requires) a more corralled system even for that routine stuff. The solution I've found comes from another Japanese device, and sorry if it sounds snobbish, but I've honestly tried all kind of systems before and this is the one that works best for me.
The Kamishibai board is as simple to explain as its cousin the Kanban. In its simplest representation, the one I use, you use one card per routine task. One side of the card is green and the other is red. One color means pending and the other done. That's it. Again, genious simplicity that doesn't gets its sticky fingers on what you have to do. The workload is too complex to have a complex control system in addition. At a single glance, you get the picture of what you've done and what's still missing, and can get strategic about your day. In each cards you can write particular details about the task, the periodicity you want, etc... And that's it.
You can never say that you're settling for ever, but this kanban+kamishibai structure is difficult to beat for me...
The thing I've found is, the kanban board works as a charm for one-time-projects: you have to do this, then that, then the other, and the project gets done. End. Period. Next one please. Kanban is like a todo list with the second dimension added in (The To-Do is a line, the Kanban a plane that self evolves as you understand your work...)
But the thing is, like Benson and others say, when you're not using it for one time projects, but for routine work that you have to do every day, a kanban board can feel a bit stupid sometimes. Taking the same post it from "options" to "done" every day... at some moment you become kind of numb, and there's no added learning nor the nice feeling of accomplishment in reaching the finish line as with the projects.
Benson solves the problem by using the Kanban as an "information irradiator"; in addition to the colums, the kanban space gets filled with all kind of stuff relevant to your work day, tables, checkboxes, etc. I have to admit that it looks very "arty", but I prefer (or my all-over-the-place mind requires) a more corralled system even for that routine stuff. The solution I've found comes from another Japanese device, and sorry if it sounds snobbish, but I've honestly tried all kind of systems before and this is the one that works best for me.
The Kamishibai board is as simple to explain as its cousin the Kanban. In its simplest representation, the one I use, you use one card per routine task. One side of the card is green and the other is red. One color means pending and the other done. That's it. Again, genious simplicity that doesn't gets its sticky fingers on what you have to do. The workload is too complex to have a complex control system in addition. At a single glance, you get the picture of what you've done and what's still missing, and can get strategic about your day. In each cards you can write particular details about the task, the periodicity you want, etc... And that's it.
You can never say that you're settling for ever, but this kanban+kamishibai structure is difficult to beat for me...
