Personal Kanban: how to learn to do the work on time

That the word is not clear - "kanban"?

Personal Kanban (Personal Kanban) - an interactive map of your employment. One of the most popular and affordable options for her - a board with stickers to help carry out the work on time.

The word "kanban" is translated from Japanese as "billboard." It came to us with a Toyota plant, where the so-called system of organization of production.

As a board with stickers will abide by the terms?

It allows you to see the most important: what matters in your priority and what you have already achieved. And also teaches us not to be wasted on minor, unimportant at the moment busy and do not take on too many commitments.

Perhaps all this is very difficult?

Not. The kanban system are only two main rules:

1. You need to visualize your workflow. It helps to see your real load and, if necessary, change it.
2. It is necessary to limit the number of tasks you are working actively. Often to illustrate this rule juggler cite as an example: the more items he picks up, the higher the chance to break something.

Visualize - then hang up the board with stickers?

Not necessary. You can use any convenient option: the board, refrigerator magnets, notepad, custom applications, and so on. The main thing that you raschertili least three columns: "Make» (To do), «I do» (Doing), «Made» (Done). They need to fill out stickers or labels to at any time to see what you have in the moment load.

You can also add a column of "Waiting" for non-urgent tasks. Or any other columns, such as "Rest" (with the objectives of "pizza", "ski", and so on).

Works is simple: you carry the stickers (or entries) from one column to the other as you complete tasks.

And it would give me?

Opportunity to obtain effective feedback. When you carry a sticker in the column of "Made", the brain receives a candy: the task is done, you can relax or start a new one.

Over time, you have the habit of embarking on a new task only after the previous completed. So, ideally, will not be unfinished business.

How to determine how many tasks can I perform?

Empirically. Start using a personal kanban, and learn over time what your "bandwidth." It can vary depending on the complexity of the task, your status and mood. Select the minimum, and then to raise the bar.

By the way, this is a good protection against burnout at work. You will learn to manage their stress without sacrificing career.

The personal kanban differs from the usual to-do list?

Visualization, a chance to see the final result (as you did for the day) make it possible to carry out analysis, determine which tasks you are inspired and which are carried out with a scratch (it is better to perform first).

The usual list is not interactive, does not give feedback, not relieves stress because it does not structure the working day.

What applications replace the board with stickers?

Trello - free application perfectly suitable as a tool for building your own work and managing small projects. It can be used more for training, visualizing goals and desires list, repairs, travel planning, research and so on.

KanbanFlow looks like a Trello, but in fact even more fit the classical notion of "kanban". Application, in addition to the creation of boards and objectives allows you to track time spent on their execution time (the method of Pomodoro).

Kanbanote - supplemented the popular Evernote app visualizing lists.

If I want to learn more about it, what to read?

One of the most popular publications - Personal Kanban: Mapping Work / Navigating Life Jim Benson and Tonia De Maria Barry, where are given a basic knowledge of the system.

Jim Benson also leads your blogWhere the answers to questions and advice.