Personal Kanban and Working from Home

Modus Institute videos about dealing with Covid are free.

A Personal Response to Covid-19 from Jim

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Hey everyone, this blog post is going to be more like a personal letter. We don’t need to be lectured to right now, but conversation is crucial.

I’ve written a few posts about Covid and the global shutdown on What’s Your Modus?, but right now I thought I’d send this letter and make a quick video.

Let me start with this.

It’s okay to be on edge.

You don’t get much more uncertainty than where we are at right now.  We are restricted in movement and action for an indefinite period of time.  Lack of certainty is threatening.

You, your family members, your co-workers are all going through this in their own way.

Give them, and yourself, a little latitude for moodiness, lack of motivation, and confusion about what the right actions are right now.

In this post, I just want to talk about two things: certainty and triggers.  They are some basic building blocks in successful work and right now they are in short supply.

Certainty

One thing that gives us certainty is … structure.  Even if the structure we have changes, understanding the rules of “right now” are important. 

I grew up in Nebraska and experienced more than a few tornadoes.  Sometimes they were cavalier nuisances, but other times they were devastating.

During a tornado warning, there is fear and uncertainty. You don’t know what the storm will do, exactly.  You don’t know where the tornado is, if it has touched down, what is in its path. You just know your expected actions.  Crack windows to normalize pressure, get to lowest point in the house, get you’re your most reinforced room, get away from windows, and wait while listening to the radio.

Not the most fun structure, but certainly a lot better than running around screaming “What do I do? What do I do?”

You and your team need to sit down, talk about what work still needs to be done, what you do and don’t know about work, what you can and cannot learn quickly, and how you can all keep each other involved and informed as you each work and learn more. 

You need to build your working structure, even though there is more uncertainty now than ever before.

Triggers

At Modus right now, we are all uncertain about what’s going to happen next. We are used to traveling and having travel equal income and stability. It was kind of a strange reassurance. If I’m in an airport things must be okay. That’s a trigger. A reassurance that things are proceeding.

When I’m on site with a client, there are always things to observe and conversations to have. When I see people overloaded without understanding the work of their peers, we generally talk about that and find ways to visualize that overload that results from lack of understanding and devise fixes. The overload, that kind of observation, is a trigger for action.

We all have those triggers and many others.  When we are remote, those triggers are likely to be absent.  We need to find some new ones. Triggers are the mechanisms we use to know when the status quo is working and when we need to react to change.

Without these triggers, we don’t know what to do next and become demoralized.

The trigger of a reassuring trip to the office or the classroom or the jobsite has been replaced with sitting in a room usually reserved for relaxation. The space isn’t designed for work, isn’t ergonomic, and is filled with non-work people.  There’s a lot of cognitive dissonance that goes along with that.

Your Next Acts

Please, now more than ever, take care of each other. Focus on the people and their ability to work…the work will proceed apace, but only if your professionals are cared for and respected.

1. Get your team together in a video call.

2. Make sure the tech works (Do it once in a dedicated meeting).

3. Using something like Miro or Stormboard, brainstorm on what your team needs to establish their “right environment”. What does everyone need, right now, to work comfortably?

4. Focus on how people are feeling, the work hasn’t changed much, but the people have.  This is people time.

5. Visualize the work, of course.

6. Limit the WIP more than usual.  One thing per person or one thing collaboratively for every two people… do very little at first and just finish a few things so you can build and quickly refine a system.

7. Have huddles every day.

8. Talk as much as possible.

9. Don’t let anyone flap.

There are other recommendations on What’s Your Modus and certainly more in the classes on Modus Institute (70% off for this Covid situation).

Stay healthy, stay safe, take care of each other,

Jim 

Discounts on Modus Institute Subscriptions During the Covid Outbreak

Personal Kanban for a Well Oiled Machine

It is no small secret that you can’t do everything yourself. A machine’s gears only work well with all the parts of the machine when they are well oiled. I like to think that my family works in this way. Why? Because we use Personal Kanban to keep our well-oiled machine running.Here are a few ways my family has used Personal Kanban.When I am entertaining, making a special recipe or meal, getting ready for an event, or going on a trip, I will make a kitchen counter kanban.

Kitchen Counter Kanban

When cooking or baking, as I add an ingredient to my dish I will move the post-it into the appropriate column. Often when I am baking, I easily lose track of what I have added to the recipe, this helps me not to lose track.  I have also added tasks corresponding with the meal, such as setting the table, chilling the wine, etc.  When we are getting ready to travel I will put everything right on the counter that I need to do both for myself and my family in regards to packing, confirming reservations and acquiring tickets.

When using a Kanban that involves my whole family when setting it up I take this approach -  I ask each member of my family what color post-it's they want their tasks to be on. This is because I wanted each of them to be able to take one glance at the board and know exactly what each of us is doing at any given time, and I wanted them to be a color that makes them happy.  In the past I have liked to use the refrigerator, but the post-its sometimes wouldn’t stick to the door, so I decided on the cabinet that is most used, the dish cabinet. (No one can eat without going into this cabinet!)

Family Kanban on the kitchen cabinet

My husband chose the blue, my daughter the purple and I was the pink color.  I added the color post-it each of us chose with our names at the top above the waiting lanes.  This worked out great because I didn’t need to add names to the individual tasks, just what each task was, and we all knew immediately whose task it was. I even decided to add the day the task was going on, that way when I filled the waiting lane I could put every task up in chronological order, it made it easier to wade through.

Work flow on the family kanban

By Tuesday we were already in a good flow. What I love most about doing a family kanban is the fact that it involves everyone. While I was away my daughter and husband moved their tasks and kept each other in check. It’s like I have a safety net in place, it ensures that we are working together as a family (even if one of us is traveling). I’m not worried that my daughter won’t get to her activities on time. I know it’s getting accomplished.

Each time we use a new kanban in our home we learn and evolve as a family.  It adds to our family happiness factor.  In the past my daughter has even left her appreciation for our family Kanban right in the middle of the board.

Happiness on the family Kanban

I sleep better at night when I’m traveling knowing my family members have the visual reminders of important tasks that can’t get overlooked. This is also something that even though we are busy, going in all different directions, we work on together as a family all week long. Each kanban board is a direct reflection of our family, where we are all at together in our lives, and it brings us closer together.This post originally appeared on the Nothing is Out of Reach Blog.

Kidzban Around the Web #2

Around the web people are sharing their experiences with Kidzban.  This is the second post in the series – Kidzban Around the Web.Joseph Flahiff introduced Kanban to his daughters on a Saturday morning when they had guests arriving at 2pm, and they needed to get chores done before their guests arrived. Joseph states in his Saturday Chores with Kanban Part I  "Normally the girls choose all their chores before they start."  They were previously using a chores list set up in an excel program.  On this particular Saturday he decided on introducing a Kanban board.

KIdzban Saturday Chores

Take a look at this wonderful video below where Joseph interviews his daughters - JoHanna and Jillian. They discuss the few bumps in the road they encountered and how they tackled their challenges together and why they'd like to use the process again. Joseph's daughter JoHanna mentioned "There will still be some bumps but not the same ones because we've learned from our mistakes.""Working with a list we never really felt like we were working together.  We felt like competitors instead of teammates." - JoHannaThe next Saturday, Joseph's entire family got into the action even his 3 year old daughter Joy completed tasks on their Kanban.  The Saturday Chores with Kanban Part II highlights another wonderful video below where the girls discuss how they worked together and broke up the chores into smaller tasks so they weren't so overwhelming. Team work is personified when you hear how all three daughters managed the task of vacuuming the master bedroom together.When asked what her favorite part of using the Kanban was Jillian stated "The achievement of finishing a chore."You can read and view Joseph's Saturday Chores with Kanban Part I and Saturday Chores with Kanban Part II in their entirety by heading over to his WhiteWater Projects blog.Videos and photo credit: WhiteWater Projects Blog.This is the second post in the series - Kidzban Around the Web.  You can read the first post in the series here.

Towards a Leaner Santa: Holiday "Do" Date-ban

Chalk it up to a decade with the nuns and my time as a Girl Scout (always be prepared!), but I obsess over details. Having my "stuff" in one bag or my proverbial ducks in a row is how I delude myself into thinking I can make sense of my universe. Still, I spend many sleepless nights worrying about that stray comma I didn't catch in time for today's deliverable, or that broken link that needs tending to before tomorrow's presentation.Yeah, I sweat the small stuff. Freud even has a word for me.Yes...that word.I however, prefer to see myself as "uber-organized."So when an aggressive December 29th client deadline threatened to Grinch my Christmas Eve and Day celebrations, I thought I had things covered. After all, my guest list is etched in stone, my menu is planned, and 90% of the gifts on my list were purchased by November.And they were wrapped.Yay, me.Then why - I asked myself - did I feel as if my combined personal and professional workflow was pulling me under?Considering the amount of vowels in my name, missing Christmas is not an option. Somehow the holiday and the client deadline had to peacefully co-exist.A quick glance at my Personal Kanban explained my anxiety. I was drowning in a maelstrom of projects that were not only contributing to my WIP but were competing with each other. With personal deadlines set for the 24th and 25th, and a client deadline set for the 29th, seasonal expectations became pressing obligations.This expectation-based WIP extended beyond normal everyday existential overhead. Emotions and expectations combined to create holiday stress. And despite the days nearing closer and closer to the 25th, those holiday task cards piling up were barely making it out of my backlog.Sure, I had those tasks on my Personal Kanban. But things got messy. How could I limit my WIP with tasks sharing deadlines and very few hours to complete them?With less than a week to go, I needed a dedicated board to track the particular workflow for tasks that "came due" on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I need a way to schedule out this process, visualize my progress at every step, and ensure even the tiniest subtask was not overlooked. Because who wants to have to improvise on Christmas morning with a ___ and a ___ because they forgot to do ___? Not me.On the shortest day of the year, my biggest enemy was time. I had a Christmas mission, and so I needed a (very) special "Do" Date-ban.With just the fridge, magnetic hooks, and some holiday note cards, I am now set for the next 3 days. I grouped tasks by their Type (Snowflake/Shopping, Tree/Preparation, Stocking/Cooking) and their Do/Due Date (the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th respectively). The Do/Due dates became my WIP. That let me easily batch projects such as make up guest bedroom, bake struffoli, and brave the line at the post office.So with each day leading up to Christmas Eve, I've given myself a WIP of 3 things for each day - 3 tasks of immediate "value," with itemized subtasks listed inside. Each morning I take the 3 cards off the fridge which correspond with that date, and that's my WIP.Being able to boil down a seemingly insurmountable number of tasks to 3 cards per day tames an otherwise overwhelming task load, and allows me to enjoy the holiday rather than sweat the small stuff.