But when we came up with the way to carpe our diem, we found that we would move the first few things we wanted to do into “Working,” and tackle them. It soon became clear that we weren’t pulling tasks one at a time but rather, we were strategically pulling a series of tasks (that often worked together) into an object called “Today” – a column/distinction that wasn’t actually represented on our Personal Kanban.

You see, the “Today” column isn’t considered WIP but rather, it’s a plan of what you want to feed through your daily WIP. Nonetheless, it is a definable and conceptual package.  If anything, it’s a point of hyper-priority.

When we begin our workday, we tend to package those hours into what we think we can get done by day’s end.  This makes the day its own production cycle and prioritization event.

The “Today” column translates the work we want to get to into an identifiable (though rarely understood) measure of “workday.” It is possible that by lumping in a priority filter called “Today,” we can accomplish the following:

1. Gain a better understanding of our work by getting a feel for how much we can actually do in a workday versus what we feel we can do in a workday.

2. Have an invitation to visualize what we really have during the day.  If you want to move 4 cards, but you have 5 hours of meetings, then you’re not likely to finish the tasks on those 4 cards. With a “Today” column, you can actually enter meetings as cards and move them as appropriate.

3. Increase the effectiveness of our estimation. When we bid on projects or vow to meet a deadline, we do so under the guise of our ideal working speed.  The “Today” column forces us to see what we did not do during the day, as opposed to seeing what we did do in the “Complete” column.  In this case, the difference between what we planned to do and what was actually completed is the difference between our ideal work day and our actual throughput.

4. Focus. The “Today” column helps focus on completion.  This means that we will be more likely to select coherent packages of work over the course of day – as opposed to disparate tasks of high priority. We find that if we focus on similar tasks, the flow of work smooths itself because the work doesn’t force us to shift gears.

We’ve started employing the “Today” column to see what other insights it might bring. We’d love to hear from others who have also uncovered ways to conceptually package their work.

The basic kanban: Waiting, Working, Done

A quick trip through personal kanban design patterns demonstrates how they can be created using any number of materials. This tutorial illustrates how to build the most common personal kanban.

Step One: Establish Your Value Stream

Value Stream (vly strm): The flow of work from the moment you start to when it is finished. The most simple value stream possible is Backlog (work waiting to be done), Doing (work being done), and Done (yes, that’s right, work that’s done).  While you can set this up on a white board or even a piece of paper, a white board is preferable. Why? Because as you grow to better understand your value stream, you will want to change your kanban. You will add steps, or refine how you think about work. A white board provides permanence, yet allows ultimate flexibility: you can always erase and draw something new.

Step Two: Establish Your Backlog

Backlog (bklg, -lôg): The work you haven’t done yet. All that stuff you need to do that you haven’t done – that’s your backlog.  Everything you need to do, start writing it down onto Post-its. Big tasks, small tasks, get them all down. Write them onto post-its and start populating your backlog. Don’t sweep things under the rug. Don’t lie to yourself. Your first backlog-fest should be a painful experience. You should, at some point say, “god, there’s way too much of this.”

Step Three: Establish Your WIP Limit

WIP (hwp, wp): Work in Progress Limit – The amount of work you can handle at one time.  We have a tendency to leave many things half-done. Our brains hate this. Part of what makes kanban work is finding the sweet spot, where we are doing the optimal amount of work at the optimal speed. Set an arbitrary number in the beginning, let’s say no more than 5 things.  Add this number to your Doing column.

"Pull" tasks from one kanban stage to the next

Step Four: Begin to Pull

Pull (pl): To take completed work from one stage of the value stream and pull it into the next. You’re ready to go! That’s right – step four is Begin Working.

Beyond Step Four: Prioritize, Refine, and Reduce

Past step four, it’s all about prioritization of work, refinement of the value stream, and reduction of waste.