Personal Kanban

Personal Kanban is a method deriving from the Kanban concerning the industry (also see Kanban: 1947 by Taiichi Ohno, Toyota). The aim of the method is to visualize the personal work, to divide it into work packages and to find a manageable volume of work (workload).

Overview:

• Developed by Jim Benson in 2011.
• It is worked with boards (card method).
• All tasks are recorded on notes, if possible.

Basic/General rules of this method:

• Visualize your work:
  • At any time it should be visible what tasks are still to be done, in what kind of condition they are and how much has already been done. Most of the time this is also achieved through a kanban board.
• Organize and prioritize your work:
  • On the basis of these kanban boards all activities are collected and prioritized. This way a more consistent processing and completion is achieved.
• Limit your simultaneous workload:
  • Too large a number of simultaneous tasks in progress impedes a reasonable processing (never more than 4 to 5 parallel activities)..
• Learn from your mistakes and successes:
• The dynamics of the processing also results in a kind of learning system for oneself.

Disadvantages:

Personal Kanban is a system for the own organization. The focus does not lie on the support of several people who work together to complete their tasks and want to learn from them. Necessary mechanisms and methods are missing.

Further reading:

• Personal Kanban Blog and Website by Tonianne DeMaria Barry & Jim Benson
• Kanban-Board