My Merge of GTD and Kanban

I'm not going sit here an boast of being some kind of expert on Kanban or guru of personal productivity.  I'm just a Project Manager/Leader who is always keeping his eyes and ears open for newer or better ways to manage time or work.  I believe you should always try to eliminate non-value-added processes, resulting in a positive impact of customer satisfaction, while reducing support costs.  How do you do that?  You get it done as effectively and efficiently as possible. I recently completed Getting Things Done by David Allen.  It was an interesting book.  Though I use paperless processes to "get things done", David offered one bit of advice that resonated with me.  To advance a task or activity to more of an actionable conclusion, he said to ask "What's the next action?"

This parallels what I do with my Kanban (task) board.  I currently have 4 columns:  Backlog, Work In Progress (WIP), Blocked, Done.  When a prioritized task can not be worked, I put the task card (user story) in the "blocked" column.  I then ask myself the question.  What's the next action? Without asking yourself that simple question, your task may be blocked longer than necessary.  You have to understand there may be 3 or 4 steps you need to complete before you can unblock your task and get it back to WIP.  So, ask the question.

As to not ignore the obvious, I recommend you write your tasks in a standard user story format.As a [perspective], I want to [activity], so I can [desired outcome]

It doesn't matter if you use a physical or virtual Kanban (task) board.  I recommend following 3 simple rules:

1. Keep your tasks visible

2. Keep your tasks limited

3. Keep your tasks actionable

Meeting Acceptance Criteria Implies Customer Satisfaction

checklist

It doesn't matter if your model is Kanban, Agile, Waterfall, or RUP.  You can't close out a project or task without first identifying the Acceptance Criteria.  Acceptance criteria begins to take shape during the first moments of a project or task. If you are utilizing Kanban or Agile, everything pertaining to your deliverable should be captured on your story cards.  This includes story details and acceptance (testing) criteria.  Satisfying all acceptance criteria implies the needs of the customer have been met.

If you following Waterfall, RUP, or similar model, you would expect to identify acceptance criteria, along with scope description and project deliverables, in the project scope statement.  (These are each components of a scope baseline)

It all goes back to requirements and stakeholders' satisfaction.  Remember each requirement should add business value by linking to a business or project objective(s).

Those criteria, including performance requirements and essential conditions, must be met before project deliverables are accepted. Regardless of your model, spare yourself a lot of wasted time AND money by documenting acceptance criteria early.

Starting Is Easy; Finishing Is Hard

I once saw (via video podcast) a wise man (Jason Calacanis) say "starting is easy; finishing is hard." When he said that, it was a moment of absolute clarity for me.  I'm not saying he verbalized the meaning of life.  He did state, however, what I've often conceptualized but was never able to verbalize.

What Jason stated in 6 words is what I've seen many colleagues struggle with.  Who doesn't have projects and tasks to complete and deadlines to meet?   I've tried multitasking, thinking it would make me more efficient.  I've tried using a productivity pyramid.   All I did was start more tasks, not finish more.  That's the key right there.  It doesn't matter how many things you start if you never finish them.

The solution to my past problems has been the use of kanbans, referring to them as information radiators.  These information radiators were large billboards strategically placed around the office so anyone could passively see the status of the current project.  You could see what the highest priority was, what was currently being completed, and what was being delayed.

I believe the key to those successes was in the ability to visualize our work.  Everyone knew exactly what they needed to complete and everyone else knew if it was getting done.  People were not allowed to go on to ancillary activities until their assigned tasks were completed.  Another important facet of the kanban, we limited our work-in-progress.  This forced-focus on limited tasks and constant feedback loop is very powerful and very productive.

If you would like to read my complete guest post at the Personal Kanban website, on how I visualize my work and FINISH it (don't forget the comments), just follow the [link].

Kanban for Lean Project Management

For those out there using Kanban for Lean Project Management, let me sing the praises of Zen.  Zen is a tool that applies the ideas of the Toyota Production System (commonly known as "lean" principles) to project management. Whether you already practice lean in your organization, you want to set up a lean process, or you just want an easy and effective way to manage your process, Zen will work for you.

Since I started using Zen back in July, my productivity increases has been astounding.  I used to think multi-tasking was the best way to deliver value.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  Instead, I now limit my Work In Progress to only 3 and only focus on 1 at a time.

Though I wrote about this product back in August, I wanted to give a formal product endorsement.  Getting started is free of charge. Once you begin using it on your projects, the cost is reasonable and scalable.  The Zen creators focused on what really matters, and designed an open-ended and easy to customize product.  They don't overwhelm you with metrics and force you to try to figure out what matters.  Instead, they track just a few high-value indicators such as cycle time and lead time.

If you've already implemented lean ideas in your organization, Zen can easily be used to replace a manual kanban board and spreadsheets, and has all the features you would expect to find in a lean project management tool.  If you think I'm a fanboy, you'd be right!  I love this product.  Check out www.agilezen.com

Shared Items in Google Reader

Yesterday, I listened to This Week in Google 3 (TWIG) on the way home from the office.  They talked about a TechCrunch article detailing new features of Google Reader.  Though I don't believe I've discovered my one-stop-shop to find or disseminate information I digest and enjoy on a daily basis, I feel Google Reader is heading in a good direction.  The hard part is just incorporating it into my current routine.  As soon as I arrive at the office, I check email, voicemail, and then it's off to Google Reader and Twitter.  I do all of this before  8AM.  It's not that I intentionally make this a habit.  It just is. So, in the spirit of early adoption, I'm going to attempt to use one of the new social features of Google Reader.  It is the sharing of items from Google Reader in my Google Profile and distribute to social sites like Facebook, Twitter...  My first share is Visualizing the Flow: Polar-State Based Personal Kanban with Habit Trackers via Evolving Web by Jim Benson on 8/1/09.  You can find it at google.com/reader/shared/derek.huether

What is my new habit?  Share at least one item I read in Google Reader to my Google Profile and Twitter on a daily basis.  Enjoy!

My Personal Kanban Story

Personal Kanban

A little over a month ago, Agile Zen started following me on Twitter.  They are creators of a very clean web-based kanban solution.  Around the same time, I connected with Jim Benson.  Jim is a collaborative management consultant.  He is the CEO of Modus Cooperandi, a consultancy which combines Lean, Agile Management and Social Media principles to develop sustainable teams.

Though I've used information radiators like kanbans in the past, I've been working in a non-Agile PMO for the last six months and it's all very foreign to them.  Thanks to reading the works of David Anderson, Jim Benson, and AgileZen, I'm back in the game.  I'm using AgileZen on a daily basis for everything from business deliverables, to an entrepreneurial project, to my wife's honey-do list.

My actual task completion velocity has noticeably increased in the last month.  I attribute that to AgileZen having a very easy to use product, Jim musing on a daily basis on the topic, and most importantly limiting what I'm working or focused on.

I wish I could thank all of the kanban supporters out there that I follow on a daily basis.  These 3 really have to be mentioned.  If you're interested in Kanban, look them up.