Personal kanban is considered a productivity tool because it gives us the power to produce more. It’s also said to increase our efficiency by limiting work in progress (WIP) and increasing focus, which means we expend less energy to get results. This in turn boosts our effectiveness by providing the information necessary to make better decisions and act on them.
Often people have bursts of productivity, efficiency, or effectiveness but because they aren’t paying attention to what they’re doing, these events are sometimes dismissed as happy accidents. Using a personal kanban makes your work explicit, meaning it constantly shows you what you are doing and what you could be doing. This helps you interpret your options and prioritize your tasks based on current conditions. A personal kanban also enables us to balance productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and turn them into three parts of the same machine.
Let’s look at these bursts individually.
• Burst of productivity: You get a lot done, but is it the right stuff?
• Burst of efficiency: Work is easily done, but is it focused for maximum effect?
• Burst of effectiveness: The right work is done at the right time... this time, but is this process repeatable?
I call these bursts “hero” events. Over time, things get screwed up, and you have to call in a “hero” to fix them quickly. That hero may be you, a temporary worker, a consultant, or a friend. But however you define this person, they are necessary because you identify a need so late in the game that you must work above and beyond what’s expected to complete the task at hand.
What’s funny is that after these hero events, we feel good. And because we feel good, we think, “That was awesome!” and we ascribe the event to something exceptional. Something that just couldn’t possibly happen every day.
During a recent project in Washington, D.C., I worked alongside members of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). More than one member told me that people in the IC who allegedly had cushy desk jobs routinely volunteered for live fire assignments.
These people specifically volunteered to be in harm’s way.
Why? Because it was a period of sustained productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. People did not have the “luxury” to relentlessly and constantly prioritize. In the field there is no choice but to constantly reevaluate conditions and reprioritize actions. Because picking the most important task was the only way to survive, the only way to complete the mission.
There was a mission; there was survival, and those two conjoined drivers created a great deal of focus.
Hopefully we don’t have to risk our lives simply to focus on our work. A personal kanban provides the structure to allow us to choose the right work for maximum effect repeatedly.
Often people have bursts of productivity, efficiency, or effectiveness but because they aren’t paying attention to what they’re doing, these events are sometimes dismissed as happy accidents. Using a personal kanban makes your work explicit, meaning it constantly shows you what you are doing and what you could be doing. This helps you interpret your options and prioritize your tasks based on current conditions. A personal kanban also enables us to balance productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and turn them into three parts of the same machine.
Let’s look at these bursts individually.
• Burst of productivity: You get a lot done, but is it the right stuff?
• Burst of efficiency: Work is easily done, but is it focused for maximum effect?
• Burst of effectiveness: The right work is done at the right time... this time, but is this process repeatable?
I call these bursts “hero” events. Over time, things get screwed up, and you have to call in a “hero” to fix them quickly. That hero may be you, a temporary worker, a consultant, or a friend. But however you define this person, they are necessary because you identify a need so late in the game that you must work above and beyond what’s expected to complete the task at hand.
What’s funny is that after these hero events, we feel good. And because we feel good, we think, “That was awesome!” and we ascribe the event to something exceptional. Something that just couldn’t possibly happen every day.
During a recent project in Washington, D.C., I worked alongside members of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). More than one member told me that people in the IC who allegedly had cushy desk jobs routinely volunteered for live fire assignments.
These people specifically volunteered to be in harm’s way.
Why? Because it was a period of sustained productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. People did not have the “luxury” to relentlessly and constantly prioritize. In the field there is no choice but to constantly reevaluate conditions and reprioritize actions. Because picking the most important task was the only way to survive, the only way to complete the mission.
There was a mission; there was survival, and those two conjoined drivers created a great deal of focus.
Hopefully we don’t have to risk our lives simply to focus on our work. A personal kanban provides the structure to allow us to choose the right work for maximum effect repeatedly.
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