Category Archives: Books

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Can Kanban Improve Your Work and Unlock GTD®?

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© Bellemedia | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

© Bellemedia | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

People who are categorized as “knowledge workers” often struggle with managing all of the information that comes their way on a daily basis and with getting everything done that needs to be done. My wife and I are both knowledge workers, and for years we have been mutually searching for a way of working that allows us to stay on track, manage a flood of information, keep our promises, get things done, and be great at everything we do. Modest goals, right?

Getting Things Done

In 2009 we discovered David Allen‘s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. His book has had so much impact that many people (including us) simply refer to his system as GTD®. We highly recommend the book and his method of organizing everything in your life. We are committed to his method of putting all tasks in writing and keeping them in context-specific lists. For example:

Errands

  • Buy groceries
  • Mail tax return at post office
  • Make deposit

At Computer

  • Finish RISE proposal
  • Request meeting with James for the 22nd
  • Schedule web conference for new project

You define your own contexts and add everything in your mind that you need to do in those contexts. My list is very large and evolves daily. If I trusted my brain to remember all of this, I would surely fail.

After understanding the purpose and power of GTD®, one of the first questions most people have is: “What software tool should I use to implement this system?” The beauty of GTD® is that there is no one tool that David recommends for everyone. He wants you to understand the system and then find the tools that work best for you. Finding that perfect mix of tools has been a challenge for us. Initially I used an iPhone tool (and related website) called Toodledo. This tool allowed me to create unlimited contexts and unlimited tasks. It also allowed me to include due dates. However, it was still not a natural part of my work day. I did not find myself using it effortlessly the way Zamfir uses the pan flute. My tasks were all “there,” but I wasn’t doing much with them.

Lean Manufacturing

I now believe that what I was missing to properly implement GTD® was right under my nose the whole time. In my day job I help companies and individuals manufacture their products. This career gives me the opportunity to be in many different types of factories (I wrote about my affection for factories here). Great factories have nearly all adopted Lean Manufacturing practices that were first developed in Japan. Among the many concepts used in Lean are:

  • Kaizen (“good change” – continuous improvement)
  • Muda (“wastefulness” – waste elimination)
  • Poka-yoke (“fool-proofing”), and
  • Kanban (“sign-board” – an inventory pull system)

Please hang in here with me. The payoff will be worth it. All of these Lean concepts are powerful, but I want to focus on one of them: Kanban.

Kanban

A kanban pull system is the way many factories are organized today for Just-In-Time (JIT) production. For a brief explanation for what a kanban system looks like, please check out this video:

So the kanban system relates to the inventory of parts and sub-assemblies that flow through a factory to completed product and customer order fulfillment. What does that have to do with knowledge workers or GTD®? Well, think of your capacity as a worker as you would think of a factory. In a sense you are your own factory with a set capacity to do work each day. You have a lot of people making a lot of demands on your time. You have work to do, promises to keep, and miles to go before you sleep (Robert Frost reference). Not to mention the fact that you have to attend that piano recital tonight, pick up a gallon of milk at the grocery store, and call to check on Aunt Edna’s gall bladder surgery. You only have so much time in the day. How will you balance your workload so as to not break promises or create big bottlenecks?

Let me introduce another book. My wife is currently reading a book titled Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life by Jim Benson & Tonianne DeMaria Barry. Think about the title for a moment – Personal Kanban. Remember, you are your own factory. You have only so much work that can flow through your factory today. You need a personal kanban system to effectively manage the inventory of tasks you need to do, those you are currently doing, those that are waiting for something or someone else, those that have been completed, and the entire backlog of all things that need to be done. I have not read the book yet, but as she and I have discussed it, it has become clear to me that implementing my own personal kanban is the secret to unlocking GTD®. It is in harmony with David Allen’s concepts. It is very possible that David even has the same idea just stated differently, but the concept of me being my own factory and having my own kanban has been powerful to me.

However, the question of tool still lingers. How do I implement my personal kanban? My wife has started using a physical white board with sticky notes for each task that are placed in one of several columns that reflect her workflow bins. This is the way kanbans are still used in some factories while others have gone to electronic kanban systems. I have found a software tool that is working beautifully for me.

Workflowy

I must give credit to John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing for sharing a terrific tool called Workflowy. John’s article provides a nice overview of the capabilities of Workflowy. The Workflowy site also has a good video introduction. My special recipe, though, is the combination of GTD®, Personal Kanban, and Workflowy. With the three of these merged together I am starting to use these tools like our buddy Zamfir and his pan flute. It feels natural to me.

Let me show you the way I have set up Workflowy bins to give me unprecedented productivity in my personal factory:

  • READY [Work Waiting to Be Processed – Tasks That Need to be Completed First]
  • TODAY [Work I Need to do Today]
  • DOING [Work In Progress – Limit 3]
  • WAITING FOR [The Pen – Things I’m Relying on Others or Time to be Able to Complete – Additional Actions Beyond My Control]
  • DONE [Completed Work]
  • BACKLOG [Work Yet to Do]
    • Personal (By context)
    • Work (By context)

Not only can I access my free account directly on Workflowy.com, I also have the Workflowy app on my iPhone. Each task listed in my personal kanban bins on Worklowy can be easily moved from one bin to another by dragging. It is very powerful to be able to look at the task I am currently DOING, to drag a completed task to DONE, and to pull a new task from TODAY or READY down into DOING. I hope you will at least give it a try by setting up your free Workflowy account as I have above. To really fine tune it all, I recommend you read the two books cited above. For me, implementing my own Personal Kanban on Workflowy helps me with Getting Things Done.

Forward Story

To me there is an obvious connection between all of this and Forward Story. The future I am working toward depends in large part on how I do my daily activities. This is true whether I am a student, an employee, a business owner, or a stay-at-home parent. The more effectively my personal factory runs, the more positive possibilities will show up in my future.

What tools and/or practices do you use in your daily life to help you keep on track and be more effective in your work?

 

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Does Your Forward Story Require a Platform? Your Game Plan Has Arrived

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Your Forward Story may involve creating and selling art, writing a book, writing a blog, making music, creating a product, or some other creative activity. If it does, you are going to need a way to get noticed in a world with a lot of competition. Don’t get discouraged, though, because a powerful new tool is now available to help you create your platform and build a powerful brand. Michael Hyatt has just released his newest book:Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
.

Hyatt has built his own platform into one of the leading blogs on leadership with a large and loyal readership. The most exciting thing about the book is that it provides truly practical step-by-step guidance on how to create the kind of platform Hyatt has built. The book is so rich in guidance that I had trouble finishing it because of my frequent stops to add to my task list. It will absolutely help you build your own platform.

For a limited time Michael is offering a large bundle of free gifts worth $375.98 for buying the book during its launch week. The details are included here: http://michaelhyatt.com/platform You will have to act fast to get this deal because the offer ends on Friday, May 25, 2012. But I have to say that if you are reading this after the deadline, please do not let that deter you from reading this book. The book can be such a great part of the development of your Forward Story that it is worth every penny even without the freebies.

_____________________________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

One final word about this. In addition to the free copy I read and reviewed, I have now purchased 3 copies of the book. One is for myself and two are to give away.

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Today I’m 50 – Now What? Maybe Write a Book!

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I recall as a kid being really excited about birthdays. What was not to love? My friends and family made a big deal out the fact that on that date some number of years before, I made my exit from one environment into another. I was the center of attention on that day each year. There were presents, there was cash, there were games, there was singing, and best of all, there was cake. Let them eat cake! What a great thing.

At some point in my adolescence I stopped getting so excited about birthdays. As an adult I observed the annual ritual with indifference as the various milestones clicked past like so many center stripes on a long road trip.

  • At 30 I remember feeling like a “real” adult.
  • At 40 I felt like I had gained some wisdom.
  • Now that I am 50, what do I think? What am I feeling?

According to the United Nations, the average life expectancy of an American male is 75.6 years. What does this mean to me?

  • The hypochondriac in me says that there are a lot of things that will probably get me well before 75.6.
  • The optimist in me says that I will live to be 100.
  • The realist in me says that this means I only have around 25.6 years left. Unless, of course, the Mayans are right (but that’s another story).

Which will it be? I have no crystal ball, so I have no idea. I am not losing sleep over it, either.

I began this blog on July 20,2010 with an initial post on narrative. Before now I have never promoted the blog. I have told a few people about it, and a few more have stumbled upon it, but I have not sought widespread readership. In the past 20 months I have written on a variety of topics all revolving around the idea that all people should be working on a story that looks forward, into the future. I call it a Forward Story.

As I celebrate my half century on the planet today I am taking the wraps off my plan to publish my first book in 2012 entitled Forward Story. While I have been sporadically writing the blog, I have also been working on the book. In writing style the book will be specifically targeted to young people up to their mid-20s, but it will have something to say to all of us, including those 50 and above. The fact is that regardless of your age, you need to have a story for where you are headed. Writing the book Forward Story has been a part of my personal Forward Story for a while now. This is the year to launch it.

This website will be the primary place to keep informed about the book. Feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed or otherwise bookmark forwardstory.com. You can also follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/forward_story The exact timeframe for publication is not set, but I am committed to publication before the end of the year. In the meantime, feel free to poke around the site and join in the conversation.

Regardless of how many candles you will find on your cake this year, I hope you are writing a beautiful and meaningful Forward Story. Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon.

An Update: It took a lot longer than I hoped, but the book has arrived. You can get your copy here:


Forward Story: Write the Future You Desire

 

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People & Books

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People. Persons. Individuals. Men. Women. Boys. Girls. Coaches. Mentors. Parents. Grandparents. Friends. Teachers. Students. Employers. Employees.

A quote I have heard attributed to Charlie “Tremendous” Jones is:

In five years you will be the same person you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.

The reason I love that quote is because it implies that being the same person you are today in five years is not a good thing. You ought to be more and better than you are today. You ought be learning, growing, and evolving.

As an avid reader of great books, I wholeheartedly concur with his take on books. Books have transformed my thinking and behaviors.

His statement about people, though, is also very powerful. Humans are social beings. We view those who cannot get along with others as “anti-social,” and it is seen as a negative thing. In free societies we have the choice about who we will socialize with, how deeply we will allow them to get involved in our lives, and how we will let them influence our thinking and actions.

Human associations and networks can be very powerful. This is the reason successful people make it a priority to know and interact with other successful people. The great aviator, Charles Lindbergh, was friends with Igor Sikorsky. Lindbergh was a record-breaking pilot, and Sikorsky developed the first commercially viable helicopter. They spent time together because they had a common interest and could help each other.

Conversely, the negative power of human association can be seen in gangs and organized crime where human sociability is turned against the pursuit and attainment of what is positive and productive. What this underscores is the truth that “evil companions corrupt good morals.” If you spend your time with people who are engaged in these types of activities, your life will turn out to be “nasty, brutish, and short.”

On the other hand if you will spend your time with positive, successful, ethical people, you will benefit. If you determine to become one of those positive, successful, ethical persons, you can in turn help all of those who choose to interact with you.

I have been blessed to have many people who have graced my life and helped me become a better person than I was when I first met them. I was blessed with wonderful parents and grandparents who loved and nurtured me. Lifelong friends like Margot and David have grown up with me and have shared their understanding of the world as they have encountered it. My brother and sister are also big influences in my life.

Coach Jimmy, Coach Richard, Coach Al, Jim, Jeanette, Lonnie, Jan, Brian, Max, Foy, Chris, and Sam are all people who have helped me be who I am today. Yearbook advisors Nancy and Barbara, and speech teacher Mary have also influenced me powerfully. I have allowed them to change me and to contribute to my life. I encourage you to do the same. I remain open to new people who can help me and who I can help. It is exciting to see who nexts enters my life. Our wonderful neighbors Rudy and Veanne have improved us as we have gotten to know them. Most recently my life has been improved by my octogenarian friend Bill and his wife Ann. What awesome people who are contributing to me.

Make no mistake, though. I am careful who I let in. Not everyone who wants “in” wants to influence me the right way. Their motives are less than sincere, and they will drag me down if I let them in. I am very picky. I try to be sure their life reflects the values I want to embrace.

Now, back to books. In reality what are books? They are the products of people. I do not know Dave Ramsey personally, but in a way I do know him. I have met him and had him sign a book, but that is not how I know him. I know him because I have read his books. He has shared his thinking and his mind with me on the written page. His words and thoughts have changed both my thinking and my behavior. A more powerful way to state this is that his books have allowed me to change both my thinking and my behavior. A book cannot make me do anything. So, a book is really still just people sharing their knowledge and thinking.

It is awesome to think that I have been influenced by hundreds of other men and women that I have never met (and many who are no longer on this earth) as I have read their words in their books. It is exciting to think of how many books there still are to read!

So, do you have as part of your Forward Story the purposeful inclusion of quality people and books in your life? If not, you will be the same person in five years that you are today.

That would not be a good thing.