Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life

Other people’s expectations of you do not disappear simply because you are overworked.

With its tendency to seek out patterns to process meaning, the brain becomes preoccupied with missing pieces of information. Unfinished tasks vie for our attention, causing intrusive thoughts that ultimately impede productivity and increase the opportunity for error.

By visualizing our work and limiting its flow, the value of our options becomes apparent. The choices we make and actions we pursue have a much greater chance of reflecting our ethics, our aesthetics, and our dreams—components intrinsic to a balanced life.

Work we have yet to complete, or any aspect of our life that distracts us, creates existential overhead. As existential overhead mounts, our effectiveness diminishes. Visualizing work reduces the distractions of existential overhead by transforming fuzzy concepts into tangible objects that your brain can easily grasp and prioritize.

we progress towards actualization when we adopt a mindset that minimizes fear and embraces growth.

increasing work linearly increases the likelihood of failure exponentially.

When they’re incorporated into your regular WIP limit, repetitive tasks can clutter your Personal Kanban and create wasteful overhead. If you have to check in with three customers daily, creating fifteen sticky notes per week reminding you to contact them is waste. In these types of situations, consider giving repetitive tasks their own visualizati

I wanted to track and communicate my progress beyond the walls of my cubicle. I wanted to know where and when I could help my colleagues. I wanted collaboration and effectiveness for me and my team. I wanted a map of my work depicting not only the tasks at the office, but everything that mattered to me. Rather than being pushed by life, I wanted to

When you create a sticky note, include the date of creation (Born), the date you pull it into READY (Begin), the date you began working on it (WIP), and when you are finished, the date you pull it into DONE (Done).

Life is not like that. It is variable. It changes whether we plan for it or not. Our systems need to be flexible to adapt to this variation.