Personal Kanban is an information radiator for your work. 2. Existential overhead mounts when work is conceptual. 3. Visualization makes the conceptual tangible. 4. We can’t do more work than we can handle. 5. Limiting WIP promotes completion and clarity. 6. Flexible systems adapt to changes in context.

the closer you get to reaching your capacity, the more stress taxes your brain’s resources, and impacts your performance.

there was an individual in the organization who wielded so much control over the fate of a funding request that he was menacingly referred to as “the gatekeeper.” To protect the innocent, we’ll call this person Reginald. A notorious stickler for detail, Reginald tries so hard to control costs that in the end he actually creates waste.

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

Rule 1: Visualize Your Work. It is challenging to understand what we can’t see. We tend to focus on the obvious elements of our work (deadlines, individuals involved, the amount of effort needed) when the real context includes larger, unexpected, and more nebulous elements (passage of time, changes in the market, political impacts). Visualizing wor

The only way out is “through.” Often, you can’t delegate, procrastinate, or ignore personal work.

Limiting WIP allows us the time to focus, work quickly, react calmly to change, and do a thoughtful job.

Mapping our work allows us to navigate our life. It makes obvious not only the course we need to take to reach our destination, but also the terrain—revealing the amenities at our disposal and the roadblocks along the way. It plots our work’s context (the people, the places, the conditions, the effort, the trade-offs), helping us to envision our re

We crave and deserve context. Without context, being told what to do is a communication failure.