The Power of Kanban: Supercharge Your Weekend Development
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Happy Weekend!
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The Easter break made the last week a short work week. So I feel fresh going into the weekend. Hope you are feeling that way too.
On the flip side, you might feel overwhelmed with all the tasks and to-do lists.
Kanban To The Rescue
Putting the tasks on a Kanban board can help you focus on the task at hand knowing that other tasks are out there and can be picked up after this task.
Not sure about what Kanban is? Let’s jump in.
Kanban Overview
Kanban is a visual framework for managing work that originated in the manufacturing industry and has since been adapted for use in various fields, including software development, project management, and personal productivity.
The word "Kanban" is Japanese and translates to "visual signal" or "card."
At its core, Kanban is a method for visualizing work, limiting work in progress, and optimizing the flow of work.
It uses a visual board, often called a Kanban board, to display the status of work items and the flow of work through different stages of a process.
Work items are represented as cards that move across the board from left to right as they progress through the stages.
Basic Principles
The basic principles of Kanban include:
Visualize the workflow: Map out the steps of your process and represent them on a Kanban board.
Limit work in progress: Set a limit on the number of work items that can be in progress at each stage of the process.
Manage flow: Optimize the flow of work by managing the rate at which work items move through the process.
Make process policies explicit: Define clear policies for how work should be done at each stage of the process and communicate them to the team.
Implement feedback loops: Use feedback to continually improve the process and the quality of work.
Kanban emphasizes continuous improvement, flexibility, and collaboration, and can be used in a variety of settings to manage and optimize workflow.
Kanban For Personal Productivity and Developer Journey
This is an interesting bit of applying a principle developed in manufacturing to our personal lives.
We can create a simple digital kanban board with three columns
To Do
Doing
Done
It can look something like this. I created this using draw.io which has a template for Kanban. It creates the whole structure for you and you can get going within 30 seconds.
The non-digital version is to use sticky notes and post them on a wall near your desk. Seeing it next to the desks makes it real.
The DONE list makes you proud. The DOING list focuses on you. The TO DO keeps you on your toes.
Takeaways
Kanban helps you visualize your work. It helps you keep grounded on the task at hand.
You might find yourself drifting away looking at the long TO-DO list.
But seeing the item in the DOING column can bring back your focus and keep you on track.
And remember, the done list is as important. It will give you the motivation to keep on going.
One small tip: Keep the task size small such as it can be completed in 30 - 60 minutes.
It will help you get things done faster as it will give your brain the constant dopamine hits as you move the card to the Done state.
Action
Not sure of what to do on the weekend or feeling overwhelmed to do anything
Create a kanban board using draw.io
Add your TODO list in the TO DO column. Remember to make them small
Pick one and move to the DOING column and start doing.
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