I have been on agile projects in past, but did not have a chance to explore Kanban. Earlier this year, following few discussions about kanban, lean at the Scrum Alliance’s – Orlando Scrum Gathering in Florida, USA got my attention.
While researching, reading and learning I came across Jim Benson’s Personal Kanban (PK) blog/site. It really got me interested and I decided to start practicing PK. Visual flow of the work, limiting the work-in-progress and amount of tasks DONE in front of my eyes gave me a boost. I was feeling good while moving tasks on the board from “ToDo” to “WIP to “Done”.
Recently, I came across Derek Huether using “pomodoro technique“. Putting it to use made my PK – productive and effective by helping me focus better to get things done! I must admit this combination has been pretty effective.
All these experiments, excitements and improvements I shared with my wife, Meghana. Today, while cooking she asked me, “Does the pomodoro technique apply to cooking, too?” My answer was: Absolutely, Yes! and why not. Think about the chefs in the restaurants. Do they start cooking from scratch? Nope, they’ve spent some time for preperation already. They have to mange time and create exotic, tasty dishes in minutes! [psst..I am a huge.. i mean HUGE fan of Chef Gordon Ramsey of Hell’s Kitchen].
Few more tweeps I came across on social media using PK for everyday:
- @Sprezzatura shared a story of Pre-K teacher using PK
- @gerrykirk is using it with his family
- @agilescout uses kanban for their work
What’s your story? Have you used PK or know someone who uses it for day-to-day activities? Share your experience.
Btw: Did you notice the pomodoro timer on Pomodoro Technique site? It’s a tomato! Fits right in with the food/chefs analogy above, doesn’t it?! 😉
Spice of life 
Meghana
December 21, 2010 at 11:00 pm
This is a really good post. I liked the chef analogy. Keep at it. 🙂
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Erik
December 25, 2010 at 9:05 am
Very interesting, I also use Pomodoros with my Personal Kanban.
My journey started after a stay in the hospital and a need to take my Life back in hand. I discovered a lot of ideas and techniques but those who stuck where the Kanban and Pomodoros and a few others.
Since I don’t want to write a novel and because some people had asked me to explain the way I use my Personal Kanban, I made a video about it this summer and here it is:
http://bit.ly/dhA1qB
Skip to 38 minutes if you want only the Kanban part 😉
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Sameer
December 26, 2010 at 12:39 am
Thanks for sharing, Eric. Very interesting. The more I use it, the more I learn about it. Still in search for a few more answers like the way you explained the maintenance activity part.
I would still like to keep it simple using the PK board+Pomodoro and move recurring/regular tasks from done to backlog – in the next cycle instead of archiving.
Let’s see how things shape up.
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