Tuesday, May 10, 2011

K is for Kanban

I have organizational challenges. This is no great surprise to anyone who has spent any amount of time with me. I also love gadgets and systems and things, and am forever trying out the new latest and greatest way to keep my life (brain, house, what have you) in order.

The latest nifty tool I've stumbled upon is so simple it almost seems silly. I've been playing with it four a couple weeks now, and am really enjoying my personal Kanban board! What is "Kanban", you ask? Well, from the Personal Kanban website, "A kanban is a tool to visualize, organize, and complete work." Todd Clarke at GetLit (an IT blog) offers his usage of the board, complete with pictures. I love the layout he has used, and thoroughly intend to copy it.  LOL  The whiteboard I have setup at home is much simpler, but doesn't quite do the trick. 


Todd Clarke's super-cool Personal Kanban board at LeanKit Kanban


In a fantasy world, I would have a big flat-screen monitor on the wall of my office, displaying my own personal Kanban using something like the LeanKit Kanban site - and everything could be done with a few clicks of the mouse! As it is, however, I think I'll make do with my whiteboard, colored dry erase markers, and different colored sticky notes.  :)

4 comments:

  1. This is awesome. I also suffer from organizational challenges (love the term, btw). Mostly I start something, get interrupted, and then start something else instead of returning to what I was doing previously - sort of whatever is closest to me at the time. In this scenario hardly anything ever reaches a FINISHED point.
    I like that there is a space for "Right Now". I'm constantly asking myself, "Now what was I doing?" This may settle that question.
    The biggest problem with these, however, is reminding myself to sit down and actually figure out what it is I need to be doing. =)

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  2. Briana, thanks for the post on this and for the kudos? I totally luv this tool and now I understand that they are coming our with iPad and iPhone supported apps. This will really allow me to drop my other task management tool, Wunderlist, which I also love. Butt (not a typo) one tool is better than two for task management.

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  3. This looks similar to the bulletin board my toshiba laptop came with. I love the bulletin board and for things I need to remember continually, I can place little sticky notes right on my desktop!

    Love the blog today. :)

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  4. Very cool! Thank you for this :D
    *Looks around the bookstore wondering where a white board can go up*
    I'm also very organizationally challenged--most especially at work. Lists are great, but I have to remember to look at the book I wrote them in. >.<

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