Using a variation of Personal Kanban and the XP Planning game methods to manage your personal and professional life. Talk given at May 5, 2017 Agile & Beyond conference.

1. Managing Life’s Chaos
with Personal Kanban
Agile & Beyond 2017
Helene Gidley, HSG Consulting, LLC
5/5/17 1HSG Consulting, LLC
Be sure to get a handout and 2 sizes of sticky notes

2. About Me
PMP, CSM
5/5/17 2HSG Consulting, LLC

3. Daily Chaos
! Your next report is due in two days
! The car needs gas
! You need to schedule your kids summer camp before all
the slots fill up
! Your email in-box has over 100 messages
! Your first meeting is in 10 minutes
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! You’ve got dentist appointments to
schedule for yourself and your family

4. Personal vs Professional Life
! Personal and Professional Life are NOT Distinct
! Personal Projects are:
! Often Short-lived
! Difficult to Manage
! Often Can’t be Delegated
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5. Personal Kanban
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! Derivation of Kanban
! From the fine people at
Modus Institute
! 2 Key Rules:
! Visualize work
! Limit WIP

6. Helene’s Version
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! Focus on daily activities
! 4 steps:
! Break Down
! Estimate
! Prioritize
! Do
! Backlog & Outstanding Items

7. Break Down The Work
! Your next report is due in two days
! The car needs gas
! You need to schedule your kids summer camp before all
the slots fill up
! Your email in-box has over 100 messages
! Your first meeting is in 10 minutes
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! You’ve got dentist appointments to
schedule for yourself and your family

8. Break Down the Work
! 1.5 x 2 Post-its
! Transform concept to concrete
! Adding kinesthetic aspect
! Reward
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9. Break Down The Work
Schedule my and
my daughter’s
Dentist
appointment for
just a 6-month
cleaning so we are
on the same day
and time
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Schedule son's
Dentist
appointment for a
6-month cleaning
Give to husband
Produce first draft of
report that is due in 2
days – bullet list
those items I don’t
have all the material
for yet -
Produce second
draft of report that
contains the
missing items
from the first draft
Scan through email
and identify any
that can be deleted,
and delete them
Scan through email
and sort messages
by task or project
and place in
holding folder for
action
Identify top 2 to 3
email messages that
require immediate
attention and
respond
Research summer
camps for this year
and identify 3 that
may be interesting
for the kids
Fill car with Gas
(on the way home
from work)
Produce final
report ready to
hand in
Schedule summer
camps

10. Break Down the Work
! Work that I can give to others
! Work with a fair amount of uncertainty
! Work that requires input from others
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11. Do Your Own
! Begin to break down your current To Do list
! Use 1.5 X 2 Post-it notes
3 minutes
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12. Estimate the Work
! The time it would take me, working uninterrupted,
to complete a task
! Using hours and minutes
! Reality as motivator
! Maximum size of 2 hours
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13. Estimate The Work
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Schedule son's
Dentist
appointment for a
6-month cleaning
Give to husband
Schedule my and
my daughter’s
Dentist
appointment for
just a 6-month
cleaning so we are
on the same day
and time
5 minutes
Produce first draft of
report that is due in 2
days – bullet list
those items I don’t
have all the material
for yet -
1 hour
Produce second
draft of report that
contains the
missing items
from the first draft
2 hours
Produce final
report ready to
hand in
1 hour
Scan through email
and sort messages
by task or project
and place in
holding folder for
action
10 minutes
Identify top 2 to 3
email messages that
require immediate
attention and
respond
5 minutes
Research summer
camps for this year
and identify 3 that
may be interesting
for the kids
1 hour
Schedule summer
camps
20 minutes
Fill car with Gas
(on the way home
from work)
15 minutes
Scan through email
and identify any
that can be deleted,
and delete them
5 minutes

14. Do Your Own
! Create estimates for the items on your To Do list
! Use hours or minutes
3 minutes
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15. Create Draft Weekly Plan
! Prioritize items, top to bottom, left
to right
! Indicate demands on your time
! Add up times, if greater than 8
hours, move some items to other
days
! Add items as prioritization and
break down necessitate
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16. Create Draft Weekly Plan
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Wednesday
Produce final
report ready to
hand in
1 hour
Thursday
Schedule summer
camps
20 minutes

17. Do Your Own
! Create draft weekly plan for the items on your To
Do list
! Use the Monday – Friday sheets
2 minutes
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18. Do The Work
! Daily Kanban
! Limit WIP - 1 item at a time
! Clarity of focus
! Studies show that switching
between tasks increases
! time to complete work
! cognitive impairment
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19. Do The Work
! Check mark completed items, move to right side of sheet
! Do Until
! All items are complete
! The day is complete
! Pull forward as needed
! At EOD: Reflect and re-plan
! Task completion
! Estimate update (difficulty to complete)
! Prioritization review (right work at right time)
! Adjust weeks schedule
! Move items to backlog as needed
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20. The Backlog
! List of upcoming items & events
! Estimated and prioritized
! Review during Friday’s daily
planning when planning for
upcoming week
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21. Do Your Own
! Create backlog for upcoming items not on your
weekly To Do list
! Use the Backlog sheet
2 minutes
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22. Outstanding Items
! Feedback from others
! > 3 items awaiting feedback, write
them down!
! What and Who
! 3 x 3 Post-It
! Move daily to top right of sheet
! Rewrite list as items complete and new
items emerge
! Work Visualization
! Avoiding last minute rushes
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23. Adherence
! My constant companion through graduations, major work
commitments, holiday plans and weddings
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! Avoid sliding back into work avoidance behaviors
! Paper helps!
! Daily commitment
! Observe our work’s context for
! Informed decisions
! Clarity in planning

24. Your turn
! Get a good nights sleep
! Exercise
! Avoid last minute panics
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25. More Like This
! Agile Groupies: Agile Fundamentals Training
! June 20-21 in Ann Arbor at Pillar’s Forge
! Flyers at back
! Custom Agile Training, coaching
! Helping You Navigate Your Agile Journey
HSGConsultingllc.com
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26. Questions/Comments
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