I do keep a list of things to do on my phone but it only serves its purpose if I remember to access it when I get home. But more often than not, I don't because as soon as I get home, I end up doing other things. Haha...
Anyway, I read a book summary of Personal Kanban: Mapping Work/Navigating Life by Jim Benson & Tonianne De Maria Barry. I started using the Personal Kanban technique this week and guess what? I was able to cross out 8 out of the 15 backlogs I have. Yay! It works for me!
So what is Kanban? It's a technique developed by Toyota to streamline their production - reducing costs while maintaining a high level of quality. A Toyota engineer named Taiichi Ohno designed a billboard-like display system which shows the workflow of the entire factory. Instead of waiting for tasks to be assigned, employees just had to look at the billboard and know what was next.
Personal Kanban was inspired by this. It was designed to help one organize and increase productivity.
What do you need to do? Write 3 columns - Ready, Doing, Done. At the bottom section, write Backlogs.
Here's how your Personal Kanban (Kanban=Billboard) should look like (sorry, I am too shy to show the tasks I have so I've put blank sheets instead! Haha...)
How to use the Personal Kanban:
1. Write down everything first in the "Backlogs" section.
2. Choose which among your backlogs need to be tackled and put them under "Ready".
3. When you start doing a specific task, move it under "Doing"or your work-in progress stage. You may have 2 to 4 things at a time here - whatever you can handle.
4. Once you've completed a task, move it to "Done". It's a happy feeling as you see tasks pile up under this column. :) Just clear this column as you wish (maybe weekly to see what you've accomplished in a week).
It's that simple. :)
You can make one using a whiteboard or corkboard but since I try to be a minimalist, I just used post-it notes (and magic tape if they start peeling off) on my wall. Haha...
And since it's on the wall, it's highly visible. Not a day passes by that I forget to take a look at it. No more excuses. Haha....
If merely keeping a list of personal tasks hasn't worked for you, you may want to try out Personal Kanban.
Anyway, I read a book summary of Personal Kanban: Mapping Work/Navigating Life by Jim Benson & Tonianne De Maria Barry. I started using the Personal Kanban technique this week and guess what? I was able to cross out 8 out of the 15 backlogs I have. Yay! It works for me!
So what is Kanban? It's a technique developed by Toyota to streamline their production - reducing costs while maintaining a high level of quality. A Toyota engineer named Taiichi Ohno designed a billboard-like display system which shows the workflow of the entire factory. Instead of waiting for tasks to be assigned, employees just had to look at the billboard and know what was next.
Personal Kanban was inspired by this. It was designed to help one organize and increase productivity.
What do you need to do? Write 3 columns - Ready, Doing, Done. At the bottom section, write Backlogs.
Here's how your Personal Kanban (Kanban=Billboard) should look like (sorry, I am too shy to show the tasks I have so I've put blank sheets instead! Haha...)
How to use the Personal Kanban:
1. Write down everything first in the "Backlogs" section.
2. Choose which among your backlogs need to be tackled and put them under "Ready".
3. When you start doing a specific task, move it under "Doing"or your work-in progress stage. You may have 2 to 4 things at a time here - whatever you can handle.
4. Once you've completed a task, move it to "Done". It's a happy feeling as you see tasks pile up under this column. :) Just clear this column as you wish (maybe weekly to see what you've accomplished in a week).
It's that simple. :)
You can make one using a whiteboard or corkboard but since I try to be a minimalist, I just used post-it notes (and magic tape if they start peeling off) on my wall. Haha...
And since it's on the wall, it's highly visible. Not a day passes by that I forget to take a look at it. No more excuses. Haha....
If merely keeping a list of personal tasks hasn't worked for you, you may want to try out Personal Kanban.
