How Do You Hold the Chaos?
In mid-June, we were prepared for the trip of a lifetime. My wife and I planned on two weeks hiking through multiple national parks in Utah. I had carefully wrapped up multiple projects and notified customers and stakeholders that I would be “out of pocket” for the last two weeks of the month. I would bring my smartphone, but I wouldn’t bring my laptop. It was my time to unplug and relax.
Our daughter planned on staying behind to focus on her new job and watch after the house and pets. All supplies were ordered and delivered for them.
Two days before our flight, our backpacks were ready. We were ready. Then the air conditioning in our home stops working. A quick service call, and the technician says it can’t be repaired. It needs to be replaced, and the intense Florida summer heat can’t be avoided.
Ever have a “life surprise” like this when you thought all was in control?
You ALWAYS Have Options
Even though I’ve managed complex projects for years, life continues to find ways to surprise me. However, I’ve also learned that with the right tools in place, you can respond well to those surprises.
One of my daily tools for surfing the chaos is Personal Kanban (or PK). I’ll share just one example of a PK board, but they can take many forms depending on what you need to organize.
In this board, we find four columns to organize our work:
Options - What could be done
Doing - What is in progress (sometimes referred to as Work In Progress, or WIP)
Waiting - What may be on hold or waiting for something
Done - What we no longer need to worry about, but may reflect on later
If kanban sounds familiar, it’s a technique that’s been used in manufacturing for a long time, revised for software development in the early 2000s, and now found in every online planning tool.
However, labeling the first column “Options” instead of the traditional naming “Backlog” might seem different. In PK, we label that first column Options to remind us that we always have options on how to organize our work, and not everything needs to be done now. The needs of now change often.
So what do you do when circumstances change rapidly and your past priorities become overwhelmed?
It’s Always Personal
For me, the personal part of Personal Kanban reminds me that I have control of what I put on my board, how I organize the board, and how I can change it at any time based on the needs in that moment.
You may have also noticed the WIP(3) and WIP(4) on the PK board. Known as Work In Progress limits, or WIP limits, they often help reduce the amount of multitasking so we can focus and finish. Otherwise, we risk having too many open tasks going that can lead to overwhelm and eventually burnout.
Some people using kanban approaches get too dogmatic about those limits. But in urgent situations, you may need to override those limits to work your way out of that emergency situation.
In those two days before that long-awaited vacation, I put everything else on hold and focused on the emergency. And my PK board showed this.
The overload showing in my board reminded me where I needed to act quickly and what I could address much later. I could focus and finish on getting our home back in order. I quickly cleared my DOING column, and that visual clearing helped me breathe a sigh of relief and head out on our adventure.
What Options Do You Have?
When you juggle multiple responsibilities in work and life, how do you react to emergencies? Do you have a way to visually track your work so you know what to put on hold and what absolutely must get done in that emergency?
If not, you may want to give Personal Kanban a try.
Stay Human My Friends,
Mark
Footnotes:
I’m deeply indebted to Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria for their book and many conversations on Personal Kanban. It has become the operating system of my life.
Another person I’m grateful to share ways to surf your chaos with Personal Kanban is Dave Prior. If you would like to join the next set of conversations on how to get the most out of Personal Kanban, join Dave and I starting October 16. For readers of this newsletter, use code MarksMarv75 for a deep discount. I’d really like you to join us.
If you are curious about the Utah trip, I left some photos here. I’ll probably share more during my conversations with Dave. Hope to see you there!
I was expecting a 'government shutdown of national parks' story, but was happy this was a different one! I like the deliberate move of WIP into waiting to make space - I think I'm in the habit of leaving those items in WIP and feeling overloaded. This seems like a better way.