Everything Flows: Use Personal Kanban And Get Things Right

Summary

The website content introduces "Personal Kanban," a time management method for freelancers to streamline task management and improve efficiency, adapted from Toyota's Kanban system and detailed in Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry's book.

Abstract

The article "Everything Flows: Use Personal Kanban And Get Things Right — Chapter 1" is aimed at freelancers struggling to manage multiple tasks, offering a solution through the Personal Kanban method. This approach, which visualizes projects on a Kanban board, helps track progress, identify obstacles, and continuously improve work processes. Originally developed by Taiichi Ōno at Toyota for manufacturing efficiency, Kanban has been adapted for individual use by Benson and Barry in their 2011 book. The method emphasizes limiting the number of tasks in progress to enhance focus and efficiency, aligning with the broader "lean" principles of optimizing workflow. The article serves as a guide for beginners, with potential insights for those already familiar with Kanban, and outlines the benefits of adopting this system for personal productivity.

Opinions

The author suggests that freelancers often juggle various tasks, which can lead to chaos without a proper system.
Personal Kanban is presented as an effective tool for freelancers to gain control over their workload and time.
The method is described as easy to learn and implement, with the potential for continuous improvement in task management.
The article implies that by visualizing tasks and limiting work in progress, individuals can avoid becoming overwhelmed and maintain better focus.
The author indicates that Personal Kanban can be applied using thematic boards, integrating time planning, and can be facilitated by digital tools like Trello.
The text conveys that Personal Kanban is part of the broader "lean" philosophy, with "lean" being the destination and Kanban the means to get there.

How can I benefit from using the Kanban method?

Does this sound familiar? As a freelancer, you sometimes feel like a juggler who holds a lot of balls in the air: projects, offers you work on, training, accounting, internal projects like writing books, creating online courses, and leisure activities. And sometimes, it gets too chaotic. The balls land on the ground and bounce away on all sides.

With Personal Kanban, you get an order into the chaos. By visualizing your projects on a physical or digital Kanban board, you can keep track of your tasks, track your progress, recognize obstacles quickly, and improve continuously. The method is quick and easy to learn and implement. I will give you detailed practical instructions on successfully organizing your work with Personal Kanban. I wrote this manual primarily for complete beginners. But even if you already have some experience with Kanban, you might be able to pick up one or the other suggestion.

The origin of Kanban

Toyota established Kanban as a method in production in 1947. The system was developed by Taiichi Ōno, a Toyota employee looking for ways to improve manufacturing processes. Kanban means translated “signal card.” The idea at that time was to make just-in-time production possible by optimizing the material flow. The goals were to avoid bottlenecks and excessive stocks of production materials. When production materials fell below a defined stock level, the cards signaled that the process needed replenishment. Even today, one calls such a procedure a pull method. This is because the supply of material does not come in a fixed rhythm (push), but only when there is a signal that new material is needed (pull).

In the meantime, Kanban is widespread in many areas. Introduced initially for production processes, David J. Anderson adapted Kanban in 2007 to organize teams in software development. Then, in 2011 Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry transferred the method to the personal area in their book “Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life,” and Personal Kanban was born. You can use Personal Kanban to understand your tasks better and process them more efficiently. By limiting the number of tasks that you process simultaneously, you don’t get tangled up and focus better on the task at hand.

Sometimes the term “lean” appears in connection with Kanban. For those who wonder what the difference is, David J. Anderson has answered this very aptly:

“Lean is a destination; Kanban is a means to get there.”

Everything Flows: Use Personal Kanban And Get Things Right — Chapter 1

How you, as a freelancer, get a grip on your tasks and use your time more efficiently

Introduction

How can I benefit from using the Kanban method?

The origin of Kanban

Table of contents