How Constructive Can Kanban Be?

Everyday, we go to work with a super hectic day scheduled ahead, and as soon as we look at our messed up desk, we ask ourselves, “How am I going to fix this mess?”  The answer is – Kanban.

A simple yet constructive plan of Kanban, which is a scheduling system for Lean manufacturing, can result in more organized tasks. Those days when you loathed your workstation only because you couldn’t deal with all that clutter will be gone.

All you need to do is invest your time. That is all we ask for and we give you ways to implement this tool through several different processes. But before we begin, remember two principles:

1. Limit work in progress
2. Eliminate any waste

Since Kanban is a tool for visual management, it is rather easier for a layman to implement this lean method in any process. In this blog, we give you three ways to implement it:

Kanban Helps in Daily Tasks

The three major parts of a Kanban board are – ‘to implement, in process and completed.’ Before beginning your day, mention all your tasks in an orderly manner on the board. For instance, if you have to write a blog, you would probably put the research part under ‘To implement’ and an unfinished article will go under ‘In process.’ Similarly, as soon as you finish a task, put it under ‘Completed.’ This gives a visual representation of your workflow and eliminates the fear of deadlines.

Kanban Increases Team Productivity

A Kanban practitioner knows the three valuable parts of this board and encourages every employee to follow it. In a team as big as 10-15 members, keeping track of things can be a burden. The elimination of project roadblocks will be easier if team members update the board on a regular basis. This way there will be no delay in tasks ever.

Kanban in Decluttering

Sure, this is a business process, but it is possible for anyone to use Kanban for things like decluttering. We have invented our own unique way to declutter by renaming Kanban cards. First things first, rename cards as ‘Need, Want, Definitely Need.’ Sort things in the aforementioned order and make sure you’re absolutely honest while doing this activity. Sometimes we hang on to stuff we may need later and that day never comes. This is why we keep the ‘Definitely need’ card. Finally, only keep things that you definitely need and try getting rid of things that are no longer in use. Make it a practice so that it’s already being taken care of.

To make work a little easier for us, there are digital Kanban boards such as Trello, Swiftkanban, etc. No matter what business methods you practice, right judgement calls and implementation are the most critical components for any methodology to thrive.