Systems Thinking aggregator

Johanna Rothman: Individuals and Interactions With Gil Broza

Johanna Rothman — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:07:01 +0000

My friend and colleague, Gil Broza, is interviewing me for his Individuals and Interactions virtual training event. My topic? “Focus Keeps You Going.”

If you read my personal kanban series a couple of weeks ago, you saw how my focus kept me going. Even with a big interruption last week, due to a death in the family, I was able to maintain my focus, because I knew exactly what I had to do, to finish my work, to get ready for my trip today.

Gil has other great people in his event: Doc List, Ellen Gottesdiener, Mary Gorman, David Spann, Christopher Avery and Bob Schatz might be names you recognize. How about Rick Ross? David Spann? Caren DesBrisay? You might not recognize these names, and you should listen to what they have to say, too.

Check out Gil’s Individuals and Interactions training. Sign up. It’s a steal.

Johanna Rothman: Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 5

Johanna Rothman — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:53:32 +0000

I am still making progress, although it’s more difficult to see my progress today. Why? Because I did not get as much to done.

One of my readers asked a question about the Urgent queue and the relative ranking of my ever-growing left hand column. How did I determine what to do, and what was the rank of each?

The Urgent queue always trumps everything on the left hand side of the list. I was so frantic on Monday, I didn’t order anything when I put the list together. It almost didn’t matter what I worked on, as long as I made enough progress to get enough things to done. As you can see, I did pick and choose. When I rewrite my list for next week, I will reconsider what I need to do in order. I need to complete the workshops and talks first. Then do the writing. My list next week should be shorter, so I should feel less frantic and be able to finish it.

As for the ones I have added to the bottom of the list, trumping the older ones in importance? No, not really. They are there because I realized I needed to do them also this week. My todos are getting away from me. Putting them on the list means I don’t lose them. I can relax because they are there. Now, I have to focus and do them.

If you are wondering, will I continue this series next week? No. I will not. One week of this is plenty. I wanted to show you a number of things:

Everyone has trouble every so often, with too much to do
The best way to organize your work is to see it, not matter what you decide to do next
I like personal kanban, where I finish one chunk of work and go on to the next
If you keep your chunks of work small, you can finish one and continue on to the next one. If your chunks of work are too large, you can’t finish anything and you are tempted to multitask. (Don’t do that!)

If you want to see all the posts in this series, here they are:

To see a “real” personal kanban board, the way I suggest you do it in Manage Your Job Search, go to Personal Kanban for Your Job Hunt.

Read my Book Review of Personal Kanban for more information on how to do it right. And, Gil Broza will be interviewing me for his Individuals and Interactions virtual training May 15, 2013. My topic? “Focus Keeps You Going.” Surprised? I don’t think so!

Johanna Rothman: Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 4

Johanna Rothman — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:55:07 +0000

I’m still chugging along, making great progress. I took some interruptions yesterday, as many people do. They are not reflected on my kanban. They are in my calendar, which I am not showing you :-)

A potential client emailed, asked for a call. I said yes, and we arranged for a call that day. Could I have put it on my kanban? Yes. Did I bother? No. Does that make me a bad person? No. It’s my kanban, not yours.

I don’t track metrics from my kanban. If I did, I would want that and the other calls there. But I don’t, so it’s fine.

I’m using my kanban to help me to get to done on my tasks, not to track my every piece of work. I’m using it to not forget work. I have a couple of phone calls this morning and a phone call this afternoon. I hope to complete one of the workshops today. Maybe.

I have a workout tomorrow and a number of phone calls, so I might not complete anything tomorrow. We will see. On the other hand, I am whittling down my list to something manageable. I no long feel anxious about it. I can see my progress. And, I have managed to blog this week. I am a happy, productive woman.

And, that is what personal kanban is all about.

Johanna Rothman: London Workshops Almost Full, May 16 & 17, 2013

Johanna Rothman — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:45:47 +0000

Are you considering joining me in my Coaching or Project Management workshops in London on May 16 or May 17, 2013? If so, please decide quickly.

I have room for two more people in the coaching workshop. I have room for three more people in the project management workshop. When those places are gone, they are gone. That’s it, no more. I will run a waiting list.

If you are considering it because you are not sure, email me.

Johanna Rothman: Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 3

Johanna Rothman — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:08:45 +0000

I’ve been busy crossing work off my list. And, as with all of us busy people, I’m adding more work to my list. I feel as if I’ve accomplished a lot this week.

It’s just about time to rewrite my list, because with the cross-outs, it’s hard to see where I am. It’s time to go to draft 2 for the workshops, which might be the final drafts for the prose. I will be revising the simulations and interactions during the week. I hope to complete them by the end of the week. I do want to complete the workshops by the end of the week. I will feel more comfortable.

I had some items pop up on my urgent queue: I did go vote.

In yesterday’s post, there is a comment from Lukas, about how he likes rewriting his list, because he gets to reassess the relative rank of each item on the list when he rewrites the list.

If you use stickies, in a real personal kanban, such as I suggest in Manage Your Job Search, you pick up the stickies and put them down. Because you handle the stickies, you have a way of checking in with yourself to reassess the relative value of each item on your queue.

Okay, off to work again today. I’ll check in with you again tomorrow.

Johanna Rothman: Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 2

Johanna Rothman — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:08:06 +0000

I’ve made great progress on Day 1, and I wasn’t even in the office all day!

You can see I’ve added more todos, at the bottom of my queue. I discovered two urgent todo’s. I had a call-back, to reschedule a doctor’s appt this week to next week, and to vote today. (We have a primary election today for a special senate election in June.)

And, since I’m cheating on how to do a real personal kanban, I thought I would at least describe for you how to do real personal kanban over at Personal Kanban for Your Job Hunt.

You can see now there is a huge drawback to my list. I will have to rewrite my list, instead of just moving the stickies off. This is why in personal kanban, the right way is to not have a list. If you move the stickies, you don’t get this list nonsense, with lines crossed through.

Well, most people don’t have vertigo, either. So, tough. Okay, enough being meta today. On to the real work of the day.

If you missed part 1, here is the link: Personal Kanban and Iterations, Day 1.