4 ms·

I had the same issue. This is why I now prefer a kanban board. As much as I dislike overhyped "lean" in software, in the TPS spirit I think it's a great way to

by nextos 9y ago

I had the same issue. This is why I now prefer a kanban board. As much as I dislike overhyped "lean" in software, in the TPS spirit I think it's a great way to prioritize and avoid planning waste. With GTD I found I spend too much time writing task lists that would become outdated soon. WIP limits bring focus.

SatvikBeri 9y ago
I've found something similar. Kanban boards have probably made me more effective, but more than that, they've made work a lot more enjoyable by helping me limit the number of open projects at once.
- nextos 9y ago
  Do you use any particular kanban implementation?
  - submeta 9y ago
    Trello is great. Lightweight (compared to Jira + Addon), super fast (also via keyboard shortcuts) and fun to use
  - SatvikBeri 9y ago
    Trello's the best I've found
    - tomerbd 9y ago
      kanbanflow
komali2 9y ago
What do you mean by "WIP" in this context? Work in progress? If that's the case, what does "WIP limits" mean?
- Jtsummers 9y ago
  WIP = work in progress. Generally, in process management/improvement texts like on Lean or Theory of Constraints, you want to limit your work in progress to prevent backlogs and problems. I have 100 books I want to read, that's probably an underestimate. I have 10 open right now at home (I cannot read one book straight through most of the time). I will not open another book until I have finished one of those 10. Since I can only read one book at a time (the actual act of reading) and I only have about 2 hours a day to read, if I let my list grow larger I'd never finish. Many of these take approximately 1 hour/chapter and have 10-20 chapters. So I've got around 100-200 hours of work ahead of me, spread over 50-100 days. Adding another book to the queue means another 10 hours, or 5 days, to clear the list. (Until I wrote this I actually hadn't put this much thought into my reading, but this is approximately what I do.) In order to keep moving on any project you have to limit the amount of concurrent activities that you are doing so that progress can continue.
  - Jtsummers 9y ago
    Too late to edit, and just reread. Addendum: > if I let my list grow larger I'd never finish I'd never finish any books. As there's always something new to read the task of reading will never be done. But if I start new books without considering the number currently being read, then the odds of getting back to and finishing any other book is pretty low.

by nextos 9y ago

SatvikBeri 9y ago

I've found something similar. Kanban boards have probably made me more effective, but more than that, they've made work a lot more enjoyable by helping me limit the number of open projects at once.

nextos 9y ago
Do you use any particular kanban implementation?
- submeta 9y ago
  Trello is great. Lightweight (compared to Jira + Addon), super fast (also via keyboard shortcuts) and fun to use
- SatvikBeri 9y ago
  Trello's the best I've found
  - tomerbd 9y ago
    kanbanflow

komali2 9y ago

What do you mean by "WIP" in this context? Work in progress? If that's the case, what does "WIP limits" mean?

Jtsummers 9y ago
WIP = work in progress. Generally, in process management/improvement texts like on Lean or Theory of Constraints, you want to limit your work in progress to prevent backlogs and problems. I have 100 books I want to read, that's probably an underestimate. I have 10 open right now at home (I cannot read one book straight through most of the time). I will not open another book until I have finished one of those 10. Since I can only read one book at a time (the actual act of reading) and I only have about 2 hours a day to read, if I let my list grow larger I'd never finish. Many of these take approximately 1 hour/chapter and have 10-20 chapters. So I've got around 100-200 hours of work ahead of me, spread over 50-100 days. Adding another book to the queue means another 10 hours, or 5 days, to clear the list. (Until I wrote this I actually hadn't put this much thought into my reading, but this is approximately what I do.) In order to keep moving on any project you have to limit the amount of concurrent activities that you are doing so that progress can continue.
- Jtsummers 9y ago
  Too late to edit, and just reread. Addendum: > if I let my list grow larger I'd never finish I'd never finish any books. As there's always something new to read the task of reading will never be done. But if I start new books without considering the number currently being read, then the odds of getting back to and finishing any other book is pretty low.