14 ms·

Personal Kanban 101

170 points by martinlaz 7y ago

bdibs 7y ago
Would anyone recommend this for a solo developer? Personally I'm a fan of a mix of physical sticky notes and Trello, but I'm always open to new ideas. I could see this being more of a hassle than I'd like, but I could be wrong.
- TheChaplain 7y ago
  It seems like it's a book, not an actual tool. If Trello or sticky notes works for you, then it's the best option.
- an_opabinia 7y ago
  As a solo developer, you should only be doing the things you are really excited to do, not waging psychological warfare against yourself.
  - turk73 7y ago
    I don't see how this is at all realistic. If it were up to me, I would just do all POC work and nothing else. But there are bills that have to be paid, so...
  - keyle 7y ago
    Ahah well written. And you're 100% on point.
- chucky_z 7y ago
  Try out https://gingko.io/ https://gingko.io/ When I was working solo it was really good, I used the top-level as a daily log and could easily tell what to continue working on, and what my major issues were each day. (I used the other version at https://gingkoapp.com/ https://gingkoapp.com/)
  - personjerry 7y ago
    BTW the scientific spelling is ginkgo :)
- erikig 7y ago
  I think it is helpful to distinguish between tools and techniques. Trello and Sticky Notes are tools. GTD, Kanban, Pomodoro etc are productivity management techniques/methods. I find it helpful to first pick the technique/method then figure out how to use the tools. It is similar to programming languages and IDEs. First pick the programming language (methodology) then pick the tool (IDE). Good tools work with multiple methodologies.
  - jdmichal 7y ago
    Nitpick: I might argue that at its core, Kanban is a visualization tool. I think "agile Kanban for software" has some prescribed methodologies, but you're also free to tell them where to shove it and still call what you're doing Kanban as long as you have a board.
- wpietri 7y ago
  I think of kanban mainly as an analytical model for things represented in sticky notes or trello cards. The main things I think you'd find useful are a) making sure you represent your actual workflow, and b) setting WIP limits. You can see a (team) implementation of this using index cards here: http://williampietri.com/writing/2015/the-big-board/ http://williampietri.com/writing/2015/the-big-board/
kitotik 7y ago
This is just uh, Kanban. The ‘Personal’ part is irrelevant in practice. That being said, for both personal and professional projects of any scale, I’ve found Kanban with elements of GTD mixed in extremely useful.
- cvhashim 7y ago
  GTD?
  - srikz 7y ago
    Getting Things Done is a time management method, described in the book of the same title by productivity consultant David Allen. The GTD method rests on the idea of moving planned tasks and projects out of the mind by recording them externally and then breaking them into actionable work items. https://gettingthingsdone.com/ https://gettingthingsdone.com/
    - austhrow743 7y ago
      Here is a good summary of it. https://hamberg.no/gtd/ https://hamberg.no/gtd/
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - rukuu001 7y ago
    Now that I’m more manager than dev, GTD is saving my butt. As a dev it never really worked for me.
  - rgoulter 7y ago
    Where Kanban's main points are: - Visualise work flow - Limit work in progress Getting Things Done's main points are: - Capture all tasks/notes in only a few central places - Have a process for processing/reorganising these tasks Kanban's aim is to make it clear what's happening (and what's not being done). You'd hope to see why you're not finishing things which you're "doing". GTD aims to reduce mental load (the tasks/notes aren't in your head, they're on paper).
travbrack 7y ago
I've been iterating on this with Trello in my personal life for about a year now. It's depressing to see all the things I intend to do and am not getting done for one reason or another, but I am dropping far fewer things on the floor than I used to.
- yebyen 7y ago
  I've been doing the same thing on "commits.to" Here you can see all the things I haven't done on time: http://kb.commits.to/ http://kb.commits.to/ and the backlog of things I already did, of course, too, but I like to focus on those red things at the top of the page. This is a beta thing that will probably go 1.0(/2.0?) soon, there's no signup page, don't look for a signup page...
- FlorinSays 7y ago
  I've been using something similar and I've found it decreased my anxiety with the things I want to get done. I've found that splitting things based on the GTD philosophy helped me reach the right state of mind.
ernsheong 7y ago
I am making a Trello alternative that tries to inculcate Kanban principles.. You can try it out and see if it works for you. It's at https://www.kanrails.com https://www.kanrails.com, and currently in Beta (no paywall). Hope to get some good feedback from HN!
- aarohmankad 7y ago
  It's cool that you're working on this! But piece of advice: It would be really nice to see the platform (a screenshot or video) before having to sign up.
  - ernsheong 7y ago
    Thanks for the feedback, I will act on this soon! For now, https://twitter.com/KanRails https://twitter.com/KanRails has some screenshots :)
catchmeifyoucan 7y ago
"Take back your life with Outlook" is a similar book that outlines how you could make your email more actionable and stay on top of it.
yitchelle 7y ago
While this is good, it goes into the mix with 100s of other similar or same apps (but with a different name). What I have yet to see is how to increase the motivation to actually close the things on the list. Anyone with hints? I try to be mindful of the things on my list, especially when I add new items on to it, but closing it out is a different story.
- tuxxy 7y ago
  I hate to be that blockchain guy, but using Ethereum might be fun for this. Stake some amount of ETH for an issue and when it closes you get it back. If it goes over some time period, the staked ETH begins to burn. Just a thought. Could make a fun hackathon project. :)
  - personjerry 7y ago
    Beeminder already does this with normal money
    - yebyen 7y ago
      Beeminder is cool, but have you seen the sister project Commits.to? It's basically "Service Level Indicators" for your GTD queue
  - mk3 7y ago
    I like how the rate of BTCUSD directly correlates with amount of comments about crypto currencies across the internet.
  - the_seraphim 7y ago
    whats to stop it being closed without effort to release the eth?
- MRD85 7y ago
  It could be related to gameifying it. Finishing a task isn't simply a task, it's an item moved along the kanban board!
l0b0 7y ago
Entire screen blocked by sign-up form? Closed so fast bits were flying off.
Ameo 7y ago
I've been using an open source Kanban webapp called Kanboard (https://kanboard.org/ https://kanboard.org/) for a while now, and I'm very happy with it. It's a cinch to self-host, and it has all the functionality I need with multiple boards, the option for multiple user accounts, visualizations, etc.
- k_sze 7y ago
  An alternative is Wekan (https://wekan.github.io/ https://wekan.github.io/), which I use for my personal life. You can install it as a Snap package on a lot of Linux distros.
- francis-io 7y ago
  I also self host this with docker using a docker postgres backend to persist data and another container to dump, encrypt and upload to S3. You can also set it to store images and attachments in the database too which makes it easy to back up. It's a bit basic, but it's all I need for a few kanban boards. The mobile interface could use some love, but I tend to use it from my laptop anyway. My workflow is an "eventually" column that I dump any idea I have for something I'd like to do. As soon as it pops into my head I capture it as a task. Once a week or two sort and expand on these tickets, or split them up if they are too big and pull the ones I want to work on into the "ready" column. I manually limit tasks to 5 in the "in progress" column, but it also contains tasks I'm blocked on. I really recommend people try out Kanboard if they have the desire to self host. Once I set it up in a docker-compose file along with a backup container, it's needed no management since. (The author also created an RSS self hosted reader which is also great if you like the idea of simplicity and self hosting / controlling your own data https://miniflux.app/ https://miniflux.app/ )
jmickey 7y ago
I've had good success with using Trello and Portable Kanban (http://edgars.lazdini.lv/portable-kanban/ http://edgars.lazdini.lv/portable-kanban/) for personal task management. One advantage of Personal Kanban is that it is a native app, so there is no latency between writing something down, moving tasks across boards. Sadly, it is not open source.
unicornporn 7y ago
I selfhost Kanboard for work and personal use https://kanboard.org/ https://kanboard.org/ It works with a SQLite db, so no migration issues. Highly recommended.
nisa 7y ago
I've put all work and personal stuff into kanbanflow.com - I'm using several boards and attempt to do everything using their included pomodoro timer that also tracks the time for you. This is the only thing that worked for me to get myself to somewhat be able to account for works/tasks the I've done and it keeps me focussed on important but unpleasent todo-list issues. I didn't look very hard but I've found no self-hosted alternatives that offer the kanban/pomodoro/tracking aspects, if you know something please let me know :)

170 points by martinlaz 7y ago

Would anyone recommend this for a solo developer? Personally I'm a fan of a mix of physical sticky notes and Trello, but I'm always open to new ideas. I could see this being more of a hassle than I'd like, but I could be wrong.

TheChaplain 7y ago
It seems like it's a book, not an actual tool. If Trello or sticky notes works for you, then it's the best option.
an_opabinia 7y ago
As a solo developer, you should only be doing the things you are really excited to do, not waging psychological warfare against yourself.
- turk73 7y ago
  I don't see how this is at all realistic. If it were up to me, I would just do all POC work and nothing else. But there are bills that have to be paid, so...
- keyle 7y ago
  Ahah well written. And you're 100% on point.
chucky_z 7y ago
Try out https://gingko.io/ https://gingko.io/ When I was working solo it was really good, I used the top-level as a daily log and could easily tell what to continue working on, and what my major issues were each day. (I used the other version at https://gingkoapp.com/ https://gingkoapp.com/)
- personjerry 7y ago
  BTW the scientific spelling is ginkgo :)
erikig 7y ago
I think it is helpful to distinguish between tools and techniques. Trello and Sticky Notes are tools. GTD, Kanban, Pomodoro etc are productivity management techniques/methods. I find it helpful to first pick the technique/method then figure out how to use the tools. It is similar to programming languages and IDEs. First pick the programming language (methodology) then pick the tool (IDE). Good tools work with multiple methodologies.
- jdmichal 7y ago
  Nitpick: I might argue that at its core, Kanban is a visualization tool. I think "agile Kanban for software" has some prescribed methodologies, but you're also free to tell them where to shove it and still call what you're doing Kanban as long as you have a board.
wpietri 7y ago
I think of kanban mainly as an analytical model for things represented in sticky notes or trello cards. The main things I think you'd find useful are a) making sure you represent your actual workflow, and b) setting WIP limits. You can see a (team) implementation of this using index cards here: http://williampietri.com/writing/2015/the-big-board/ http://williampietri.com/writing/2015/the-big-board/

kitotik 7y ago

This is just uh, Kanban. The ‘Personal’ part is irrelevant in practice. That being said, for both personal and professional projects of any scale, I’ve found Kanban with elements of GTD mixed in extremely useful.

cvhashim 7y ago
GTD?
- srikz 7y ago
  Getting Things Done is a time management method, described in the book of the same title by productivity consultant David Allen. The GTD method rests on the idea of moving planned tasks and projects out of the mind by recording them externally and then breaking them into actionable work items. https://gettingthingsdone.com/ https://gettingthingsdone.com/
  - austhrow743 7y ago
    Here is a good summary of it. https://hamberg.no/gtd/ https://hamberg.no/gtd/
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- rukuu001 7y ago
  Now that I’m more manager than dev, GTD is saving my butt. As a dev it never really worked for me.
- rgoulter 7y ago
  Where Kanban's main points are: - Visualise work flow - Limit work in progress Getting Things Done's main points are: - Capture all tasks/notes in only a few central places - Have a process for processing/reorganising these tasks Kanban's aim is to make it clear what's happening (and what's not being done). You'd hope to see why you're not finishing things which you're "doing". GTD aims to reduce mental load (the tasks/notes aren't in your head, they're on paper).

travbrack 7y ago

I've been iterating on this with Trello in my personal life for about a year now. It's depressing to see all the things I intend to do and am not getting done for one reason or another, but I am dropping far fewer things on the floor than I used to.

yebyen 7y ago
I've been doing the same thing on "commits.to" Here you can see all the things I haven't done on time: http://kb.commits.to/ http://kb.commits.to/ and the backlog of things I already did, of course, too, but I like to focus on those red things at the top of the page. This is a beta thing that will probably go 1.0(/2.0?) soon, there's no signup page, don't look for a signup page...
FlorinSays 7y ago
I've been using something similar and I've found it decreased my anxiety with the things I want to get done. I've found that splitting things based on the GTD philosophy helped me reach the right state of mind.

ernsheong 7y ago

I am making a Trello alternative that tries to inculcate Kanban principles.. You can try it out and see if it works for you. It's at https://www.kanrails.com https://www.kanrails.com, and currently in Beta (no paywall). Hope to get some good feedback from HN!

aarohmankad 7y ago
It's cool that you're working on this! But piece of advice: It would be really nice to see the platform (a screenshot or video) before having to sign up.
- ernsheong 7y ago
  Thanks for the feedback, I will act on this soon! For now, https://twitter.com/KanRails https://twitter.com/KanRails has some screenshots :)

catchmeifyoucan 7y ago

"Take back your life with Outlook" is a similar book that outlines how you could make your email more actionable and stay on top of it.

yitchelle 7y ago

While this is good, it goes into the mix with 100s of other similar or same apps (but with a different name). What I have yet to see is how to increase the motivation to actually close the things on the list. Anyone with hints? I try to be mindful of the things on my list, especially when I add new items on to it, but closing it out is a different story.

tuxxy 7y ago
I hate to be that blockchain guy, but using Ethereum might be fun for this. Stake some amount of ETH for an issue and when it closes you get it back. If it goes over some time period, the staked ETH begins to burn. Just a thought. Could make a fun hackathon project. :)
- personjerry 7y ago
  Beeminder already does this with normal money
  - yebyen 7y ago
    Beeminder is cool, but have you seen the sister project Commits.to? It's basically "Service Level Indicators" for your GTD queue
- mk3 7y ago
  I like how the rate of BTCUSD directly correlates with amount of comments about crypto currencies across the internet.
- the_seraphim 7y ago
  whats to stop it being closed without effort to release the eth?
MRD85 7y ago
It could be related to gameifying it. Finishing a task isn't simply a task, it's an item moved along the kanban board!

l0b0 7y ago

Entire screen blocked by sign-up form? Closed so fast bits were flying off.

Ameo 7y ago

I've been using an open source Kanban webapp called Kanboard (https://kanboard.org/ https://kanboard.org/) for a while now, and I'm very happy with it. It's a cinch to self-host, and it has all the functionality I need with multiple boards, the option for multiple user accounts, visualizations, etc.

k_sze 7y ago
An alternative is Wekan (https://wekan.github.io/ https://wekan.github.io/), which I use for my personal life. You can install it as a Snap package on a lot of Linux distros.
francis-io 7y ago
I also self host this with docker using a docker postgres backend to persist data and another container to dump, encrypt and upload to S3. You can also set it to store images and attachments in the database too which makes it easy to back up. It's a bit basic, but it's all I need for a few kanban boards. The mobile interface could use some love, but I tend to use it from my laptop anyway. My workflow is an "eventually" column that I dump any idea I have for something I'd like to do. As soon as it pops into my head I capture it as a task. Once a week or two sort and expand on these tickets, or split them up if they are too big and pull the ones I want to work on into the "ready" column. I manually limit tasks to 5 in the "in progress" column, but it also contains tasks I'm blocked on. I really recommend people try out Kanboard if they have the desire to self host. Once I set it up in a docker-compose file along with a backup container, it's needed no management since. (The author also created an RSS self hosted reader which is also great if you like the idea of simplicity and self hosting / controlling your own data https://miniflux.app/ https://miniflux.app/ )

jmickey 7y ago

I've had good success with using Trello and Portable Kanban (http://edgars.lazdini.lv/portable-kanban/ http://edgars.lazdini.lv/portable-kanban/) for personal task management. One advantage of Personal Kanban is that it is a native app, so there is no latency between writing something down, moving tasks across boards. Sadly, it is not open source.

unicornporn 7y ago

I selfhost Kanboard for work and personal use https://kanboard.org/ https://kanboard.org/ It works with a SQLite db, so no migration issues. Highly recommended.

nisa 7y ago

I've put all work and personal stuff into kanbanflow.com - I'm using several boards and attempt to do everything using their included pomodoro timer that also tracks the time for you. This is the only thing that worked for me to get myself to somewhat be able to account for works/tasks the I've done and it keeps me focussed on important but unpleasent todo-list issues. I didn't look very hard but I've found no self-hosted alternatives that offer the kanban/pomodoro/tracking aspects, if you know something please let me know :)