Comments on: The personal kanban: not just “vocabulary engineering.”

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:27:24 +0000

Tom — the book comes out on Dec 13. The Kindle version will be out a few weeks later, depending on how long it takes Amazon to do the conversion.

You can download a free chapter at the book’s website: http://www.afactoryofone.com

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:55:15 +0000

I am eager for this book to come out. Will it be available as an ebook?

By: Dan Markovitz

Dan Markovitz — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:52:07 +0000

Joe, Liz: thanks for the kind words. Increasingly, I’m seeing the kanban as a way to manage one’s own work more effectively and to eliminate much of the communication waste within teams.

By: Joe Ely

Joe Ely — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:18:13 +0000

Dan, your distillation of the concept into brief text and photos is very valuable. Thanks.

I find this tool to be of enormous help to me.

Thus, it adds value. End of discussion!

By: Liz Guthridge

Liz Guthridge — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 07:01:08 +0000

Great post, Dan, and great comments. I too love the observation: “It won’t solve problems but it enables problems to be solved.”

By: Dan Markovitz

Dan Markovitz — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:50:59 +0000

Jim — I completely agree that the psychology of the kanban (or more accurately, the psychological impact of a kanban) is what’s important, not the form of the board itself.

Vin — I love your comment: “It won’t solve problems but it enables problems to be solved.” Exactly.

By: Vin D'Amico

Vin D'Amico — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:47:06 +0000

The basic concepts behind Kanban, work items, queues, and workflows, apply from the personal level all the way to the entire enterprise. The fact that such simple concepts can be used anywhere makes Kanban a powerful tool. It won’t solve problems but it enables problems to be solved.

By: Jim Benson

Jim Benson — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:54:41 +0000

It is interesting that after two years, the first real criticism about Personal Kanban isn’t about its effectiveness, but about its apparently lack of portability and name.

The thing is, if you read the site or the book, you’ll find that we are very quick to downplay the form of the Personal Kanban. The act of visualization is more important that the form of the visualization.

The site and the book focus more on the psychology – both personal and team – of visualization and limiting work-in-progress. I totally agree that it should not be a shock that it’s easier to manage what we can see (visualization) and that we cannot do more work than we can personally handle (limit WIP) – but very few people are doing this.

Thanks for the post, Dan!

By: Dan Markovitz

Dan Markovitz — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:22:00 +0000

Michel — thanks for the offer. I’d love to do that.

By: Michel Baudin

Michel Baudin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:27:36 +0000

Keep me posted on the release of your book. If you are interested in one of mine, maybe we can swap.

Best regards.