My Project planning experiment with Trello

Since my move to Berlin I have applied the Kanban-tool explained here to various fields of my day to day life.

I failed but got something else.

The experiment was:

To implement the project/time management tool Kanban in order to make my everyday life more structured and effective.

The fields would be:

• Reading + Blogging.
• Business.
• Training.
• Other.
• 6 months goals.(Learning)

I started in July by trying out an easy kanban tool which name I have forgotten.
Around the same time I started using Trello after a recommendation on the site of the Sales/CRM system I have been using in my startup.

Trello was the more compelling choice with enough features to make it interesting, a nice and compelling design and which quickly proved to me an easier tool that also was more free in its used, which will be explained a bit more.

To implement this project management style of life proved to be hard. I listened to Brian Tracy and applied his morning list to my day followed by putting that into Trello leading me to add another project: Websites and articles where I would add interesting articles I came over on the internet and wished to read. Things that were low-priorities. This was a good idea which I made use of for a long time. Now I simply write the URL down in a wordfile.

The hardest thing was to keep on with the routine, which in the end made me see my effort as not succesful, but not entirely that that my commitment to the project dwindled because of its thourough implemantion in my entire life. Such a decision should be taken very seriously.

The training-part which in the end was succesful and let me build a new life style was to:

Instead of listing the training as “todo” I simply put in in when its done to keep track of my progress.
This made it easier for me to do without seeing the task at hand as “a thing to tick off” but more like leisure time.
However, that is how I see it now. Not before. It seems like a routine becomes solid ground when it is integrated into one´s Psycology, before one has to pull it up by the rope of motivation litte all the time and never let go.

End result:

I kept at it in all fields the first 3-4 weeks.

My training has developed into a routine which has permeated my life and changed my life style by making me eat better, taken care of myself more and better health.

How does it look in Trello?: I have logged every training session with comments about the training since July. So, the experimentation has so far has had a positive inpact on my life but not as I meant for it to do. The end goal is in fact to get better routines which I to some extent got.

To start a routine one must keep the routine alive, even though changes are made. The routine itself is important and when it is firmly integrated into my psycology as Training now is, it is almost relaxing to fall back on it.

I think I will add one or two things to my Trello tool now that one part is carrying itself.

Furthermore: Some other things have been gained such as the logging of expenses to get a clear picture of my monthly spending.

To implement such a change in life style I need to ask myself: Will I honestly do this in 5 years time? Does it help me on many levels? Should I really do it 100% on all fields in my life, or start small and add?

I am not sure, I will try to add now.

Quality and Innovation – New concepts of TQM and Sandboxes

 

Small Batches

With a project there are always the Size to consider! To work on smaller miniprojects goes quicker, than dealing with something very big because it takes time to e.g. move around the products when packaging.

Example: 100 letters to be sent. Intuition says it is better to write the name of all of them first, then put a stamp on it and then put in the letter and seal it. But it turns out that the moving around takes time aswell and the quickest thing could be to actually do 1 at a time.

In the computer software  there are many examples of delayed products that were too ambitious. The technology they are working on is not good enough because they work in such long product cycles. Instead of using steps, they construct a whole stairway at once!

Large batch death spiral – big game projects that doesn’t get out. They just need more and more input just to uncover new things that need to be done or upgraded.

Continuous deployment – smaller batches in long cycles for quick and automated releases and through it data feedback is given quickly.
By doing this one can provide small patches instead of huge releases every once in a while.

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The company should always protect the downside as Richard Branson so often says.

It allows for you to recover quickly, dust off and get up a gain!

That is why it is very important to understand why something went bad, so the issue can be solved.

When a problem arise there are symtoms and there are root causes.

this means understanding problems with the 5 whys:

• Why did this happen?
• Why did X let that happened.
• why….
• why –> root problem

Fix the WHY with a proportional investment on each why level. If the investment takes 100 hours and costs far to much it might not be worth it if the problem leads to 1 minute more per customer.

However if the problem leads to loosing 10 minutes each day and the change could be done in 15 minutes and for 100 euros it is likely to be an appropriate investment in order to solve the root cause.

 

Root Cause Analysis

 

The root cause analysis can be made by using the fish bone or Ishikawa diagram:

 

Fish Bone

 

5 WHYs are close to the 5 blames.

Important to have all people affected in the problem chain for the meeting to discuss. Important to have a WHY-leader and a clear structure and to keep things on track. It is one problem that is discussed and its solution. Not the problem of other problems.

Bring people in on all levels for this. They also learn to communicate better with eachother. This is done by cross-functional teams. Cross-functional teams are mentioned to be something Steve Jobs was a huge fan of.

But the Why´s cannot go on forever because they will eventually, like a child asking why why why to all questions. The why should be based within limits, as should discussions. It should therefore involve problem solving on each level of Why.

Another easy strategy:

1)      Be tolerant for the first time a mistake happens

2)      Never allow the same mistake twice.

Leads to thinking about what counts as the same problem, which problems to focus on etc. many questions follow.
Why should always involve a specific problem. Not general. e.g. “Why did we miss to implement this part of the website?”

Training programs are often the fix of many of the root problems when a problem appears.

Immune system helps to block certain things. Example. A booking system could be deleted by accident. One time I changed the html code by myself and had to ask for help from webmaster to change it back to its original form. Not so good.

 

Another picture of seeing the problem solving as a cycle:

 

Root Cause Analysis

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Polarization can happen when there are two opposing opinions. Often times these opinons are internalized and projected on the people who speak them out. E.g Long cycle vs short one. Normally people meet in middle. Frequent polarization is however not too good. “He is always crazy, and he is always lazy”.

What people forget is that they so quickly place symbols over people. He or she is like to think that and that will always mark their opinion. It is as if they have a filter every time they look on the person´s opinion. Remind me actually of many people looking down on others. Every opinion doesn´t matter for me. My opinion is superior etc. To be able to discuss something is very important.

——————-

Innovation

People are making gut-feelings. These are not scientific but alternative to logic, a pseudo-science. That is why they so many time fail.
it is a form of superstition many times, easily seducing. In business we need metrics. Without them it is hard to see what is going on.

In an episode of Mad Men  Don Draper is told this when in an airplane. Without metrics you do not know where you are flying.

Innovation sandbox – start ups within start ups.

Teams for innovation should have a scarce but secure budget.
The people working on the project should feel a sense of ownership and there should always be a project manager.

• Deadline for experiments, see them through – beginning to end.
• Easy  and understandable reports with actionable metrics 5-10 points are optimal.
• They should be the same metrics to understand success.
• how can they link to the companies growth for instance.
• The reports should be considered to be the truth. They are good numbers if they are correct in their gathering. Most important thing is the cause and effect connection.
• We base choices on assumptions and intuition. We base our decisions on pseudo science.
• Whatever changes exists will eventually become the status quo.
• Remember to monitor metrics and customers reactions and abort if catastrophy occurs.

The Lean Startup – Dont overload, Use Kanban and Reports

Since the learning process is the key driver of success, one has to be careful with how many projects are being dealt with and fully understand where the projects are in respect to its stage.

Kanban – Wikipedia Link

Kanban

In the lean startup a modification had been done.

The kanban taking place would look like this:

• Backlog= Ideas.
• In Progress = Being built.
• Built= Built but not validated. Measurements are being made.
• Validated= Fully complete. Measurements have been done and understood.
• Writing and distributing report to appropriate stakeholders.

By giving a constraint of e.g. 3 projects to each category or bucket one ensures that the experiments are being thoroughly understood before passed on. E.g. if the Kanban is full in what is in Process/being built, it would be reasonable to validate what has not been validated to make room for the soon to be-finished projects.

When a project is finished/validated a report could be written.
All reports made should go by the 3 As:

• Actionable – reports are to have clear cause and effect. Otherwise vanity and meaningless.Example: 40 000 new hits! How get more= “Well… That depends, where do these new hits come from? Are they from one blog or something else? What is a hit?

• Accesible: Simple and made to be understood. “Metrics are people too”. Make the reports acceciable for people in the copany contributing to an open climate. Also, accessibility provides evidence and thus authority for discussions.

• Auditable – Credible. Many people challenge the numbers of the report when their ego is hurt in discussions. Need for making the reports easy to double checking aswell.