Chapter 3: Fleshing out your board

Okay, now we’re ready to make some real progress. First thing: On a sticky write “Expand Kanban Board v1” and put it in your “To-do” column. Now move it to your “Doing” column. See? Progress again. (Yes it is hokey, but it’s still progress!)

The “v1” is, of course, shorthand for “version 1,” which implies that we’re not going to get this thing completely right the first time. That’s okay. In fact its not only okay, it is necessary for iterative improvement. We won’t necessarily be tracking each version of our activities like they were software releases, but for now we’ll use the “v1” to remind you that you don’t have to nail something on the first try. You just have to try to make it better.

Now we’re gonna need some more wall space. Perhaps the spot you picked will do, but we’re about to at least double the number of columns on your board so you may need to create some room. Maybe use your whiteboard if you have one, or take your diploma off your wall (for now), or even use your window.

Good. Now grab your pad of sticky notes and make three new headings: “Backlog,” “Queue,” and “Waiting.” We’ll talk about what they’re for in a bit. If you’ve got different sized sticky notes, then these headings might be a good use for the larger ones (4” x 6” works well, but the size isn’t critical).

Rearrange the columns (and their contents) so that they are in the following order from left to right:

1 Backlog | Queue | To Do | Doing | Waiting | Done

Under these headings you will have a few tasks. “Build Kanban Board” should still be in the Done column. “Expand Kanban Board v1” should be in the Doing column. If you wrote down some ideas for improving things at the end of our retrospective, then you can place those stickies in the Backlog column.

Why don’t they go in the To Do column? Good question, and the answer will help us understand the reason for each of the columns on the board. But first let’s talk about the concept of Flow. We touched on it in the Retrospective when we mentioned single piece flow, but that does “flow” really mean?

In a river, the flow is obvious. The water will run downhill, and it will find the path of least resistance to the river’s end goal: The ocean or lake where it accumulates. But the path of least resistance isn’t always the most direct path.

At a large scale there will be hills or mountains in the way. These force the river to bend, sometimes back on itself in an oxbow, in order to ultimately reach its goal. Even the smoothest flowing river will have some terrain to contend with.

At a medium scale, there will be boulders or logs that interrupt flow. These create turbulence that slows the river’s progress and sometimes even creates an eddy — a place where the river swirls backwards a bit instead of progressing toward the goal. Get enough imepdiments together and the water will begin to pool upstream, growing deeper and building up pressure until it can overcome the obstacle and then rush ahead to try to make up for the interruption.

At a smaller scale, there are disruptions under the surface of the water that interrupt rlow: rocks, tree branches, maybe that old boot from the cartoons. These too create turbulence, though at a certain rate of flow the water will run right over them and the turbulence will be hard to see.

In a physical manufacturing process, flow works much the same way.⁴ In a typical factory, the raw materials enter at one end of the building and flow through a work stream consisting of people, processes, machines, and tools until a finished product emerges at the shipping docks at the other end. As with a river, this flow can be interrupted by many things large and small, but the goal is to get finished product out the door in response to customer demand.

And as with a river, factory flow must deal with resistance. If a person or machine isn’t available to do work, or a process or tool causes delay, then the flow will stall and the unfinished work will begin to pool (or, more likely, to pile up) in front of the interruption. The manufacturing world refers to these interruptions as constraints, or sometimes bottlenecks, and plant managers are constantly working to create smoother flow by addressing them.

You legal work stream is no different, it is only harder to see. Your goal, however, is to create finished deliverables by moving work through your system of people, processes, machines, and tools until some product or service that delivers customer value emerges at the end.

Now look again at your wall. By now you have probably figured out that your kanban board represents your work stream. This is how we make your work more visible, and also how we will see when and where your flow is getting interrupted. It is still pretty basic, and we will continue to tease out more detail, but it should be plain to see that your goal is to get tasks (as represented by sticky notes) to progress smoothly from left to right until they are done.

Make sense? Good (although if it doesn’t, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I can try to help you figure it out). Now let’s start filling up your board. We still need to talk in more detail about what each column is for, but that conversation will be easier if we have some actual tasks to work with.

One quick note on design: You may feel like making your board a little more formal at this point, and I’m all for that. You need to live with this thing and it should reflect your aesthetic. The simplest and most common thing to do is to add some lines between the columns to make them a little clearer. If you’re working with a wall or window, some painter’s tape (I’m partial to blue) is a good tool for this. If you’re using a whiteboard you can just draw them for now. And if you don’t have either don’t sweat it; the lines are decorative, not required.

{blurb} Of course if you’re using software, much of the visual design will be done for you. If the tool supports complex design, resist the urge to go too fancy too fast. I like the Keep It Simple approach, and I urge you to resist the urge to complexify until you can articulate a really clear reason why complexity is needed. {/blurb}

Don’t do anything too permanent yet — you will almost certainly want to make changes. Also, be sure to leave yourself some extra room for the Backlog column; you’ll soon see that it has a tendency to get pretty full.

Great. Now take your “Expand Kanban Board v1” sticky and move it to the Done column. Once again, savor this moment. You’ve accomplished another thing, hopefully learned a little more, and you’ve strengthened your foundation for making even greater improvements. Nice work.

Now grab another blank sticky and write on it “Brain Dump v1,” then stick it in your To-Do column. It probably should have started in the Backlog, but for the last time I’m going to impose my order of events on you. Henceforth I’m going to take a step back into a guide’s role and let you call the shots.