Chapter 5: Brain Dump Part 1, The Done Column

Welcome back. I hope you are feeling refreshed, now let’s get back to work.

Take that “Brain Dump v1” sticky and move it to the Doing column.

We’re getting to the fun part. Make sure you have a good pen (I like Sharpies) and a good supply of stickies. If you have a few different colored ones, this would be a good time to get them (no problem if you don’t).

If you are using color, pick one to use for your client work. Now write the words “Client Work” on a note of that color and stick it on the wall above your board so you have a visual key to remind you which color means what. Now pick another color and do the same for “Back Office,” and maybe another one for “Personal.” Keep the number of categories small for now; it is easier to add granularity later than it is to combine categories. And really one color is just fine if you just want to get going.

If you’re not using colored stickies but you do want to use categories, then you can accomplish the same thing by putting a mark of some kind in the top-left corner of the sticky. Maybe it is a slash with a colored pen (your whiteboard markers will work), or maybe it is the letter “C” for Client, “B” for Back Office, etc. Whatever you choose, just make sure you make a key. As you will soon see, there is no sense in holding your methodology in your head (and there is a lot of sense in putting it on your wall).

{blurb} If you are using software, your tool may also support colors, or you may be able to define different card types (each of which may or may not have a different color). I suggest limiting yourself to just a few types, same as I suggest for different colors on physical sticky notes. {/blurb}

One more thing before we start. Take one sticky, ideally a square one, and turn it 45 degrees so you have a diamond. Draw a big dollar sign on it (or pound sign, or euros—whatever currency motivates you) and place it on your board, right above the line (or imaginary line) that precedes the Done column. This is your payoff line. Your goal is to move work across that line.

Your board will now look something like this:

1 **Kanban board image goes here

You’ve already got a couple of items in the Done column, but let’s fill it out a little more. Think back over the last day or two, no more than a week, and make a sticky for each task that you actually finished recently. It can be for something that was a one-time thing, maybe completing some client document, or it can be for something that recurs periodically like writing a blog post or sending bills.

If the task you completed was client work, then be sure to grab the right colored sticky (or make the proper mark). Also, if it is work you or your firm got paid for, maybe write the amount the task was worth on the bottom-left corner of the note.

Also, if you remember it, write the date you first started working on the task in the upper-right corner of the sticky, and write the date you completed it in the bottom-right corner. If you don’t remember, again no problem. We’ll start building this out as we move more tasks through your board.

So your sticky note should look something like this:

1 **Sticky note image goes here

Try to leave a margin down the right-hand side of your sticky when writing your task description—we’ll use it shortly. And keep your task descriptions short; you want to be able to read them from a distance and capturing a lot of detail isn’t important right now.

As an aside, I will say that if you have the room on your wall, getting some larger sticky notes may be a good idea — I like the 4”x4” ones—though the standard 3”x3” ones really are just fine. Ultimately you may want a variety of sizes to signify different things (we may even be adding stickys to stickys). No need to run out to the office store just yet, but maybe make yourself a note that says “Buy multi-sized stickys” and stick it in the Backlog.

Great. Now spend some time — three to five minutes seems about right — filling out those Done stickys. We won’t spend a ton of time reviewing these, but they’re a good chance for you to develop a format that works for you. If you didn’t take a moment to savor the accomplishment of a completed task when you actually completed it, you can catch up on that savoring now.

Just make sure the items that go in the Done column are truly and completely finished. If you start to write out a sticky and realize you still have some work left on that task, go ahead and finish the note but set it aside. We’ll find a home for it soon.

Okay. Once you’ve finished writing out your recently completed tasks and putting them in the Done column (making sure to acknowledge your accomplishments), its time to move upstream to Waiting.