email kanban
DESCRIPTION
How to use Personal Kanban to manage your email.TRANSCRIPT
EMAIL KANBAN
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EMAIL KANBANA way to use Personal Kanban to manage your email.
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There are only two real rules with Personal Kanban:1. Visualize your work2. Limit your work-in-progress
• http://www.personalkanban.com/pk/personal-kanban-101/
Your email can come from any source, including emails you send yourself. You can use any email system that has subfolders and ‘Mark As Read’.
That’s it!
WHY EMAIL KANBAN?Five reasons to use Email Kanban:
1. You need a way to visualize your current and upcoming work.
2. You need to limit the amount of tasks you are simultaneously working on (work in progress limit).
3. You need to archive your information effectively.4. You can not afford any delays caused by missing an
email.5. You want to use one system to manage both tasks and
email.
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HOW DOES IT WORK?1. Visualize your work (Backlog)
Identify your backlog of work (your To Do). This includes the emails and the tasks you need to perform based on the content of those emails but haven’t started yet.Examples:1.As a software tester, I have just been notified of a build that is ready to test via an email from the build process. 2.As an agile practitioner, I want to keep abreast of agile developments and have just emailed myself a link to a blog.
Mark (or leave) all new emails in your inbox UNREAD.
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VISUALIZE YOUR WORK (BACKLOG)
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HOW DOES IT WORK?1. Visualize your work (In Progress)
Emails that you are actively working from are left read and in your inbox.
If a higher priority email or task arrives, you may wish to mark the email as unread again.If the task is blocked, forward yourself the email with the reason it is blocked in the body or subject.
Example:1.The build I am waiting for is ready. I mark a low priority email as unread, read the notes in the build email, and begin testing.
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VISUALIZE YOUR WORK (IN PROGRESS)
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HOW DOES IT WORK?1. Visualize your work (Done)
As you complete the tasks and finish with the email, make sure the email is marked as read and then sort it into the appropriate subfolder.
This could be your spam, trash, or archive folders.Example:1.I have completed testing the new build, so I move the build email to my archive folder.2.I read the department email about snacks and quickly sent it to my miscellaneous administration folder.
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VISUALIZE YOUR WORK (DONE)
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HOW DOES IT WORK?2. Limit work-in-progress (WIP)
Use subfolders to store lower priority emails. They can be left unread. Use your main inbox folder for higher priority emails only. Keep archiving low priority emails and completed tasks until “you see white space”. Aim for less than 10 active tasks (10 read emails). Inbox-zero techniques may help here.You should now be able to easily identify your next task.Example:1.The agile blog email I sent to myself doesn’t have to be reviewed right now. I move the email my Agile subfolder. I mark it as unread to separate it from the Agile emails I have read.2.I finish my current task, archive the email, and notice new emails have arrived. I quickly archive the low priority emails. I then work on the highest priority task still in the inbox. I leave the rest as unread.
If using a desktop email program, set your work-in-progress limit based on your inbox window height
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LIMIT WORK-IN-PROGRESS
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TAKE TIME TO MAKE IT BETTERPeriodically review your Email Kanban and look for ways to make it better. Some questions that might help:
•Will you have nested subfolders? Why?
•How long are your email tasks In Progress? What is your lead time? Should this be improved?
•If you use automatic inbox sorting, can the emails be marked as unread?
•What are your priorities? Are they truly reflected in your Email Kanban?
Nobody knows your work better than you do!
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IMPROVEMENT (LEAD TIME)
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WORKFLOW SUMMARY1. Work on your current task until complete. Break up larger
tasks into smaller tasks if necessary.
2. Review your inbox. Are you approaching your WIP limit?1. If yes, for each piece of email, decide:
1. Whether to leave it in the main inbox or move it to a subfolder.
2. Whether to leave it read or unread.2. If no, pick the next highest priority task and begin.
3. Periodically review your process for opportunities to make it better.
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