Kanban vs To-do
One of the biggest challenges of managing multiple projects is knowing what has to be done and when it needs to be done.
Many of us use ‘To-Do’ lists however this approach task management is limited and ineffective when a list grows beyond the immediate capacity of the team or list manager.
The problem is that ‘To-Do’ lists are single phase in nature - an item is either done or not done. Often items are in progress (W.I.P.) and it’s hard to visualise where they are up to on a list that’s strictly binary in nature.
‘To-Do’ lists also often grow dauntingly long, encouraging jumping from item to item in an attempt to get the list under control. It’s a battle that often results in spreading your resources too thinly across too many items. You may be getting lots of things done but are they getting done as well as they can be?
Kanban is a system of managing tasks based on a number of key concepts that include visualising your workflow, limiting W.I.P. and managing flow of tasks. In Kanban, items are pulled from a ‘To-Do’ bucket into a W.I.P. column with a defined number of tasks that can be managed at any given time.
It’s a simple yet powerful concept - by limiting your work in progress to a few tasks through to completion as opposed to wasting time switching between tasks, you maximise your time on task which eventually results in maximum task completion at a standard of delivery.
