A Factory of One

88  ◾  A Factory of One

Figure 4.4  Software production kanban. (From http://bit.ly/pqv9VV)

Visual Management  ◾  89

notes to the desk and computer, and install the latest whiz-

bang iPhone productivity applications. Intuitively, they realize

that they need some visual cues to help them manage their

work. They resist putting anything away because “if it’s out of

sight, it’s out of mind.” But with visual cues scattered every-

where, it’s impossible to stay on top of all the information

flows and spot any problems. Where do you look for what you

need? Ironically, by keeping everything in sight, it all eventu-

ally becomes invisible.

The key to effective visual controls is to create a system

that makes your work—your projects, your ongoing commit-

ments, and your responsibilities—easily visible so that you

Figure 4.5  Purchasing group kanban.

90  ◾  A Factory of One

can, at a glance, know what’s supposed to be done. Visual

management for the knowledge worker is no different (con-

ceptually) from visual management for a factory worker: You

should be able to see your production targets and your actual

production results.

Why All Those To-Do Lists Don’t Work

Fact: The amount of work you have to do is infinite. Even if

you were physically able to work 24 hours a day, every day,

you’d never get to the bottom of your to-do list (or your e-mail

inbox). There will always be one more meeting to attend, one

more problem to solve, or one more e-mail to write. Not to

put too negative a spin on the situation, but clearing that list is

truly a Sisyphean chore.

Figure 4.6  Family kanban. (From http://bit.ly/ruSJP6)

Visual Management  ◾  91

Fact: The time you have to do this infinite amount of work

is quite clearly finite. Whether you work 40, 50, or 110 hours

per week, there is a limit to how much you can accomplish

each week. Just as there’s a physical limit to the throughput on

a manufacturing line and a limit to how many jets can take off

from LaGuardia airport each hour, there’s a limit to how much

work you can do each week.

Given this reality, you have to treat your time like you treat

your money: as a limited resource that must be budgeted. And

just as you first budget money for the essential things in life—

food, shelter, peanut M&Ms—you’ve got to budget time for

your most important work.

The thing is, you can’t properly allocate time to your really

important stuff if you only log your work in a to-do list or a

pile of Post-it notes. Neither of them captures or displays the

vital bits of information you need: When is each task due?

How long will it take? And the corollary: how much time do

you have available? If you can’t answer these questions, you

can’t intelligently decide whether you can afford to spend time

filling out employee reviews, revamping the nurse staffing

schedule, or doing trust falls and ropes courses at the execu-

tive team-building retreat. Until you can see the time required

to do X, you can’t assess the opportunity cost of doing it.

Because when you’re doing X, you’re quite clearly not doing Y.

So, what’s the answer? How do you make your work visible

so you can ensure that you’re getting the right stuff done?

Living in the Calendar

At some point in the past year (and probably even more often

than that), you’ve probably complained that you’re always

being reactive rather than proactive. The reason is simple: It’s

because you constantly “live in your inbox” by keeping it front

and center and let the incoming messages drive your work. In