Brainstorming your initial to-do list

You’ve just started out with your first to-do list, looking at an empty whiteboard, and all of a sudden you have no idea what to do first, or even what to do.

You need ideas.

Brainstorming is an AWESOME tool for generating ideas.

In this case the way I see it, generating ideas is the first step towards starting and managing our backlog. Luckily, we can use the brainstorming technique at any point of the backlog elaboration. Ideas that come from these brainstorming sessions can be turned into ‘user stories’ or goals for our backlog.

Now, I’ve gone with the simplest possible way to brainstorm, just to show you what I mean. If you want to do some more research (always a good thing!), I’ve put some recommended links at the end of this post.

So why would we use brainstorming to start a backlog?

●        When we have so many ideas, we can’t pick the ‘really important one’.

●        When we want to refine and redefine our backlog with ideas that are really worth working on.

●        When we run out of ideas.

●        When we want to get others involved with creating our backlog.

●        When we introduce the backlog and to-do list for the first time, and we want to break the ice.

An example of using a brainstorming session to improve parent participation

A group of teachers I know was trying to find creative ways to get parents to be active participants in their next Parent-Teacher day. They were going with a central theme of ‘Creativity with Children’, and they wanted to follow through from theory to practice.

Now, there are a lot of ways to tackle this subject and get things done, but of course the teachers needed to select the right ideas, so that other teachers would follow through as well. The last thing they wanted to do was dictate ideas to the other members of the faculty. Not only will this immediately create antagonism, but teachers that worked with the children daily would have a much better idea of what would work and what wouldn’t.

So they went with a short brainstorming session. This enables each participant to toss out ideas for all to hear, seeing the ideas on the board during the session can create new ones that weren’t thought of before, and of course, deciding on the ideas together raises the level of commitment to the meeting’s decisions.

Among the many good ideas, there were “baking a cake together”, “football session with kids”, and even “building a city model“.

After shifting through the ideas and discussing them, the teachers picked out four ideas. Each one became a backlog item, which they then divided into tasks, which of course made it easier to follow through the idea all the way to the end.

So how do we brainstorm our backlog? (One suggestion out of many)

The brainstorming session outline:

First, the basics:

1.       The facilitator should make sure the rules are kept and run the session openly and smoothly.

2.       Group members can vary between 4 to 30. Smaller groups are easier to control but there will be fewer ideas to present.

Second, the presentation:

Gathering the group, the facilitator must:

1.       Present a short description of the brainstorm session and the expectation of creativity.

2.       Present the rule that the brainstorming session allows everyone to participants and remind the participants of the fact that all ideas must be heard.

3.       Present the main problem/need/ example and the desired outcome.

4.       Set a time limit.

5.       Announce the “go” to start the session.

6.       Make sure the session outcome is recorded to a place we can later visualize, comment and rethink. I, of course, prefer a wall with sticky notes.

The brainstorm session:

1.       Each group member writes down their ideas or solutions.
OR

There’s an open discussion, with ideas being tossed around and written down on the board.

2.       Encourage discussion

a.       Open with asking for “ideas” that springs in mind  ; continue by asking people to use each other’s ideas to think of new ones; ask them to ignore the execution phase for now; ask them to  suggest all ideas not only the interesting ones; and then continue with asking  for “radical ideas”.

b.       Give positive feedback and encourage the group to continue – don’t judge the ideas or the people!

4.       Now you should have a lot of ideas on the wall.

Analyzing the ideas:

1.       Once all the ideas are on the board, group them into five to eight groups of identical area.

2.       Ask the team to vote for the ideas. Each member has a number of points equals to the number of ideas, minus two. He need to give points to the ideas that he thinks are the best answer to the question first put to them by the facilitator.

3.       Pick the ideas with the most points, and ask the team: who, where, why, how, when, to get them to elaborate a bit over the ideas selected

(At this stage, we can use working groups, dividing the group into smaller working groups. Each group takes one idea, and brainstorms it further, before presenting it again to the main group)

Remember, this session alone, may completely change the initial ideas and bring few more.

4.       At the end of the brainstorm session, we should have few ideas/goals as our main backlog items. Those ideas can later on be assigned to working groups and divided into smaller tasks processed into the flow of work till achieved.

Take a look at this flow of brainstorming; it can also be done with two people, or a personal brainstorming. And now that you have some tasks and a backlog, use Scrum and Kanban to start getting them done.

Want to read more about brainstorming?

●      http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/tutorials/brainstormingextras.html

●      http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/toolbox/brainstormingtoolbox.html

●      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming

●      Osborn, A.F. (1963) Applied imagination: Principles and procedures of creative problem solving (Third Revised Edition). New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

●      "Productivity Loss in Brainstorming Groups: Toward the Solution of a Riddle". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53: 497–509. 1987.

●      Stroebe, W.; Diehl, M. & Abakoumkin, G. (1992). "The illusion of group effectivity". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 18 (5): 643–650.

●      Brainstorming Approach (University of North Carolina)

●      Brainstorming magazine

Homemade Kanban - How to make it last?

Agile@Home :


After understanding Agile and Scrum, the first question that parents ask is, "will it last?"

Have you ever asked yourself that?

I asked myself the exact same thing when I first started this. Then I started to think about, why did it last, and what were those things that didn’t last. What did we gain out of this?

But first things first. As a parent how do we make things last with kids?

I say, if you want it to last, make it last, just know when to let go. It's not really different from any other educational or behavioral skill I want my child to gain.

Let's say, you want your child to go to school every day. You will make sure it happens. You believe it is important, or you appreciate the value, or it’s the law.

So now we apply this to the task board. You’ve already found this method interesting, and you know the value, and you are already thinking about implementing it.

Then it will last longer.

So first - Believe in the expected outcome. Children can feel when you believe in something (and when you don’t). Make sure both parents agree about it, as it will last longer.

I personally believe that like everything that’s 'fun' or more like a "game" lasts more with kids than something that’s perceived as ‘boring’. Kanban at home can be lots of fun for kids, as it has colors, boards, notes, ideas, dialog, empowerment ……… and a lot of attention!

Speaking of attention. Remember, we emphasize the family dialog above every thing else. The great value besides 'getting things done' is a family dialog. This dialog should last above all.

What happens is that once the task board and tasks are routine, many recurring annoying tasks are not an issue any more, as we manage and control them as part of the family routine. Once out of our way, we have time to deal with the really important stuff.

The task board is then filled up with more important stuff that the kids and the family want to share and accomplish. Issues at school, fun days, exams, family projects and more.

So sometimes you may find that you aren’t using a task board any more, but you ARE having a healthy daily dialog between the kids and the parents. And things are getting done around the house and for your kids. They achieve these values using wonderful Kanban tools - visibility, the ceremonies (daily, retrospective, planning), and so on.

Whenever we think that we need the Kanban board again, we just start using it again. There are many things we can apply the same method to. Cooking together; birthday party preparation; learning to an exam; cleaning the house tougher or planning a trip; TV schedule; whatever.

So I think it lasts as long as we see the value. And it's perfectly OK to stop and say that we don’t need it anymore, and if we have a specific need, start up a board again.

Applying Agile tools is, for example, having a daily meeting, visualizing your tasks, getting things done, looking ahead and planning, looking backward to see if you can do it better next time and learn. Communication is key.

The task board is just the means to make sure those things last.

After all, succeeding with Agile has a lot to do with mindset.

Home Kanban board…. Swift Kanban software

Awesome Free of charge home Kanban board…. Swift Kanban software

People, who know me, know I prefer the good old-fashioned white boards and sticky notes over software tools, but even I stumble across tools that I find really useful, giving that extra edge to practicing Agile at home with our kids.

Don’t forget! A tool does NOT replace our direct communication. The tool just helps make our tasks even more visible, it is not a goal in itself.

I find Swift Kanban  a very useful tool for home made Kanban, it consists of a simple Kanban board, with colorful tickets and customizable flow. We can actually create our own house tasks board, with whatever columns we prefer, and assign tasks to our family.

The Swift Kanban interface has a good feel and flow to it - it’s easy to get to the different areas you need, and it’s flexible enough to let you customize it, without having to figure out complicated routines and rules.

What can we do with it ?

•  Create tasks of different types.
•  Add family members to those tasks.
• Have shared tasks on a member’s tasks.
• Define Due date for tasks.
•  Drag and drop tasks as we wish.
• Add our picture
•  Add attachment
• Colors
• And many more….

http://help.swift-kanban.com/getting-started/projects/creating-a-project.html?id=31

I love it!

Limitation:

Free Limited to 4 users

Enjoy :)

Operating a task board in 10 min

Agile@Home :

Materials:

v  Sticky notes

v  writing implement (pen, pencil) , marker pen

v  Board / wall. Window

:Start simple

v  Introduce the idea to the kids

v  Remember that it should be a fun game

v  Encourage the kids to take an active part

v  Kids are the ones building the board

Start with the simplest board

3 columns

v  To do

v  In progress

v  Done

.Add tasks to the board

v  Start simple. With the most simple one or two tasks

.Pull tasks according to what you need to do

.Set tasks priority and make sure to move tasks according to their priority

.Pull – Not push

You can add an impediment column if you like

!!!Don’t forget to have Fun

Thank you the greatest family for your pics J

Balancing the task list & Creating a task board for 10 and 12 years old kids

1. Presenting the idea: 

What’s the biggest problem with kids? That they always forgot to do their chores, and we parents find that we have to act as their memory, and constantly remind them to perform their tasks.

When we keep on reminding the kids of what they need to do, we also become the task  owner. Want proof? Well, If we aren’t around, are the tasks completed?

It’s not easy, by the way, to come home from work every day and immediately start talking about what hasn’t been done today. ‘Why is your bag in the middle of the room?’, ‘Why haven’t you had a bath yet?’, and so on.

And along comes Agile for Kids.

When we introduced Agile for Kids, this family children didn’t want to go along with the sticky notes, but they immediately understood the problems we were talking about. So we went along with them. After all they are the ones that are going to own the tasks and perform them later on this week.

2. Cleaning the old white board – just for fun

 

3. Balancing the task list:

After the board was cleaned, we asked the kids to write down all their weekly tasks.

Each kid read out one task, and the other balanced his list accordingly. Of course there were tasks they missed, tasks they didn’t agree on, or tasks that their father wanted to add (such as, ‘Don’t forget to take your house key with you’). This is a real discussion, and it is the heart of the Agile Kids method.

Finally, they agreed on one task list. This will be our backlog.

The real purpose of this exercise is, of course, to have them write down and own their tasks, and remember what they have to do.

4. Gathering ideas to build the board:

As they didn’t want to use sticky notes, we made sure they plan the board as they saw fit. Of course we insisted that they do it together.

Always keep in mind that our real goal is discussion, and to make sure they know what they are supposed to do. It is their board, which means that they are accountable to create it as they see fit. Yes, as parents we can recommend some changes, and we will review the board during the daily meetings and encourage them to improve it.

But we must remember: The board belongs to our kids.

 

5. Building the board:

Remember, the kids do this, this is their board, their responsibility and they are the ones who are accountable for completing the tasks. This is exactly why they are the ones who need to build it as they see fit.

Above you can see the discussion over placing the tasks on the board and the best place to place the task board.

Permanent task boards are nice, but they aren’t the point!

What do we do with all the permanent tasks? The ones that repeat themselves again and again? Those that we’ll be moving across the board every day?

One of the ways of creating Agile boards in the house is to reverse the columns.

What do I mean?

Well, instead of moving tasks through the columns, as we’ve shown in the book and previous posts, we put up a board with pre-defined tasks per family member, which are seen throughout the week, and add a ‘Doing’ note to the task in question.

I can see these boards posted everywhere. They are colorful, delightful, and some even have every possible task you can imagine that you would ever do around the house.

And that’s EXACTLY what bothers me.

People, don’t forget. The task board isn’t the point. The point is the way we treat tasks!

The point is communication, around the tasks at hand, with an emphasis on empowering the child, developing his responsibility and his commitment to the tasks, together with a healthy family dialogue, like I show in the Agile Kids book and in previous posts.

The family dialogue pulse is what matters. The task board is just an answer to a symptom, which can be disorganization, or not doing the chores around the house. The task board isn’t the goal.

We have to understand that setting up a board is just a means to more important goals.

And so:

1. Talk to your kids and build the list of permanent tasks together. This simple activity creates the initial understanding of tasks, and enables us to hear what our children think about the tasks, and you’ll be surprised at what they have to say. You might find that just from these conversations you can already agree on ground rules that will prevent arguments in the future.

Don’t force them. Don’t come with a pre-defined board and present it to them as a given. There can be some tasks that may cross some undetermined line (such as when to go to bed), but in an open discussion you’ll be able to present them as part of all the tasks.

2. Be prepared. Think in advance what you want to achieve. You can’t just pile a whole lot of tasks on the board, which makes it difficult to see who is doing what and when.

3. Focus is important. Choose the really important tasks first. With time, you’ll be adding more tasks anyway.

4. The children can create their own schedule from tasks that they are each interested in doing during the week. We’ll keep track of the schedule, and mark each task as done.

5. Put the tasks on the board together with your children. Visibility gives a sense of control, and is the first step towards taking responsibility for our tasks. This means that the children have to be part of creating the task list.

6. Put the board in an easily accessible part of the house, where everyone can see it. A task board that’s put in a drawer is useless. You can’t see it, and it doesn’t create any awareness of tasks and responsibility.

7. Meet once a day, and talk about the tasks. 

8. Make sure that the children are the ones that move the tasks on the board, not you. Let them choose and mark the tasks - not you.

9. Make sure that the tasks are more or less balanced, and that the brunt of the tasks fall on one family member.

10. You need to put your tasks on the board as well. This creates trust.

After we mapped out this week’s tasks, each task can be marked with a check-mark, a smiley, or any other mark that you choose. :)

And don't forget to have fun...

I still have time to do it, or ‘The Student Syndrome’

We’ve all been there. You’re in college, you’re having the time of your life, and you don’t have a care in the world. Then one day, you are told that you have three months to get ready for your final exam. Three months? That’s ages away! You’ve got plenty of time! And what do you do over the next two months and 29 days? You go out to parties, try to drink at least three pubs dry, and brush up on your guitar skills - you do anything and everything, in fact, other than actually sit down and study for the exam. Then the last day “suddenly” arrives. All of a sudden, you realise that you might have made a slight miscalculation, and that the three months AREN’T as long as you thought they were. Like it or not, now you have to get through a year’s worth of studying in 24 hours, or you might very well have to start the whole business all over again. Panic sets in, and you start cramming like mad.

Unlike what most Hollywood college movies have taught us, there’s no guarantee here. You may get lucky and scrape through your exams, or you may very well fail and have to start all over again.

This is called the Student Syndrome, or “putting things off until the very last possible minute”. There were three whole months to get ready for the exams, but you just kept putting it off. ‘I’ve still got plenty of time’, or ‘Tomorrow I’ll start for sure’ are just a number of excuses we tell ourselves to avoid sitting down and actually doing what we were supposed to.

Funnily enough, life is just the same.

Think about it. As a family, you have chores to do, and you need to get them done by the end of the day, or week, or whenever. A new chore just came in, and you have to get it done quickly. But you have tons of chores. And you need to work. And you need to take the kids to school. And you need to make sure your kids do THEIR chores. Starting to sound familiar? So, do you start on the new chore? Put it on one side, to be dealt with ‘later’? And when exactly is this ‘later’?

I’ve seen so many cases of chores and tasks being put to one side, or even completely forgotten about, until the last possible minute. Then you realise that you’ve got this task to complete right now, and you start working on it feverishly, and usually, you don’t manage it as well as you should. Some of these tasks are vital - say, you have one night a week to sit down with your son and play a game. This isn’t a task that you want to leave to the last possible minute - but when you do, the results aren’t good, are they?

So, because you put off everything to the last minute, your efforts aren’t as good as they could be. For parents, that’s a make or break kind of deal. Especially if you are trying to get your kids into Agile at home - leading by example, remember?

Luckily, it’s a surprisingly simple situation to solve. Really. All you need are two things:

Priority. That way you know what’s more important to do right now, to get the best possible results and avoid pressure in the future. Do you REALLY need to play the guitar right now, or can it wait until you make sure that you have enough time for your son??

Focus. Working on just the task at hand makes it easier to complete, and complete properly. Playing with your son while checking your email every five minutes on your phone isn’t exactly focusing on him - and believe me, he will notice right away, even if you think you’re being really discrete.

So how do you achieve focus and priority?

Well, as you’ve started practicing Agile at home, go to your task board. Make sure that you not only put the tasks on the board (sticky notes are your friend), but that you’ve also got them sorted by priority. Don’t think too big - ‘family time’ won’t really help you, but ‘do a puzzle with Ben’ will. The most important tasks go on top, the not-so-important in the middle, and the ones you will-do-one-day-but-aren’t-urgent down the bottom.

Easy, right?

Now, when you suddenly have a new chore - a light bulb needs changing, you need to take the kids to the dentist - you don’t just put it on one side, leaving it to the last possible minute, nor do you have to start working on it straight away. Just look at your board, and decide. Is the task THAT important? Are there other tasks that you can postpone a bit to make room for this new task that has just come in? Do you need to start working on something else?

Of course there are always going to be more tasks than you can handle. You will ALWAYS have to postpone some to another day, or next week. But having all the tasks out in front of you helps you manage your time much better, and you won’t find yourself checking your email while changing a light bulb while playing with your son.

Which is a good thing :)