Achieving goals with agile – using Kanban and scrum with kids and at home

Agile@home

Sometimes people ask me if using Kanban or Scrum at home can actually be used for setting and following goals.

‘Duh’, I answer. Well, not really, as I’m a polite person, but that’s what I’d LIKE to answer. Kanban or Scrum tools aren’t limited for kids or family or office or software development. Kanban and scrum is limited only by your imagination. Just think about it for a second. Everyone KNOWS it’s a software development method - but it isn’t just that. It originated (and then translated to fit software development)in Toyota, as a way of making cars in a more efficient way.

OK, so know that you know you can do anything with Agile (Kanban or Scrum), how do you go about setting your goals - and achieving them? Luckily, I have a real-life example.

When we set goals on a Scrum software project, amongst other methods, we sometimes use the retrospective to base our improvements on. We then take some action items and set goals for the next sprint. This is Scrum. In Kanban we don’t have sprints, but the software development teams also perform action items based on the need to improve.

So the goals we set are actually some kind of user story, actions or issues we wish to improve. They are related to what we need to achieve and deliver. We then analyze the goal and understand it, until we get to the point where the goal’s tasks are clear and practical.

It’s exactly the same at home. We set goals from inputs we get in the daily family gathering, or dinner, or retrospective, or whatever.

I won’t go into setting goals to any great detail , this is a huge subject to cover in a short post. You can read MindTools’ excellent post about setting personal goals if you want to do more research.

Using Agile in a family, along with Kanban and Scrum-y tools, already sets the stage for goal setting. Kanban and Scrum are visual and empowering tools, and of course, create a constant family dialogue. Communication is key for achieving goals, and for Scrum & Kanban at home.

Using Scrum and Kanban at home teaches our kids (and us) how to be responsible and own tasks and goals. When you see your goals on a daily basis, it’s much easier to achieve them.

 There are many ways to set goals, here is one.....Now for a practical example :

1. Ask yourself what is that you want to achieve.

By the way, when I’m talking about a child, I mean ‘Ask’ him. Don’t tell him. I’ve seen Kanban boards with ‘reading achievements’ as a goal. I always hope that it’s a goal that the kid really wants to achieve, but I tend to believe it’s more of a goal that the parent wants the kid to achieve. You CAN use Kanban to monitor your children, but this will get us the wrong results.

The person that needs to achieve the goal needs to feel that the goal is his. It won't empower anyone to achieve goals they aren’t connected to. This is one of the reasons that good a coach always asks, ‘what do we want to achieve’, they don’t say ‘this is your personal goal’.

We want our kids to starts owning their tasks and goals, so they will want to achieve them. They have to define their own goals.

2. Start simple, with something relatively achievable.

If we want to succeed, it’s far easier to start with a simple goal the kids want. When they achieve the goal, and feel that glow of success, we can progress to 'harder' goals.

Also, don’t start off by setting a goal that’s achievable in the distant future - like, ‘I want to be a doctor’.

For example, my son’s goal was to run 5,000 meters in under 22 minutes.

3. A goal is achieved by taking small steps.

Just as with a software project, big steps are overwhelming. Plan out with your kid how to achieve the plan through baby steps.

Let’s take my son’s goal for example.

‘ I want to run 5,000 meters in under 22 minutes’

What are the tasks we need to do in order to achieve that?

Well, he’s already got a coach. So he needs to :

a.      Go to the coaching session

b.      Run by himself twice a week

c.       Measure his time every two weeks

d.      Do track exercises before and after every coaching session

e.      Eat well.

And those are easy-to-understand tasks.

By the way, did you notice that the first task requires my help as well? Someone has to take him to the coaching session, after all. So I add this to my commitments as well. So as you see, sometimes our children need our help in achieving their goals.

Obvious, true, but worth pointing out.

4. Visualize your tasks!

Get those tasks in order to be on the way towards achieving the goals.

Using the Kanban task board the goal becomes visible, and it is far easier to be accountable for it. We can also see the whole picture, not just the small actions.

Visualization, as always, is one of the greatest tools to get things done. We see it , it exists , we think about our goal. But this time, we also think about the small steps that we need to complete in our way to our goal.

I personally recommend placing a special swim lane on the board for those tasks, so you can follow them among all the other family tasks.

We may find that some tasks are routine tasks, such as ‘Coaching session’ every Monday and Friday, while others are daily tasks, such as ‘eat a healthy meal’.

5. Do one thing at a time.

Don’t run at your goal like crazy. Just as you need to pace yourself when you rung 5,000 meters, pace yourself when you try to achieve your goal, until you are done.

You can see your tasks every day. You can just look at the board, and see exactly where you stand.

6. Change according to our needs.

My son stayed up late watching a soccer match on TV one night. The next day, his training went badly, with poor results. So we added a new rule to the board - ‘A good night’s sleep before practice’.

7. Inspect and communicate the tasks every day.

This is the scrum part of the method . Every day talk your tasks over in the daily session. This is what it is for. Communicating your goals and setting them to a relevant level, help gets impediments removed. When our child makes us pay attention to his goals, he will probably be able to achieve them. It's hard to set goals and be left alone for weeks to struggle with them alone, and be disappointed from not achieving them.

For example : How was it today? How was my run today? What do I need to change or keep?

8. Inspect the goal every week.

Another Scrum oriented tool is to be able to look back and learn. Then look ahead and see what can we do better. Doing this every week is probably enough. We may find that we are regressing at some point, but as long as our goal is there, we only need to change our tasks and schedule to make sure we keep it.

9. Don’t forget to have fun while doing it.

Fun is a key!! Don’t push too hard, they are kids.

And I will say it again; I hope you know already that we can achieve this way, also personal goals, class goals, and any goal. Just set them up on the Kanban task board and use the scrum daily gathering and retrospective to follow..

References :

 Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-scale Production, Taiichi Ohno

http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html

David J. Anderson - Kanban Book : http://agilemanagement.net/index.php/Blog/kanban_book_now_available_in_pdf/

Scrum and XP from the Trenches , how we do Scrum;Version 2.2;2007-04-21;Henrik Kniberg; henrik.kniberg crisp.se

Why multi-tasking wastes your time - by AgileKids

Posted in :http://www.timetimer.com/blog/103/why-multi-tasking-wastes-your-time---by-agilekids/

Published July 16, 2012

Why Multi-Tasking Wastes Your Time by Shirly Ronen-Harel of AgileKids

Multi tasking is defined as the ability to execute more than one task at the same time.
But it costs us.
This is a fact.

There are two types of people: those who can't do more than one task at a time, and those who think they can! Multi-tasking costs us. This is a fact. 

Why is multi-tasking a waste of time?

1. Our Senses Can't Handle It:

Have you ever answered your mobile while watching TV and eating popcorn? And how many times have you said: 'Yes... Uh huh... Yes..." without actually paying attention?

Both the television and the mobile demand our attention, and both demand that we use our sense of hearing. We just can't do it!

2. Stress:

Multi-tasking is also a stress response when we have to do many things – all important or urgent – at the same time.

You'll tell your kids to "Cleanupyourroomdoabathandgetdressed." That stresses them out! Even if YOU know that they don't have to do everything at the same time, your kids hear it differently. They'll either try to do everything at once and get stressed out, or simply shut down and ignore you. 

3. We lose the Ability to Get Things Done:

Your kids are all multi-tasking geniuses, just like all kids in this generation! Their brains are better at it, and faster at processing the information flow. But even so, you've probably seen them do homework and surf the web at the same time. Homework will take longer to complete, as it doesn't have his undivided attention, and before you know it, he has to be off to his basketball practice. "Don't worry," he says, "I'll finish my studies in the evening. And you know that isn't going to happen!

Just like our kids, when we do lots of things at once without completing any of them, we damage our feelings of capability, which in turn harms our confidence and our growth. 

4. Another interesting factor is our brain!

"When kids are multi-tasking, their brains are spending so much energy making quick decisions and responding to stimuli that they have fewer mental resources for comprehension and retention." 

- Solid advice for helping kids grow smarter, healthier and happier, by David Walsh, Ph.D.

Multi-tasking costs us. It's that simple. 

Here's a thought exercise.

Just imagine: you're waiting in line to get a sandwich. Your sandwich is already being prepared by Joe across the counter. Suddenly, some guy rushes in, who 'just needs a bottle of Coke, look, I've grabbed it from the fridge, here's the money, 'nowhurrybecausemykidiswaitinginthecar.' 

Joe takes just a minute to stop preparing your sandwich, takes the money and puts it in the till. Only 60 seconds, right? And Joe just made more money? No harm done there. Now, just as your salad comes out of the kitchen, Joe's girlfriend calls him. Not even noticing your salad, he takes the call. Then he sees your salad on the counter, while still on the phone, and shoves it into a bag, and grunts at your 'we're done.' Not exactly shining customer service, right? And you probably wont' be coming back the next day either. 

That's called context switching. And it just doesn't work. 

In the industry, multi-tasking costs money. As you switch tasks, of course you need to adjust your workflow to the new task!

5. The weird thing is: sometimes we INVENT multi-tasking.

What do I mean? Sometimes I find people multi-tasking when some of the tasks aren't even important. They don't know how to focus on the important stuff, or what really needs to be done. Everything is a big bad list of stuff that we need to tick off!

How do we prevent multi-tasking? Get the top ten list here.

References:

●      http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/multitasking.html

●      http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smart-parenting-smarter-kids/201107/can-kids-multitask

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

●      Stella Vosniadou’s ‘International Academy of Education'

How to manage your budget with Agile?!

There are many different ways to manage your home budget. Web tools, iPhone apps, even bank sites offer us a variety of ways to help us balance our home budget. 

And of course, there’s the Agile way. A simple board and some sticky notes.

Lets take this young couple for example. They’ve just moved in together, and they are trying to see how their budget fits together, and how they can control their expenses. By the way, it’s the same when students or flatmates live together - anywhere there’s a common budget.

When you use an apartment wall to visualize your budget, it reduces tension. Instead of uncomfortable silences when neither side is too sure of what and when to bring the subject out, the budget is right there, in front of your eyes.

Getting things out to the open. This is a key to success.

Visualizing the budget and using the Scrum framework may help a lot doing it.

This means that you plan the budget together, and see them as shared responsibility. Each one puts up his own expenses, and the couple discuss it for a few minutes every day or two.

Take the students for instance. As soon as they pinned their budget to the fridge, everyone could see it. Every one shared the same budget and the same responsibility. It belonged to everyone.

So, how do we do that ?

1.    First, create a baseline:
Each person shares a part of their income to add to the common budget, and you set a time frame for the budget - say, a month.

2.    Define your budget categories:
Discuss together what expenses categories you should have. Talking together (the Agile way) is an excellent way to open up and discuss the issues at hand.

Categories may be health, transportation, living expenses - it’s up to you.

If you like you may even drill into one or two categories and flesh them out a bit. Daily expenses can be sorted into groceries, personal supplies, clothing, and so on. 

3.    Label each category:
Label each budget categories according to its relative size in the group and visualize it. Visualization is the heart of getting things done. Seeing it means you own it, and you can control your actions.

You can estimate your budget based off past experience, or by just discussing the limits you want for each category.

4.    Mark the expenses daily:
On a daily basis, each person tallies the actual expenses for each category. You can see very quickly what you can REALLY expect for each category.

Meet up each day for five minutes, and talk it over.

Visualizing and talking about the budget makes it to be better understood. You know the “why” and the “how to do things” and you can quickly solve misunderstanding or balance your expectations accordingly.

Look at the following chart. It takes you literally seconds to see exactly what takes the most budget, and where everything stands. Now, you can make informed decisions.

Once a month, sit down together, and plan for the month ahead, taking into account all the things you have learned from the previous month’s experience.

5.    Burn chart:
You can use the burn chart to track your budget and visualize a bit more. Obviously if you don’t need it then don’t use it.

What do I mean? Well, the initial state of the burn chart is the initial budget.

We then mark what the budget is for each day. We can easily follow our burn chart and see if we are ahead of budget or losing track of our expenses.

If we find that we’re short on money in some areas, we can see where we have some spare budget, and change accordingly. By doing this, we can also see our real world equirements, and how we solved them - so we can make the necessary changes to the budget for the next time.

You can use the same techniques to manage a project budget, youth group budget, wedding budget - or whatever budget you want.

Thanks to Gil Nachmias and myagile.

Burn down charts @Home are the best thing ever!

In one of my latest posts, Sandra commented about helping a teacher grading exams using the burn chart.

Now, I know that you are wondering two things.

1. How do you use a burn down chart to manage our tasks?

2. What on earth is a burn down chart?

Luckily, I’m here to answer both questions.

What is a burn down chart?

 A burn down chart is used by a Scrum team to track their progress. They have specific amount of tasks they need to complete in a specific amount of time, or a specific amount of content. The burn down chart allows the team to visualize the progress they made, over the work they have left.

Our burn down chart is used to gain visibility into our own tasks - meaning, what is the amount of work we have left to do, before the chart burns down to nothing.

You can manage the burn down chart on your whiteboard, or on Excel - it’s up to you.

1. How do you use a burn down chart to manage your tasks?

First, draw two axis.

Y : days of expected work

X: for the effort we need to complete

Lets take the example I told you about - a teacher who needs to grade exams. For sake of the example, she has 150 exams to grade over 10 days.

So the X axis is 150 (the number of exams she has to grade) and the Y axis schedules each day’s progress.

We start off with 150 exams.

On the first day, we graded 30 exams, leaving 120. After two days, we’ve graded 40 exams (we slacked off on the second day), so there are 110 left. And so on.

Date	work left	Work today
0	150	30
1	120	10
2	110	13
3	97
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

As we’re using a whiteboard, at the end of each day we mark a small dot with the number of exams left each day. per that day. As you can see, at the end of the second day, we put a dot in the 120 and 2 junction.

But we aren’t done yet. We also want to see if we are behind or ahead of schedule. I mean, we’ve only got 10 days to grade 150 exams - how can we tell if we’re ahead or falling behind?

Simple. Draw a straight line from start to finish, to show the average progress rate required.

In our case, we need to grade 15 exams a day to reach our goal. Now all it takes is one quick look at the chart to see - if we’re below the line, we’re ahead of schedule. If we’re above the line, we’d better get cracking.

As we enjoy making life difficult for our exam-grading imaginary selves lets say we were sick for two days, and only got 2 exams graded.

You can see the effects immediately.

We need to get back on track. Maybe we need to put in some extra effort, and grade a whole lot more than 15 exams a day, or we should say that we’re returning the exams three days later - whatever we do, we know exactly where we stand.

This is, of course, a very simple burn down chart. There are a lot we can do with these charts, adding more levels of understanding and elaboration. But for the sake of  “keep it simple” we’ll stop here.

To Sum Up

Our burn down chart is used to gain visibility into our own tasks. We can see the amount of work left to do, before the chart burns down to nothing.

It  helps us make decisions and changes based on what’s really happening.

●      X axis for days of expected work

●      Y axis for effort we need to complete

●      Ideal  for  expected progress

●      Real line for the current progress

References:

Scrum and XP from the Trenches;how we do Scrum;Version 2.2;2007-04-21;st 

Henrik Kniberg;henrik.kniberg crisp.se

www.crisp.se