It’s been three weeks since my last project management post.  Yes, the web integration stuff I’ve blogged about meanwhile has kept me busy, but the truth is that I’ve been procrastinating.  Ironically, the title “The joy of finishing” has been in my mind for a while!

So let me quote from this morning’s wake-up call: John Heintz on the Lean & Kanban 2009 Conference:

Here’s what I thought Kanban was before last week:

* A Big Visible Board
* A Prioritized Backlog
* Close communication, minimizing hand-offs
* Rules about cards on the wall

No Iteration/Sprint boundaries (I’m thinking more efficient but maybe losing something important…)

That’s all well and good and true enough. Easy to justify writing it all off with “I already know enough to help teams make a big difference”. In fact, Kanban can be boiled down to one single rule:

* Limit the number of things in work to a fixed number

(emphasis mine)

When I think of the number of times we’ve done great work but failed to release it on time thanks to overcommitment, I feel embarrassed. Quite right too. This is coming from someone who talks about minimising backlogs and work in progress. As I write, I wonder if sometimes I have confused the two?

Update: I really must include this tweet from Scott Berkun too:

berkun Stressed out means 1 of 2 things: 1) Your priorities are wrong 2) You’re not respecting the priorities you have.

This applies to teams and projects just as much as it does to people. Inexcusable when it’s comes from the project manager, often more a carrier of stress than a sufferrer…