Visualizing Your Work: Kanban and PICK+

Some folks believe that you can classify people as "auditory," "visual" or "tactile" learners.

I don't really subscribe to this idea fanatically, because we all process information using all of our senses and neurological processes. We certainly have individual preferences which are unique, but I suspect there are some immutable truths about the neurology of human learning.

One of my beliefs is that humans are inherently visual beings. In fact, we rely tremendously on visual information. Visual information processes through our brains much faster than written or spoken words (like 60,000 times faster).

If this is true, then if you can put ideas and problems into visual terms, then you can give yourself an advantage.

I want to share two productivity tools which visualize your work as a leader or HR practitioner.

The Kanban

A kanban board allows you to see the status of your many projects and tasks visually. See image below:

MS Planner and Trello are readily available tools with Kanban layout features. I have used Trello extensively and highly recommend it.

Move your tasks and projects from left to right as they progress to completion.

The PICK+ Chart

A PICK+ chart is adapted from lean methodology. I created the name PICK+ because of the focus circle I added to the basic PICK chart.

A PICK chart is a visual way to organize possible projects based on two elements

• The difficulty of the project
• The potential impact of the project

A PICK chart can be used in at least two ways. It can help you:

• Sort through which issues you might want to tackle or
• Sort through which tactics you use to solve a specific problem you're facing

The PICK chart is broken into four sections

• Possible: Issues which are relatively easy to solve (or tactics that are easy to execute) but they would have low impact
• Implement: Issues which are easy to solve and would have a high impact if you solved them.
• Challenge: Issues which are hard to execute or solve, but would have a high impact on your results or high impact for your customers.
• Kill: Issues which are hard to solve and they would have minimal effect on your results if you solved them.
• I like to add a box or circle in the center, where I write the projects that I'm actively working on. This is where the + comes from in the PICK+ name.

EXAMPLE APPLICATION

• List out the problems you need to tackle. List anything that is bothering customers, employees, or you.
• Sort the problems on the PICK+ chart based on impact if you solved it and the difficulty of solving it.
• Decide which issues you are able to tackle and write them in the center of the chart. Put this chart up on your wall as a reminder.
• On a separate PICK+ chart, sort the solutions you could try based on how effective/impactful they would be and the difficulty of executing them.
• Write the selected focus solutions in the center of the second chart. Put up the second chart on your wall also, to help you remember what to focus on and what is put on hold.

Below is a PICK+ chart: