Who benefits?

I'm not in software development or manufacturing, so kanban was unknown to me until about a year ago. Unsure if I could adapt it to the messy and complex world of pharmaceutical research, I tried anyway. Turns out it works pretty darn well! A couple people were curious about my board, but most just gave it an odd glance or flat ignored it. 

Several months went by, and my board went through four iterations. I wanted to share what I learned with my colleagues because I saw a lot of potential in wide-scale adoption. Kanban was too good not to share, so I put together a seminar and presented it a couple times. I convinced a few people to try it, but none of them are my direct coworkers. So for now, I'm still flying solo. 

Kanban comes into its own as a tool for collaboration, but does that mean a solo user is wasting his time? Not at all! Take my colleague Tim as an example. 

The idea of kanban clicked for Tim right away. Like me, he updates his boss at a weekly one-on-one meeting. To prepare, he spent ninety minutes to compose a PowerPoint deck, but not anymore. Not when you can bring your entire board right into the boss's office.

Why is that better? Compare the slide deck to the board. Not only is the slide deck tedious to prepare, it's obsolete the moment the meeting starts. Notes are scribbled, items are added, deleted, and changed. You'll need more time after the meeting to translate it all into some kind of to-do list. All told, that one hour meeting with your boss takes three hours of your time. Almost half a day every week? Good grief! That's a lot of wasted time and effort. 

Cui bono?

Even if you're the only one to use kanban, there's indirect benefits for others, starting with your boss. Yes, it seems silly at first to plop a large sticky-covered whiteboard in front of your boss. My own was dubious at first but humored me anyway. Now he doesn't think it's so weird because it makes his job easier. 

Between meetings, impromptu updates are a breeze. I just turn around in my chair and point at sticky notes while I talk. The board makes it impossible to forget anything. It's all right there. No more fumbling through notebooks and to-do lists! I have a constructive, meaningful conversation with no preparation at all. There's even been some collaborative insights that wouldn't have happened without the board to act as a catalyst. 

So if you're getting started with kanban where you work, don't fret if you're the only one. With time, I bet that'll change.