How to manage workflow with sticky notes

Comments

15 responses to “How to manage workflow with sticky notes”

1. 

   Ana Isabel Canhoto

   January 13, 2015

   Oh, wow – Thanks for following up on my query, and producing such a detailed response. I really appreciate it.

   I really like the tangibility of your system (bits of paper moving between cells of the matrix…), and I suppose that you could take it a step further and use stick notes of different colours or shapes for different types of tasks or for different client projects.

   Thanks, again. I am off to the stationery store to get some masking tape 😉

   Reply
   1. 

      Christopher S. Penn

      January 13, 2015

      You’re very welcome!

      Reply
2. 

   abelniak

   January 13, 2015

   What’s the area off to the right? (that horizontal piece of green masking tape)? Thanks!

   Reply
   1. 

      Christopher S. Penn

      January 13, 2015

      That’s the done pile!

      Reply
3. 

   onemantruth

   January 20, 2015

   I don’t watch videos, especially 3 minutes long. is there a text explanation in a paragraph or two that I can skim in about 30 seconds and get the gist of it?

   I don’t understand the fetish with replacing what can be conveyed and read (and searched!) in text — with videos. Cooking demonstrations maybe, but not simple explanations.

   Reply
4. 

   Craig C

   January 20, 2015

   What’s the specifi Google App referred to? I searched but could not find one that took screen shots

   Reply
   1. 

      Christopher S. Penn

      January 20, 2015

      It’s called the Post-It Note app.

      Reply
   2. 

      chatt

      January 21, 2015

      Ah – looks like this is from 3M and is iOS only. There’s an Evernote app for Android, but it does not appear to separate post-its.

      Reply
5. 

   Tiffany Pettis

   January 20, 2015

   My workplace doesn’t allow me to put things on my wall, so I made on on my desk!

   Reply
   1. 

      Christopher S. Penn

      January 20, 2015

      Nice!

      Reply
   2. 

      Maria Cristina Bandeira Viseu

      November 4, 2016

      <3

      Reply
6. 

   MrThermister

   January 21, 2015

   I’m a digital/online guy. Can you recommend some online/digital/app equivalents for your method? I have some ideas, but I’d like to hear yours. Thanks.

   Reply
   1. 

      Christopher S. Penn

      January 22, 2015

      I’ve tried a whole bunch of them, and the closest ones I’ve found have been Asana and Brightpod, and they’re not real close. For me, there’s no real equivalent to the freedom of just walking up to a wall and moving things around, not yet.

      Reply
      1. 

         MrThermister

         January 22, 2015

         Have you looked into Kanban or Agile? There are some good apps for Kanban (KanbanFlow, KanganTool). And isn’t Kanban the same as your method except in columns instead of squares? I would think you could move the bottom 2 squares over to the right, and then have 4 columns (5 with your Done column, which see fits naturally in columns). Another reason I like a Kanban app, is that it has swim lanes – keeping each client or project in it’s own lane – which prevents confusion when performing on multiple projects.

         By the way, I really like your Eisenhower matrix hack. I”ve never heard of anybody using it for delegating or deferring, so thanks for that insight!

         Reply
         1. 

            Christopher S. Penn

            January 22, 2015

            Thanks – I’ve done both Kanban and Agile. In fact, this used to be an Agile board. I found that it didn’t map as well for my personal workflow – not a ding on those systems, just not the way I think.

            Reply