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Pomodoro and Kanban for Greater Household Throughput

Better Kanban

Pomodoro splits for cleanliness

We’ve written before about the Pomodoro technique, which is (at its most simple) dividing your work into 25 minute chunks and having a bit of rest and recap at either end.I use the Pomodoro Daisuki plugin for Chrome for this. Pomodoro Daisuki is a hybrid Personal Kanban / Pomodoro app that lets you build quick and disposable Personal Kanbans to quickly get stuff done.But … it doesn’t stop there.We use LeanKit to manage work for Modus and Personal Kanban. That Personal Kanban looks like this:But I, like some people (not others, I know) tend to relax while cleaning things. So, I noticed that during my Pomodoro breaks I was usually cleaning bits of the house.So, in Pomodoro Daisuki, I built this second “attack the house” Personal Kanban. Nothing here is pressing. There is no “need” to get these done. I’d just like a cleaner house and this lets me see what could be focused on during the break. For me, I have a few minutes, and at the end of this rather mindless task I get the gift of a slightly cleaner house.Note that all of these are pretty tiny tasks – maybe 5 minutes long if I really slow down. But I’ve noticed that keeping this up and using it means that I work my way around to tasks I would ordinarily forget about. For example, “Change filter in the fridge” is in that done pile somewhere. That was a three minute task that results in clean water and a healthy fridge.Another thing I should note is that if I don’t feel like cleaning – I don’t clean. This isn’t a board to force me to clean. It’s a board to help me engage in productive, rewarding, and somewhat enjoyable stuff during my break.One last point … note that we are using two tools for two different purposes. Examine what your needs are and use the right tool!

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