INTRODUCTION TO PERSONAL KANBAN

Visualize Work | Limit Work in Progress

Get Control, Get in Sync 

Take the chaos and overload,
see it clearly, manage it like a "pro",
but grow like a professional.

Turn your chaos into options,
your overload into controlled work,
and your trash can into a learning tool.

See your work, plan better, execute with confidence.

When You See Your Work,
You Can Own Your Time

PERSONAL KANBAN

How PK Works

01

Visualize Work

Work seen is work understood.  Personal Kanban visualizes the options, the work in flight, the quality, who you are working with, and what has been completed. 
02

Work Smarter

Choose the right tasks at the right time. Complete things with focus. Finish with confidence. Ensure you can collaborate effectively. End the day proud of your work and satisfied that it was worthwhile.
03

Learn, Improve, Grow

See what went right, what needed some help, and what was a nightmare. Get real information to fix things quickly and not let them sit around and fester.

What's in the Class:
Introduction to Personal Kanban

Your Team
Can Complete With Confidence

We want to get control of work.

We want to stop asking other people what they are doing.

We want to end status meetings.

We want to make sure we spend time on the truly important.

We want to work with our teammates.
Write your awesome label here.

The Flow of the Course

  • See Your Work: How Personal Kanban shows your work flows, your collaborations, and where you should focus your efforts.
  • What is Coming: Your backlog is your options to choose, not your forced overload to fear.
  • Control of Now: Your PK shows everything about what is happening now. Stay informed, stay in control.
  • Do It Better Next Time: Keep Track of Your "Done". Know what was done well, had the right support, or enjoyable, or not so you can correct next time.
  • Control Overload: Control your work, avoid overload, focus and finish the current task with confidence.
  • Build Your Workflow: Tailor board to your unique needs.
  • Your Flow is Yours Alone: Learn the basics of mapping a workflow so you are certain you are doing the right thing, the right way, at the right time.

Why You Care

Whether you are you, or
whether you are a boss or
team lead or coach or
generally interested third party
... you care because ...

Better Decisions.

People who are confused or underinformed make uninformed decisions. PK Provides the intents, the methods, and the context of our work, leading to better choices.

Know How You Work.

Seeing your work flow through the Personal Kanban shows you and your team what work flows well, what gets stuck, and how to fix it. 

Better Completion.

Overloaded people and teams slow down, deliver less, and struggle with quality. PK allows people to focus and finish with confidence. Reduce the thrashing.

Get Credit and
Give Yourself Credit.

When you see and remember what you have completed, you give yourself credit and plan better in the future.

Plan For Real.

Without seeing the work in stickies (real or virtual) people will naturally overpromise and under deliver. By making the work visual (it takes up space) we are prompted to select and plan for a more realistic amount of work.  

Work Closely,
Even When Apart.

Remote teams use Personal Kanban on-line every day through hundreds of different apps to communicate expectations, plans, and improvement. Remote teams can be very aligned.

The Contents

Build a Sustainable Culture | Solve Problems Immediately and Together

What Our Current Students are Saying

I was blown away today
with the storytelling section
of our Obeya class.

~ Tim N.
I'm really enjoying this, and am learning so much.

I just want to express my gratitude for making these ideas accessible.

So many questions have been stacking up in my mind, and the class is just knocking them down in a very logical way. I deeply appreciate that.

~ Philip A.
The class
already hit me in the face
and woke me up.

~ Andy S.
Our Instructors

Meet the Modus

Jim Benson

Co-Founder, Modus Institute
Co-founder of Modus Institute, co-author and creator of Personal Kanban and Lean Coffee, Jim is an internationally-recognized speaker and authority on visualizing and managing knowledge work.

As a pioneering voice in applying Lean principles and collaboration to knowledge work, he transforms how individuals and organizations approach complex challenges. A faculty member at the Lean Enterprise Institute, he brings decades of experience in making work visible, collaborative, and manageable. 

Through his latest book, The Collaboration Equation, Jim continues to evolve the practice of visual management, helping teams worldwide create more intuitive, collaborative, and productive workplaces.

His work bridges the gap between individual productivity and organizational success, showing how visualization can transform both personal effectiveness and team dynamics.

Tonianne DeMaria

Co-Founder, Modus Institute
Co-founder of Modus Institute, co-author of Shingo-awarded Personal Kanban, and faculty at Lean Enterprise Institute, Toni focuses on creating effective, brain-friendly workplaces. As a founding member of international research consortium Obeya Global, she helps organizations evolve through systems thinking and visual management.

An historian by training, she leverages a cross-disciplinary approach drawing from neuroscience, behavioral economics, and the work of W. Edwards Deming to help individuals and teams optimize through visualization tools and cognitive science. She integrates Lean methodologies with human-centered design to enhance both organizational value and human potential.

By aligning processes with natural thinking patterns, she builds workplace cultures where people and organizations thrive together.

Mark Kilby

Senior faculty, modus institute
Mark Kilby is an author and expert on distributed teams and remote work. In 2018, he published the book From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams: Collaborate to Deliver, with co-author Johanna Rothman. In this book, Kilby provides advice and principles for managers and teams seeking to transition to working remotely using agile principles. Drawing on his extensive experience helping companies embrace location-independent work, Kilby offered practical guidance on topics ranging from managing remote workers to facilitating collaboration across distances. His writings and consulting have made him an influential voice in the growing field of distributed work.

Dave Prior

senior faculty, modus institute
Dave Prior, LAVM, PMP, PMI-ACP, CST, has been leading technology projects and helping individuals and teams find better ways to manage their work for over 25 years. He has managed projects, programs, PMOs, and portfolios and has focused on Agile since 1999.

Dave’s journey from waterfall to Agile was not an easy one, and this influences every aspect of his work and how he shows up every day with a simple goal: “...make the journey from waterfall to Agile less painful for others than it was for me."

Dave has been podcasting about Agile and Project Management since 2008. His podcast drunkenPM Radio’s Reluctant Agilist covers Agile basics, best practices for transitioning from waterfall to Agile, as well as guidance and advice from other Agile practitioners and thought leaders on how to address more advanced Agile topics.

In addition to his work at Modus, Dave is an Agile Coach and Consultant and he leads Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner , and Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner classes. He is also a member of the Scrum Alliance TAC. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.