I was recently interviewed for an article on Agile for Families by Lewis Lin of Project Management Insights.
Crazy though this may sound, this particular niche has really starting showing up in my life a lot lately. Anyone else applying agile methods learned at work to home life?
absolutely. agile isn’t just for software. it’s for life!
Test Driven Chores (“how will you know you are finished?”)
Pair Cooking
Short feedback loops.
My kanban board for when we moved house and a baby was on the way. Lots to do and all visible on the kitchen wall, for both of us to see. Really helped both our stress levels, at a stressful time, as we both new what each other was up to and what needed doing.
http://tomphilip.me/index.php/personal-kanban/
I think any good relationship is built somewhat on agile principles. How can anyone consistently know what their interaction with another human being will look like years from now. We can’t – we must iterate and learn.
My son had an illness that kept him from regularly attending school for the past 3 years (6th-8th grades). We had to bring in tutors to keep him up with school. He struggled to keep up with homework and still have some sort of life. I created a simple board (To Do | In Progress | Done!) for him with a swimlane for each subject. The tutor would add a card for each assignment he had and write a due date when necessary.
When he felt well enough to work, he would focus on getting as many cards across as possible with a goal of 3 per day. The tutor would know what was done by the movement of the cards and pick up from there. His homework went from an impossible task that kept piling up to something that was manageable and helped him pass with an A- average despite not going to a single full day of school for the past 18 months.We shared it with a few of his care providers who worked with others in similar situations and it has helped them. Several friends have copied the idea for their kids for everything from school work to athletics.
I was writing about doing this a couple years ago over at thelazyfaire.org.
Actually, you aren’t done with a chore in our house until you have been through peer review.
Not kidding.