Personal Kanban is a great way to visualize work and enhance your personal productivity. It builds on the Kanban framework and conceptualizes a more efficient way of managing work and personal responsibilities.
In 2011, authors Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria introduced the idea of Kanban for personal use in “Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life.” In their book, the authors lay out a system for prioritizing tasks and improving overall productivity.
According to recent UK-based research, 80% of people feel stress at work, with the primary cause being heavy workloads. To tackle this issue, you can use Kanban at home and for your office to-do lists to save time, boost efficiency, and reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed.
In this guide, you’ll discover what personal Kanban is, how to incorporate it into your work and personal life, and what the best personal Kanban app is. (Hint: It’s Wrike!)
What is Kanban?
Kanban is a project management framework that supports the Agile project management methodology. Essentially, Agile is an overarching strategy for managing projects. It provides you with key principles and values to adhere to but doesn’t tell you how to achieve them.
Kanban focuses on workflows and moving tasks from “to do” to “completed.” It’s not the only Agile framework you can use, but it is one of the most popular.
What is personal Kanban?
Personal Kanban is a system for managing team and individual tasks. In their book description, Benson and DeMaria note that “personal Kanban takes the same Lean principles from manufacturing” but applies them on a personal and team level.
The primary goal of personal Kanban is to give people a system that helps them prioritize their work in a way that promotes productivity, organization, and balance. Unlike other complicated frameworks and productivity techniques, Kanban for personal productivity follows two essential rules: make your task list visual and limit your work in progress. The latter rule is essential for eliminating the fatigue and overwhelm that arise from having to manage too many tasks at once.
Who uses personal Kanban?
Personal Kanban can help improve the productivity and performance of anyone juggling multiple tasks. It can be adapted to any user, regardless of age, situation, and learning style. If you feel like you have a long to-do list for your work or home life, a personal Kanban board can help.
Also, if you struggle with deciding where to start or which tasks to prioritize first, a personal Kanban app’s visual nature can be of great value.
How to use a personal Kanban board
The simplest way to set up a Kanban board for personal use is to create three columns:
- To do
- In progress
- Complete
To do this, you can use a physical whiteboard or Kanban project management software. You can then create a separate task for everything you have to do, adding each one as a card in the “To do” column.
Once you have created your Kanban cards, you can begin to prioritize them. The easiest way is to label each one as either “High,” “Medium,” or “Low” priority.
Next, determine how many tasks you’re comfortable working on at one time. Ideally, you’d only tackle one activity at a time. But, if you have bigger tasks that will stretch over hours or days, you may be OK with having two to three tasks in progress at one time.
Once a task is finished, you can move it to the “Completed” column and then add another task to the “In progress” column.
As you use a personal Kanban tool, you should not exceed the maximum number of tasks in the “In progress” column. This ensures a steady stream of tasks, which increases productivity, eliminates downtime, and helps prevent you from being overwhelmed by too many things in progress at once. 
What do I put on my personal Kanban board?
Your personal Kanban board can help you manage any tasks or activities on your to-do list.
For the most effective Kanban personal productivity tool, consider the following tips:
- Tasks related to different parts of your life should be on separate boards (i.e., have a “home” board and a “work” board).
- Break activities down into separate concrete tasks that take a few hours to a few days each. For instance, instead of “create an email campaign,” break it down into “upload email list,” “draft email sequencing,” etc.
- Stay flexible. Kanban and Agile are meant to be adaptable, so feel free to change your personal Kanban tool to meet your needs. If you need another column, such as “In review,” go ahead and create it.
What is the best personal Kanban app?
A physical board can be useful for learning the process but, ultimately, it just can’t stand up against the virtual personal Kanban board options. After all, a personal Kanban board online can be accessed from anywhere, and cards can easily be added, updated, and shifted between columns with the click of a mouse.
The best personal Kanban app for you will depend on your needs and preferences. Do you want a free tool that only allows you to have one board? Or are you willing to pay a small monthly fee for an app that enables you to create multiple boards and custom columns?
If you want a highly customizable personal Kanban board that can sync to your project management tool or work management software, Wrike is the ideal option. 
How can I use Wrike as a personal Kanban tool?
Ready to set up your own personal Kanban system? Simply sign up for a free 14-day trial with Wrike, and use the Kanban board template to create your first board.
Our Kanban boards are completely customizable and dynamic. You can build out as many different boards as you need and customize them with the desired number of columns, custom statuses, and more.
Plus, you can incorporate other powerful Wrike features, such as real-time reports and dashboards, to better manage your productivity and keep an eye on the big picture.
Why wait? Organize your personal and professional life with Wrike’s Kanban software today.
