163: Visualizing Workflows using Kanban Boards (with John Grant)

Making your work visible is vital for knowledge workers (like lawyers), and the best way of doing that is by using a Kanban Board. Task managers just can't cut it.

In this episode, Ernie talks with John Grant a consultant who helps fellow lawyers fix their legal workflows using Kanban Boards to help them manage tasks more effectively and collaborate better.

Show Notes

Agile Attorney (John Grant's website) The Voice of The Client (John's podcast where he interviews lawyer clients) Thinking Fast & Slow, Daniel Kahneman Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow, by Dominica DeGrandis (John's book recommendation) The Rise & Fall of GTD (Cal Newport's article in the New Yorker) Lean Software Development (Wikipedia article) Agile Software Development (Wikipedia article) Scrum Software Development (Wikipedia article) Knowledge Workers (Wikipedia definition) How to Think Better And Profit More (Ernie's blog post) Feedback loops (Wikipedia definition) Kanban (Wikipedia definition) Trello (Kanban board tool used by Ernie, which he recommends) KanbanZone (Kanban board tool that John recommends) WIP: a task started by not yet finished (Wikipedia definition) Start less to finish more (a key principle of the Agile work method) Optimism Bias (Wikipedia definition) Why All Your Projects Are Late And What to Do About It (Freakonomics podcast) Less Doing: Ari Meisel's website (productivity guru that Ernie follows and recommends) "Honest reckoning with capacity" (John's advice for not succumbing to optimism bias) "Brutal assessment of priority" (John's related advice)

BTW, I'd love to get your feedback or hear about your questions (which I'll answer in upcoming episodes).

And when you get a chance, download my free Solo & Small Firm Lawyers’ Guide to Working Smarter (which will help you streamline, automate and outsource —so you start working less and relaxing more).
Oh, and if you're interested in radical improvement for your law practice, check out my new Working Smarter course.

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