kanban2go - free visual task management and organization

KanBan2Go is a free productivity and organizing app I learned about from Richard Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers. kanban2go is a visual, online task management service. It's simple and easy to use and accessible online from computer, tablet or smartphone (mobile site, not app).

There is a To Do list that is where you put the tasks in the order of priority. The In Progress board is for the tasks that you are actively working on and the Done board is for the completed tasks. This is all done in a visual manner instead of just text and priority codes.



You can collaborate with others on the tasks and sync your tasks with Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, Evernote and share your boards through email or on Twitter. This is a great resource for teachers, administrators, and students to use to organize themselves and to do collaborative planning on projects.

Here's a video about kanban2go:



Kanban is a Japanese word that means billboard. Companies use Kanban boards to organize, communicate, prioritize and manage what they do. United Technologies uses Kanban's as part of it's ACE (Achieving Competitive Excellence) program and I used it when I worked at Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky. Using Kanban's allowed us to work more efficiently, be better organized, let everyone know what was going on and where, and keep things working. We also used Kanban cards to create efficient workflows of parts, supplies, and materials throughout the plant.

This method can also be used in education - label things, create boards that communicate better to staff and students, and much more.

You can read more about Kanban here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban
Education and Personal Kanban it’s a Win Win Situation

It's also part of Kaizen, "continuous improvement" which is another thing schools could use.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen



Related:

Business/Manufacturing ideas applied to education
Apply Business Practices to Education - great ideas that can help education

5 Tips for Success - in school, business and in life
Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources
Evernote for Education Resources

Google Calendar for Educators

Business/Manufacturing ideas applied to education

 

Business and Manufacturing Practices in Education. It's not a new idea, but I'm not talking about treating students like a product. I'm talking about some business and manufacturing processes that can help with other aspects of education. I've written about this before, but covering different ideas.

United Technologies Corporation has a quality program called ACE (Achieving Competitive Excellence)© that I used when I worked at Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft. Every employee is trained on ACE and expected to use it. They have been using it for decades and it does work. ACE is a "set of tools that helps the organization identify process improvement opportunities, solve problems and assist with decision making processes."

There are some great ideas in here that can be used for education. 

6S (sort, straighten, shine, standardize, sustain, safety) and add Spirt (to continuously improve)

This is a method to keep things organized.  A place for everything and everything in it's place. It means that things are labeled and signed and people know where to find things. This could help in education with keeping classrooms, offices, supplies, and paperwork organized, clean and clutter free, along with allowing others to find resources when needed. It is simple - everyday, employees make sure that they are keeping their area clean and organized and that every thing is labeled and put away at the end of the day.

TPM Total Productive Maintenance: safety/lockouts, equipment cleaning/inspection, scheduled walkarounds, preventative maintenance.

Too many times in education we are only fixing things when they break instead of maintaining them. This includes computers, office equipment and facilities. There should be scheduled maintenance of all of these things to prevent issues.

Process Cert/Mgmt: make processes effective, efficient, & agile - while being controllable & standard.
This is a way of evaluating processes and making them work better. This would include how things are done, such as running testing, handling problems, organizing the school day, school schedules, etc. Instead of just having things being done as they always have, this makes people evaluate how and why they do things the way they do and if it is the best way of doing things.

Standard Work: work is simplified & structured for max consistancy, repeatability, and quality
This is a great idea for repeating tasks, such as school startup, state testing, assemblies, office procedures, and more. The tasks are assessed and the best way of doing the task is written down in a procedure. We could use this for the start of school as each year things are missed and have to be done last minute. It's a great way to make sure that things are done the best way, every time.

QCPC: record turnbacks, investigate and eliminate reasons, RRCA: Relentless Root Cause Analysis and Mistake Proofing
I put these three together for education. QCPC is a way to track any problems, issues, errors, and the like so that they can be analyzed and the reason behind them found and fixed. RRCA is a way to look at a problem or mistake and keep digging to find the root cause of a problem. Mistake Proofing is a way of preventing the problem or issue from happening in the future.

An example would be that a student is failing a class. Why? He doesn't complete his work and doesn't come to school enough. Why? He has issues at home. Why? Because he is tired and sick often. Why? Because he works at a job all evening, 5 days a week. Why? Because his family needs the money. How do we fix it? Find a way to help the family so that the student does not have to work that many hours.

Market Feedback Analysis: improve product quality through use of data from customers, in-house.
This is something schools do in a way. They collect data on student performance and attendance. But what about getting actual feedback from the students on what they think about school, how things are going, what they are doing in school, how things could be improved? We should also be getting feedback from parents and the community.

(EH&S) Environment, Health and Safety - mistake proof, risk analysis, environmental impacts, safeguards
EH&S is about having a safe and healthy environment. Keeping things clean and in good repair, and helping to keep staff, faculty and students happy.

Six Sigma is another program, similar to ACE, that is used by many corporations in a similar way and it also has some great ideas that can be applied to education.

I think education can learn a lot from business practices, especially when it comes to quality improvement. All of these things can be used to improve things in schools, without treating anyone like a product.

Related:

Apply Business Practices to Education - great ideas that can help education

5 Tips for Success - in school, business and in life

ACE vs. Six Sigma report

ACE Overview
ACE Overview 2

Six Sigma in Education

Using Six Sigma to Solve Issues in Public School System

Apply Business Practices to Education - great ideas that can help education

I’ve been thinking a lot about school reform and how we can make schools better. I’ve read the arguments from educators and politicians, and even those corporate giants who seem to know more about educating our students than teachers do. I’ve seen reports of successful schools and failing schools. As a former engineer and project manager, I do believe that business has some things that can be used in school to improve things for teachers and students. I do believe that some business practices can be beneficial to education. I’m not saying that we should treat students as products, but I have some ideas of how to use some business models in education.

I really started thinking more about this topic when I read an article about “The High School of the Future” in Philadelphia. It was started in 2006 and dubbed “The Microsoft School” because the company had helped design it. Now it seems that there are some serious problems occurring there, with seniors not eligible to graduate because the school didn’t focus on the standards and basics. There was too much emphasis on being unique and different without any real substance behind it.

This got me thinking about what would happen if some other well known companies and some companies I’ve worked for, had a hand in designing a school and it’s vision and curriculum.

I started thinking about Google and how they offer a lot of benefits to their staff. How they give their employees time to work on projects that interest them. Now, Google is not the all-perfect company, but some of their ideas are very good and make good sense. I also thought of some other companies I’ve worked for, like SVGL (now ASML) and UTC (Sikorsky Aircraft) and some of the things they did that made them successful. I’ve put together a list of ideas from these companies and how they could/should be implemented in schools.

1. Open up the curriculum and time in school. Give students more chances to work on projects of their choosing. Let them explore what interests them. Give them resources and support them in their learning. More independent study projects and group projects. (Just like things happen in the real world.) For example, if a student really loves music, then let them apply that love and interest in their classes - science of music, history of music, write a song, etc. Many current curricula are too fixed and inflexible.
2. Focus on the essential questions, thinking skills and essential knowledge students need to know. Some facts are important, but memorizing is not needed. Working professionals can look up information when they need to (including doctors and engineers) so why can't students use other resources? We want them to be able to communicate, work as a team, solve problems, and find resources when they need to. We don't need them to be able to recall trivial facts.
3. Provide study lounges with a snack bar, computers, games and couches where students could work on their projects and have a safe place to be. Make sure these study lounges are available after school also.
4. Provide students with free healthy meals and snacks. Good nutrition is paramount to success in school. Provide free or discounted meals to staff also.
5. Provide services, like daycare, laundry, etc. to employees to help them be able to more focus on their jobs. Daycare could be helpful for teen mom’s and could also be used as a teaching resource for students who want to learn about early childhood development or who want to be teachers.
6. Give teachers a vision and the resources they need and then let them do their job. Support them, don’t attack them. Help them when they need it. If there is training available that could help them in their job - send them for it. For example, when I was promoted to project engineer at one company, they sent me for project management training as well as supervision training since I was now supervising other employees.
7. Give teachers time to work with their colleagues on solving problems, addressing student issues, working on lesson plans, and networking.
8. Get rid of, or at least limit, meetings. Most companies know that work does not get done during a meeting. Schools and teachers get meetinged to death. With technology, we can collaborate in real time at our own location, limiting travel. And, most meetings are just to give out meeting - that information can be given out by email instead.
9. Health clinics at schools for students and staff. Allow staff members to utilize school-based health centers as part of their benefits. Staff can get basic medical needs taken care of during the work day.
10. Open the school to visitors. Have tours for parents showing them what goes on in the building. Let parents visit any time they want so that they can see what their children are doing.
11. Provide after hours programs for students so that they can work in the afternoon. Give them a safe place to work and learn, even after school.
12. Have the curriculum and plan be open so that students who don’t do well in the morning could come in later and work later. (Flex time in the business world).
13. Tuition reimbursement for staff. Education requires teachers to get advanced degrees, yet there is no financial help from their employers. Google has tuition reimbursement and United Technologies has a scholar program that pays for school up front and even gives employees time off to study. I know that budgets are tight, but these companies realize that a highly educated workforce benefits them. The same is true for teachers. And, the better educated, and trained, teachers are, the more they can do for their students and schools.
14. Provide real, timely, and useful training to staff. Too many times, teacher professional development is minimal, useless, hard to apply, or some new fad. I’ve received excellent training from my engineering employers and they paid for me to take outside training if it benefited my job. Most teachers I know have to find free training (thank goodness for unconferences) or pay for it them selves. Staff should also be given opportunities to explore their educational interests and not just the Professional Development that the school says they have to take. Choice is very important.
15. Appreciate your staff - administration needs to create a fun, inspiring workplace where teachers feel welcome and appreciated for their efforts.
16. Innovation - staff, and students, should be encouraged to think outside of the box when it comes to education and activities. The curriculum can not be canned, or from a textbook, it must be a living, breathing thing that can change as the world changes.
17. Utilize your resources - two companies I worked for had employees fill out surveys with their hobbies, interests, and other skills they have. The company then knew who they had in-house as resources in different areas.
18. Utilize Quality Improvement systems in schools. Six Sigma, ACE and other systems provide a way to find issues and solutions to those issues. They go beyond test scores and truly look at what the issues are. Root Cause Analysis is one example that works to find the real cause behind an issues. For example, a student is failing a class. Why - poor attendance. Don’t stop there, look deeper. Why is the student’s attendance poor? What outside issues are causing this.
19. Get organized - Some of these quality systems also have programs to get the workplace organized and more efficient. Most schools are very inefficient in the office and clerical side of things. Supplies are not well organized, paperwork, and even standard processes, like the start of school, are not documented for future reference.
20. Be competitive - in some ways, schools are competing against private companies, private schools, and other “opponents” and they need to be competitive. Don’t wait for someone else to come in and tell you there are problems. Find the problems yourself, and then use your resources to find a solution. Be creative and innovative in how you improve things. Take chances and go for it.

These are just some of the ideas I came up with from businesses and business processes that can and should be used in schools. What about you? What ideas do you have?