Title: S2 E14 - Jim Benson - Make Work Visible, Make Work Better

Subtitle: Kanban and Lean Coffee to replace chaos with clarity

Description:

Jim Benson—co-creator of Personal Kanban, Shingo Prize winner, and co-founder of Lean Coffee—joins Mark to unpack how visual management and WIP limits reduce overload and create humane, effective teamwork. We trace the origins of Kanban for knowledge work, why “Done” should become “Learn,” and how a Seattle café experiment turned into a global pattern for better conversations and decisions.

Chapters

00:00 Intro — why “make work visible” matters

01:05 Meet Jim Benson (Personal Kanban, Shingo Prize, Lean Coffee)

03:10 Punk rock → systems thinking → urban planning

05:25 Early real-time traffic/ITS and proto-Agile roots

07:40 When iterations weren’t fast enough: Kanban emerges

10:30 The pub napkin story & early knowledge-work Kanban

13:50 Personal Kanban: visibility for humans (not just tools)

16:45 Options → Doing → Done (and why “Done” should become “Learn”)

20:20 Columns, states, collaboration rules, and where work gets stuck

22:55 Why we limit WIP: flow vs. flood & cognitive load

26:20 Social debt, decision latency, and finishing with quality

30:00 PDCA on the board: Plan / Do / Study / Adjust in practice

33:15 Trello/Asana analogies and practical board setups

35:40 WIP slots/lanes and right-sized work

38:30 Human-centered Kanban and healthier team dynamics

41:10 The Lean Coffee origin story (Seattle café → worldwide)

45:00 Mechanics that matter: voting, timeboxes, continue/stop

48:05 Leveling power distance and creating equitable meetings

52:10 Using Lean Coffee for better leadership/team meetings

55:45 Kaizen Camp & Riot Games: from stuck to momentum

01:00:30 Community impact stories; what to try on Monday

01:04:30 Closing & how to stay connected

Episode Highlights

Visual management changes conversations—not just throughput

WIP limits as guardrails against overload, rework, and hidden social costs

Turning “Done” → “Learn” to make continuous improvement continuous

Lean Coffee: simple rules that create equitable, productive discussions

Guest

Jim Benson — Co-creator of Personal Kanban; co-founder of Lean Coffee; co-founder, Modus Institute; Shingo Prize winner.

#PersonalKanban #LeanCoffee #Lean #ContinuousImprovement #VisualManagement #WIP #Flow #Agile #ImprovementNerds