The various improvement approaches are, in essence, all pretty much the same.

Does your kanban Ready column look like a junk drawer? Do you have tasks in the Ready column from six months ago that say “Urgent!” (and have since the day they were created)? Guess what? You’re learning something about your work.

The next time you drive over a bone-jarring pothole, remember this: Since 2008, 73 million tax dollars have been invested in monitoring and inspection technologies for the nation’s aging infrastructure. Here’s the good part: They’re making a difference.

Your backlog is hope. Your backlog is pain. Your backlog holds all the projects, tasks, demands, desires, and expectations that you and the world have for you. The problem is, today’s apparent emergencies are tomorrow’s waste of time.