At Modus we now have a posted, dominant project at all times. We post it as a large sticky note on the wall. This is the banner saying, “If you pull something and have any choice whatsoever, pull it from this backlog.”

This giant kanban token conveys our current organizational focus and promotes completion of that project.

Only when something is completed does Modus receive any value from it.

This is why long projects with cumbersome deliverables are so difficult for companies and the people in them: Long projects require long wait times to realize value.

As the anticipation for completion builds and we meet the inevitable disruptions in schedule, we are disappointed. As we are disappointed, our desire to work, our culture, and the quality of our work suffer.

Providing a constant reminder of the day’s focus with a visual control—not just at the standup meeting, which is not a visual control—has helped considerably.

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