When Monday morning rolls around, the routine is the same: brew a Potion of Waking, and begin a new sprint!
But wait, I’m looking for work, right? Why on earth am I starting a sprint?? In Jira?? Isn’t Jira a “work” thing?
Because I use Agile methodology (modified for my needs) and a Jira “Software project” board in my personal Atlassian account to run my life in one-week sprints!
“WHY??” I can already hear some of you asking. Let me explain.
I stopped fighting my brain…
It hit me one day that there was absolutely no reason I couldn’t use these tools to help me manage my personal life. Discovering Atlassian tools and Agile methodology when I joined Six Foot changed how I got “day job” work done, and I loved it!
Breaking work down into smaller, more manageable chunks with clear goals and “definitions of done” within a short timeline made sense for “day job” work. When I thought about it, I didn’t see any reason why I couldn’t apply the same basic principles to my personal life. Agile methodology has just enough structure with enough flexibility that it works with my ADHD brain instead of against it. Plus, anyone can sign up for an Atlassian account and use free versions of Jira Cloud and Confluence Cloud (or pay for Premium subscriptions to one or both).
Jira tasks are a fabulous way to keep track of the things I need to do, and sprints are a fantastic way to group and track everything I need to get done during the week. I do my sprint planning on Sundays, moving all of my tasks for the upcoming week from the backlog to the next sprint, compare my list of Appointment tasks (custom task type!) to my calendar and make sure everything matches, add any extra tasks, configure alarms/reminders, clone my Weekly Tasks Epic (and children) using a custom automation rule, set deadlines, and add other notes. On Monday morning, I’m all set to close out the previous sprint and start the new one.
…and started working with my brain
It’s weird, it’s probably not what Atlassian had in mind for Jira, but it’s been life-changing for me. I tried Trello for the same purpose, but I need the power of a backlog and sprints. I will absolutely create tasks and reminders for meetings or deadlines that are several weeks (or months) out. If those hang around in the to-do column of a Kanban style board (like Trello), the list would quickly become overwhelming and I’d stop wanting to even look at my project board, which would defeat the entire purpose.
Having a backlog is a way to use object permanence (“out of sight, out of mind”) to my advantage, rather than my detriment. The backlog reduces the number of items in the to-do column so that I only focus on what I need to do this week. But the reminders of those tasks are still there in the backlog and I go through them once a week, so they don’t get completely forgotten. This way I keep track of future tasks and deadlines without overwhelming myself until I mentally shut down.
More directly, I get the day-to-day dopamine hits that ADHD craves by moving tasks across the board columns from To Do to In Progress to Done. At the end of the week, I can look at my board and all of the items in the Done column and feel good about what I got done. It’s a great way to silence the mean part of my brain that always tries to tell me I didn’t do anything. It’s easier to silence that little voice when I have an actual list of what I got done right in front of me. Win!
Task-oriented vs time-oriented (or “ways of working”)
I recently had a very productive discussion with a friend from the Agile HTX Connection about how I use Jira to manage my ADHD. One of the things we talked about is being “task-oriented” compared to being “time-oriented.” I’m a very task-oriented person. I prefer knowing exactly which tasks I need to get done within a set length of time (e.g., during the week) and keep track of those. Tracking the time I spend on each task is secondary (and another thing Jira helps me log). My friend came away from the discussion with some useful ideas, but will adapt them to their time-oriented way of working–scheduling blocks of time in which to complete tasks.
I might not have realized this aspect of the way I work if we hadn’t had our discussion. We both gained some valuable insights! Point being, even if your way of working (or thinking) is different, the whole idea is still a useful one. It’s all about adapting to what works for you.
It’s in the customization
Jira is an incredibly powerful tool. It was originally designed for software development, but over time has evolved to be a useful tool for just about any kind of team! I happen to be a team of one, and I don’t need all of the tools and options Jira has.
The various options and metrics Jira tracks can be overwhelming if you’ve never used Jira before. I’ve spent enough time in the Jira administrator settings that I was pretty comfortable customizing or disabling the settings I don’t need so that there are fewer distractions.
The main drawback to Jira if you aren’t already familiar with it is that the admin functions can be…complicated and not terribly intuitive. Falling down (or, more accurately, spelunking) that rabbit hole is outside the scope of this post, but something I plan to write about in the near future.
Use what works
Ultimately, using Jira to help manage my ADHD is an incredibly personal undertaking. I don’t have to follow Agile Methodology guidelines or adhere to the same kind of Jira best practices I might use in a “day job” context. I am my own boss, scrum master, Agile coach, etc. I don’t need to impress anyone. The only thing that matters is what’s working for me. If something isn’t working, it’s okay to change it. Even it if used to work but doesn’t work anymore. It’s okay! Nobody is judging me. I don’t have to have a flawless burndown chart (or even have a burndown chart). For me, that’s not the point. The point is to keep all of my tasks and projects organized and keep track of what needs doing and get it all done.
This isn’t for everybody
Everyone works differently. Some folks might be horrified by the idea of using Jira voluntarily outside of a work context. Cleary, this management method isn’t for them, and that’s fine! I’m not about trying to convince anyone that this should be standard practice. I am absolutely using Jira for something it was probably never intended to do.
On the other hand, if it worked for me, maybe it’ll work for others, too!
I’m putting this idea out into the digital aether in case it does help someone. I’ve been fortunate to have some folks perk up and ask questions when I mention “I use Jira to help manage my ADHD.” It’s one heck of an icebreaker, that’s for sure!
If you found any of this useful, awesome! If you read this far and are rolling your eyes at me, that’s okay, too.
I have a lot more to say on this topic, including tips and tricks and examples of how I’ve customized Jira for ADHD. This post serves as an introduction to future posts that delve deeper into what I do and how I do it.
Disclaimer: I am not an employee of Atlassian or affiliated with Atlassian at the time this post was written and published. I’m genuinely a fan and supporter of Atlassian tools. These ideas and opinions are my own, not endorsed by Atlassian, etc. and so on.