Getting Started with the ‘Bryan Kim Method’
So, I kept hearing about this ‘Bryan Kim’ way of doing things. Someone mentioned it in a meeting, then I saw a couple of dog-eared printouts floating around the office kitchen. Seemed like everyone suddenly thought this Bryan Kim guy had all the answers for getting projects done. Curiosity got the better of me, you know?
I decided to give it a whirl on a small internal tool we were building. Nothing mission-critical, thankfully. First step, I grabbed those printouts. Spent an afternoon trying to make sense of them. Lots of diagrams, arrows pointing everywhere, and specific names for simple things. Felt a bit like assembling IKEA furniture without the pictures.
Then, I tried setting up our project board exactly like his diagrams showed. Specific columns, color codes, weird labels like ‘Synergy Queue’ and ‘Action Funnel’. Honestly, it felt kinda silly. I called a quick team meeting, walked them through it. Lots of blank stares. Dave asked if ‘Synergy Queue’ was just the new name for ‘Stuff We Haven’t Started Yet’. Pretty much, yeah.
Hitting the Snags
We tried running with it for about two weeks. The whole process involved these super-structured daily check-ins. Everyone had to state:
- What they ‘actioned’ yesterday.
- What they planned to ‘synergize’ today.
- Any ‘blockers’ needing ‘escalation’.
Sounds simple, right? But it turned into this drawn-out reporting session. People felt awkward using the weird terms. Instead of a quick chat, it became a 30-minute reporting chore. Felt like we were spending more time talking about the work in this specific, rigid way than actually doing it.
The biggest problem? It just didn’t fit how we worked. We’re a small team, we usually just talk directly when there’s an issue. This Bryan Kim thing felt like putting layers of corporate speak on top of simple communication. Stuff started falling through the cracks because people weren’t sure which weirdly named box to put their updates in, or they just avoided the complicated process altogether.
I spent more time managing the board and reminding people about the ‘process’ than actually contributing to the project itself. It felt like pushing string uphill. Productivity definitely didn’t shoot up like the printouts vaguely promised.
Back to Basics
After two weeks of tripping over ourselves, I called another meeting. Laid it out plain: “This Bryan Kim system, is it actually helping us?” The relief in the room was obvious. Everyone kinda mumbled ‘no’. Dave said he missed just telling people directly when he needed something.
So, we scrapped it. Went back to our simpler board, our normal quick morning chats. Took maybe half a day to switch back. And you know what? Things immediately felt smoother. People started talking normally again, work started flowing better. It wasn’t rocket science, just common sense.
My takeaway? These fancy, named methodologies… sometimes they’re just noise. Maybe the Bryan Kim thing works for some huge company with layers of management, I don’t know. But for us, sticking to simple, direct communication worked way better. Learned my lesson: don’t just jump on a bandwagon because someone printed out some fancy diagrams.
