May 21—With the peak tourism season approaching in northern Michigan, businesses need to beef up their organizational systems to maximize profits. This is especially important now when good workers are hard to find, and many businesses must operate with a lean staff.

One of the systems that I've been recommending to my SCORE clients lately is Kanban.

Kanban is a visual management tool that originated in Japanese manufacturing and is now widely used in a variety of industries and contexts. The word "kanban" means "signal" or "card" in Japanese, and the basic idea of a kanban system is to use visual cues to communicate information about a process — such as the status of work items — the flow of work and any bottlenecks or issues that need to be addressed.

In a kanban system, work items are typically represented by cards or other physical tokens that move through a series of stages or "lanes" on a board. Each lane represents a different stage of the process, such as "To Do," "In Progress" and "Done." The movement of the cards through the lanes is controlled by a set of policies that help to optimize the flow of work and prevent overburdening of the system.

Kanban emphasizes continuous improvement and helps to limit work in progress to prevent overloading the system. This helps to promote a smooth, consistent flow of work and allows teams to respond quickly to changes in demand or priorities.

The flexibility and adaptability of the kanban system make it a powerful tool for improving efficiency and productivity in a wide range of industries and settings. And it can be used right at home. We use it in our house to manage the day-to-day task of keeping a household running efficiently.

I found magnetic dry erase labels and set things up on the refrigerator. There are several great tutorials on Youtube on how to create a simple kanban system.

The thing that I love most about using the kanban approach in my house is that nothing falls through the cracks. It is so incredibly simple, yet effective. The key to it all is the visual picture of everything that needs to be done, who is assigned to do each task and at what stage each job is at.

The system can be implemented with simple sticky notes on a board or by utilizing one of several different software packages such as Trello, Asana, Jira, AgilePlace or Kanbanize. These are just a few examples, and there are many other kanban software options available. When choosing a software package, consider factors such as your specific requirements, budget, scalability and ease of implementation. Many of these tools offer free trials or have free versions, so you can try them out before committing to a particular solution. Whether you choose kanban software or magnetic notes on the refrigerator, kanban can be a powerful tool for managing workflow and increasing efficiency both at home and in the workplace.

Donna Probes, M.B.A., spent 10 years as a small business owner. For information on SCORE, visit traversecity.score.org.