Use the Done column to learn about your work patterns
Periodically examine completed cards for patterns in what gets done, what gets stuck, and how long things actually take.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Periodically examine completed cards for patterns in what gets done, what gets stuck, and how long things actually take.
- Why it works: Completed work contains signal about how you actually work — which tasks cluster, which take longer than expected, which types consistently stall before completion. Without a visible record, this signal is lost: memory selectively distorts toward how work felt rather than how long it took. The Done column is a data archive that enables the kind of calibrated self-knowledge that makes future planning more accurate.
- Evidence: Backed by observational / correlational evidence.
- Avoid: Clearing the Done column immediately to keep the board tidy — which destroys the data needed to understand work patterns.
Why it works
Completed work contains signal about how you actually work — which tasks cluster, which take longer than expected, which types consistently stall before completion. Without a visible record, this signal is lost: memory selectively distorts toward how work felt rather than how long it took. The Done column is a data archive that enables the kind of calibrated self-knowledge that makes future planning more accurate.
How to do it
- 1At the end of each week, review completed cards and note: any patterns in type of work completed, any tasks that took far longer than expected, and any tasks that returned to Doing after being moved.
- 2Use the patterns to adjust your WIP limit, your to-do prioritization, or your estimation approach.
- 3Archive Done cards periodically rather than deleting — the archive is useful for performance reviews, project retrospectives, and planning cycles.
What the evidence says
ObservationalReflection on completed work is associated with improved subsequent performance (Di Stefano et al. 2016). The use of a Done archive as a data source for calibration is consistent with planning fallacy research: people who have good historical data on task duration are better calibrated in future estimates.
Honest caveat: Di Stefano et al. studied reflection in professional training contexts; the Done-column review is a practical adaptation of that principle rather than a separately tested procedure.
- — Di Stefano, Gino, Pisano & Staats (2016), making experience count, Harvard Business School Working Paper
Common mistake
Clearing the Done column immediately to keep the board tidy — which destroys the data needed to understand work patterns.
IX Coach tracks your completed commitments across sessions and surfaces patterns at regular intervals: what types of goals you complete, what stalls, and what to adjust in how you plan.
Practice this with IX Coach →