Simple project example & Ivy Lee method

 Today, using the example of a not very complicated project, we will show how to decompose the project into standard tasks and deploy them on the TargetNavigator board. 

Let such a project be the previously mentioned organisation of a family party. 

The decomposition of a project into tasks resembles the creation of a Mind Map, in which successive elements are connected to previous ones, creating a hierarchy of dependencies. Mind maps were popularised by Tony Buzan. You can read more about them on Wikipedia, for example: Mind Maps 

So let the first card placed on the board be the Family party project card. It symbolizes the whole event. But it can be broken down into elements that will stand for different specific features or tasks to be done. 

And so the first important parameters to set will be the date, the time of the party and its duration. Let these be two cards. 

The next element is 'Guests'. For the 'Guests' task, we will need to create a list of them, then create and send invitations, and finally collect confirmations of attendance - to know the final number. 

When creating the structure of the tasks, we do not determine the order in which they are to be carried out for the time being. We will write about that in just a moment. 

In the meantime, an additional topic that may need to be addressed is the transport of guests. Let's therefore write such a charter on the board. We will then decide whether we will do anything about it, or whether we will decide that the guests will have to take care of their own transport to and from the party. 

When creating a hierarchy of tasks, it is a good idea to write down all the thoughts that come to mind, so that nothing is forgotten. In the next step, we will select which tasks we will carry out and which we will drop, removing the cards from the board before starting the project.

Undoubtedly, an important part of the preparation will be determining the venue. The choice of venue can be influenced, for example, by the number of guests. That is why we wrote earlier that we do not determine the order of activities at this stage. Only after we have estimated the expected number of people will we proceed with the search for a suitable venue. In turn, 2 further tasks can be linked to the determination of the venue: making the reservation and preparing the decoration of the hall. 

Another important topic to consider is the refreshments, the food. With it comes the setting of the menu. And the menu can be influenced, for example, by special preferences of the guests, such as the wish for vegan dishes. Finally, you will need to decide whether you will make the dishes yourself or perhaps order them from a source, such as your favourite pizzeria.  

The last topic in our example is the party programme. It will consist, for example, of the attractions - the games we want to offer our guests - and the musical accompaniment.    

In this way, we can build up the whole hierarchy of tasks to the level of detail we deem necessary and sufficient. We can really go down to the detail as needed. 

We place all the cards on the TargetNavigator board. We can also connect the individual cards with arrows to indicate the relationships between them. Such a layout is shown in the illustration below. 

(click on picture to enlarge)

The Ivy Lee Method

Ivy Lee was a marketing advisor to the Rockefeller family. He is also recognised as the author of a technique to increase personal productivity. Originally, this technique involves choosing the 6 most important things from the entire list of tasks we have to do and concentrating on completing them. Ivy Lee recommended creating a set of these tasks in the evening, at the end of the working day, in order to start completing them immediately the next day. Tasks that could not be completed that day were carried over to the next day. You can read more about this method here: Ivy Lee method   

So, going back to the example project, we will mark 6 tasks with markers. In our case, these will be the tasks that will initiate the preparations for the party. The first of these might be to choose a date and time for the party. The second task could be to draw up a preliminary guest list. With a certain number of planned guests, the third step can be the search for a venue. The fourth task may be to book it. In the fifth step, knowing when and where the event will take place, we can deal with the invitations. On this occasion, we can already ask the guests about their particular culinary preferences, with a view to determining the menu in the future. Finally, the last task of the first six can be to collect confirmations of attendance. The illustration below shows the tasks marked with markers.  

(click on picture to enlarge)

For the purpose of our example, let's imagine that on the day we start working on the preparations for the reception, we have no other more important tasks. 

We will therefore transfer the tasks selected for completion to the circle of the TargetNavigator board marked "Today". As you can see, we have modified this circle slightly by adding 6 tracks on it, corresponding to the 6 tasks from the Ivy Lee method. As you can see, only one task touches track number '1'. Another task touches track number "2". 

The same is true for the following tasks. Markers can be removed from the task cards or they can be left in place. We could draw a 'Today' circle so large that each track has a diameter equal to the diameter of the task. However, such a scheme would make the board much less legible than when the tasks lie on several tracks. We have assumed that the task counts as the track lying closest to the center of the board.    

(click on picture to enlarge)

Tasks that can be completed will be put into the 'Done' circle. However, it is unlikely that all 6 tasks will be completed on that day, as at least the people invited will need time to confirm attendance. Therefore, the tasks will wander around the different districts of the board in the way we described in the previous post. 

We hope that this simple example will inspire you to plan and observe the progress of tasks and projects using TargetNavigator. If any information needs more explanation or is not clear - write in the comments.

The board shown in this post can be open from: Google Disc . You need a Google account. 

After opening create your own copy.  

Task life cycle - an universal approach

It is rather obvious to everyone that the way a task is carried out substantively depends on its nature. Nevertheless, from a workflow point of view, the handling of tasks to be performed can follow a similar or even identical pattern, despite differences in their essential scope (i.e. in the purpose of the task). In fact, there may be more such patterns, as each user of the task management process has the opportunity to customise its individual elements. In this post, we will try to introduce and describe the basic task flow pattern used in TargetNavigator.

In one of our first posts, we wrote about a simple Kanban board where tasks could be at one of three basic stages : To-Do, Doing/In Progress or Done. This simple classification can serve its purpose well. However, it can be extended to more accurately represent the status of issues. 

In TargetNavigator Basic, we have introduced a slightly larger number of stages. We therefore distinguish between the following 6 stages: 

1. Incoming task.
2. ToBeDone - in queue, not started.
3. In progress  - started task.
4. Today - task for to be performed today
5. Waiting - pending for some reason.
6. Done - completed.

The first state of the to-do case is called the Incoming Task. This is the point in time when the matter will see the light of day. The source of Incoming Tasks can be:
- our inner needs, desires, intentions and/or plans,
- commitments, obligations, expectations of us from our environment,
- various events, such as incidents or opportunities.

As long as we do not write such an upcoming thing on a card as we described in the previous post, it will exist outside the TargetNavigator system. With regard to such an instance, we can perform one of 3 sequences of actions:

a. decide that we will proceed with the case and record it on the card. At this point it will be able to be moved to the ToBeDone stage.
b. write it on the card to decide at a future moment whether to pursue it or not. As long as the decision has not been made, the case will still have the status ‘Incoming’  and will be placed in "backlog".
c. Reject it, without saving. No problem ! 

Things that are in the state of Incoming, in TargetNavigator, are placed in an area outside the largest circle or on another tab. In some task management methodologies, such an area is called a backlog.

We call the next, second stage of task completion To-Do or ToBeDone. All cases in this stage are those for which we have made a decision that we will complete them. It does not matter much whether this decision was made on reflection or perhaps instinctively or under other circumstances. In other words, in this phase, tasks have a ToBeDone status and this will remain unchanged until we start implementing the task. Sometimes it can take a long time before a task is started. 

Tasks that we decide to start directly will first be moved to the Today status, as this indicates a specific moment (day) when we will start them.

Then, at the end of the task work session of the day, the following situations may arise:

• Tasks that we delegate to be completed. Then the card of such a task goes into a waiting state. It will remain there until feedback arrives from the person to whom the task has been delegated. A delegated task can be marked with a dedicated marker, or an appropriate note on the card.
• In the course of working on a task, it may become apparent that it requires some part of the work to be done by another person, for example, providing us with data or other materials. If the feedback does not arrive quickly enough, so that we are unable to complete the task during the current work session, we will also move it to the ‘ Waiting’ phase. We can place a suitable indication on the card or mark the card with a marker.
• It may happen that a task is so extensive that we are unable to complete it on a given day. In this case, it should be moved back to ‘In progress’ and then, at some time later, selected again for ‘Today’ tasks.
• There will also be some tasks that we believe have been completed during the current work session, but we will need the approval of someone else to recognise that they are really complete. In this situation, the task will be moved to the ‘ Waiting’ state. In this case, it will be pending for approval. You can then write ‘in acceptance’ on the task card or mark it with some further conventional marker.
• And finally: a task that we start and manage to complete on the same day can sometimes be moved to the target Done state. These will be, for example, tasks that we carry out for ourselves, and we are therefore entitled to consider that we are satisfied with the quality of the task's outcome and consider it as completed.

The Done stage is the last in the task performance cycle. Completed tasks will be taken off the TargetNavigator board during the retrospective session. We will write about these in future.

 

Below is a graphical representation of an example of a task's journey through the various stages.

First, task X was placed in the backlog. Then the user decided that the task would be executed (1). 

After a waiting period, the task was started (2). 

As it was not possible to complete it in one session, the task returned to the ‘In Progress’ stage (3). 

On another day, the user continued working on the task again(4). 

And since its further execution required external data, the user moved it to the ‘In Pending’ state and marked it with the flag waiting for an external batch(5). 

Once the required materials arrived, the user again tackled the task(6). 

This time he completed all the work needed and sent the results for approval. This can be seen at step (7), when the job was moved to the waiting state and marked with the marker ‘In acceptance’. 

When the message arrived that the work had been accepted, the user moved the task to the ‘Done’ stage(8). 

We also provide examples of the task markers of Waiting, sourced from the internet. The user can, of course, choose other ones to suit his or her preferences. 

  

Task markers 'Waiting for external data'

 

Task markers 'Delegated'

 

Task markers 'Awaiting approval' 

Cards on the board

Today we cover the most important objects placed on the TargetNavigator board. 

Basically, the board will contain cards symbolizing projects and tasks. Sometimes there will be some handy additional information and specific markers. 

Terms such as task, project or information refer to some abstract, invisible objects. As very many people are visual by nature, the concept of reflecting tasks and projects graphically with tangible, visible artifacts was developed some time ago. As a result, users were able to more easily realize what actually needs to be done. And that is the primary role of the TargetNavigator dashboard.

Through a specific configuration of the board, the user has the possibility to present tasks to be performed in a specific time perspective. At this point it is not important to determine what kind of perspective it is - whether it is weeks, months or perhaps years. The TargetNavigator Basic dashboard is designed to focus on short- to medium-term projects and tasks, like a day, a week. In contrast, TargetNavigator Advanced, which we will present in the future, proposes a perspective of up to a year of time.  

So let's systematize all the to-do's into some useful structure that will make it easier for us to organize further activities. So, at the outset, let's assume that a task is the most important basic piece of the workflow. A task has a specific purpose, a meaning. Tasks can consist of operations.  There are quite a few different views and discussions on how tasks differ from operations. We will try to illustrate this for the purposes of our system in a moment. Tasks, on the other hand, are the basic component of projects. And projects then can be another component - this time of a larger undertaking, which in project management terminology is referred to as a program. 

And so, for example, it's easy to agree that the exercise titled Hosting the Olympic Games is a huge program, involving many smaller programs and projects. They all have a common denominator: the goal of this program is to perform a series of sports events in specific locations and time periods, for spectators in the stands and in front of screens. We frankly admit - the TargetNavigator method has not yet been tested in organizing such an event :-) 

For our purposes, let's take a more detailed look at another example that may be closer to us: the organization of a party, for example, a birthday party. Whether we qualify it as a program or a project with multiple tasks - the sense of the whole will remain the same. The whole undertaking can be decomposed into component stages, such as: 

1. setting the date of the party ( action/operation)

2. determining the guest list, preparing and sending invitations ( a series of tasks)

3. selection, reservation and decoration of the party venue ( series of tasks, in addition, you need to take into account that the choice of venue may depend on the estimated number of guests) 

4. choosing the menu, deciding how to prepare the food ( order or own preparation ); 

5. determine the program of the event and prepare / order attractions. 

Depending on your needs and preferences, this list can be further developed and supplemented with more tasks. 

Within tasks there will be activities. Thus, for example, the preparation of some dish for a party is a task involving a sequence of actions specified in the recipe. Typically, recipes do not specify how to come into possession of the indicated ingredients of the dish. We assume that the moment you start working on a dish, all the necessary ingredients are on hand. On the other hand, making all the necessary ingredients in the kitchen at the right moment - this can be the purpose of another, separate task. 

In summary, we can accept the definition that a standard type task in TargetNavigator is a set of activities related to each other by the task objective plus additionally homogeneous in “some” aspect, e.g. place, time, complexity, etc.       

We deliberately use the unprofessional word “some”, because task management is the art of balancing between the objective and the subjective, between logic and emotion.     

An example ? Here you go: 

Writing on the board the task “To go to the hairdresser” can have a colossally different meaning for a man before going on vacation (with colleagues) and for a bride before her wedding.   

In the first case, you will usually have to allocate some time slot for the appointment and possibly call in advance to book a place. In the second - this task can be broken down into several more component tasks, including, for example, computer simulation, color selection, accessory selection, etc. 

Standard tasks can be composed of complex tasks. Or vice versa: each complex task consists of two or more standard tasks. Projects can consist of very many standard and/or complex tasks. A feature of projects is the presence of tasks of a special nature, not always related to the substantive purpose of the project. These include, for example, resource planning, risk management, and sometimes reporting here and there on progress ( so-called communication). However, all of these are also tasks that will appear, like the substantive tasks, on the TargetNavigator board.

So let's summarize this task pyramid :

Program of projects - A program is a creation of the highest level of the pyramid and consists of projects linked by a common sense.

Project: a collection of smaller projects or sub-projects, composed tasks and/or primary tasks related to the project objective. Multiple projects of different sizes, not necessarily related to each other, may appear on the board.

Both programs and projects can, or rather should, be equal to certain important goals we will want to achieve. 

Complex task: a collection of standard tasks, linked by the purpose of the complex task. At this point, we ignore the possibility that composite tasks exist from composite tasks.  

Standard task: a set of activities related to each other by the goal of the task plus additionally homogeneous in “some” respect, e.g. place, time, complexity.

 At TargetNavigator, we pay a lot of attention to tracking standard tasks, because on their progress essentially depends EVERYTHING: the progress of complex tasks and projects. 

In addition, during systematic work with TargetNavigator, standard or complex tasks unrelated to either projects or other complex tasks will appear on the board. These can be, for example, various types of AD HOC requests coming from our environment, which we decide to carry out. 

To complete the whole picture of tasks of various nature and complexity, 2 other types of tasks should be mentioned. 

1. Recurring tasks - these are tasks usually of medium or low complexity ( i.e. standard tasks, for example) that repeat regularly every certain period of time. And in such cycles, they can appear on the board, for implementation.

2. Habits. To keep the board as readable as possible, in general, activities should not appear in TargetNavigator, except for one specific type. That type is habits. 

Habit - in the terminology of psychology is an automated activity (a way of behaving, reacting), which is acquired through exercise (mainly through repetition).

An automated habit is a learned component of an individual's behavior formed by conscious learning, through the premeditated establishment and automation of an originally non-automated activity. Habits are a very important part of our actions because they can become our talents.  

A talent, according to Gallup, is a naturally recurring pattern of thinking, feeling and reacting that can be used productively. A talent is different from a strength. A strength or forte is the ability to consistently perform a specific task close to perfection.

The Advanced TargetNavigator board has a special track for habit training. The topic will be explained in more detail when this version of the board is presented. In the case of TargetNavigator Basic, the process of habit training can be solved a little differently, with a little less impressive, but nevertheless effective.  

For more clarity and comprehensibility of further text, we will refer to the entire collection of the above-mentioned types of projects, tasks and habits as Things To-Do. Graphically, we can illustrate them as in the figure below. Things to do are symbolized by geometric figures. The arrows represent the hierarchy and relationships between different elements. 

Hierarchy of things to do

This whole pyramid and structure of varying complexity of projects and tasks takes on significance when we embark on implementation. In the case of projects, one of the first steps will be to break them down into elements from the lower rung of the pyramid. Then, the complex tasks thus extracted will be broken down into standard tasks, whose progress we will track on the TargetNavigator board. 

A plan is nothing, planning is everything

( Eisenhower apparently)

At the planning stage, decomposing entire projects into details has the value of discovering how much there is to do, what resources are needed ( competencies, tools, funds) and where to start. An example decomposition of projects to the level of standard tasks is shown in the illustration below. The topmost card is a program card, but it can also be a project card. Then the component projects (or sub-projects, respectively) are arranged below. These components are then divided into tasks and so on - up to the standard task level. 

Decomposition

Task cards (things to do) 

As can be inferred from the illustrations shown above, it can be assumed that task and project cards should be in the shape of a circle, cyclic task cards - in the shape of a rectangle, and habit cards - in the shape of a sun, for example. This is, of course, only a suggestion. Google Slides offers a variety of shapes that can symbolize different elements of to-do items, and anyone can choose card shapes according to their own preferences.

In addition, the user can set himself a color code that will highlight certain tasks. For example, red-colored cards will signify tasks that are very “urgent and important at the same time,” while a light cream color can be reserved for tasks carried out in ordinary mode. 

Another distinguishing feature of tasks can be their borders: bold lines in a certain color can denote some specific features.

The last of the popular card attributes that can be used is card size. A large card in a bright color will immediately attract the attention of people browsing the board. It will probably symbolize a particularly important, even strategic task.

However, it is important to keep it moderate and simple. Too much variation of the cards in shapes, colors and sizes can make what is important hardly visible in the flurry of visual impressions beating from the board. 

What information can be on the card. 

The card should contain important information, and only that. So, it will definitely be the name of the current task or project. In addition, you can also add the name of the parent task or project - to find the structure to which the task belongs, if necessary. For tasks that have a maximum completion date ( deadline ) - such a date can also be written on the card. 

Everything on the whiteboard.

One of the fundamental principles of an effective way to manage tasks and projects is to write down all ideas, preferably in one place. Nothing is left to the head. We will devote at least one separate post to the topic of defining goals in writing in the future.

So, the first stage of the work is to empty your head of remembered to-do items and put them into writing. We will do this by writing out and putting on the board ALL the ideas, projects and tasks we accumulate in our head or possibly in notes in various places . We will repeat this activity systematically in the future. In fact, we should develop the habit of regularly jotting down in writing the commitments that arise. This will help us in our future work, especially in selecting priorities and planning the flow of tasks.

In fact, because of how Google Slides works, opening the app to jot down an idea can be cumbersome. That's why it can be useful to temporarily save an idea in another, more handy app, such as Google's ToDo List. 

This app, thanks to a nifty widget, offers the ability to save right from the phone screen. Then, in due course, you can transfer the records from List ToDo to TargetNavigator. 

In the next post, we will describe the basic operations on the TargetNavigator board.