Arrange your tasks in order

So by now you should have an idea of all the things your project is going to deliver. You should also have a list of the tasks you need to complete to deliver these things. You have also put your tasks into natural groupings. The next basic project management step is to think about the order these tasks will be completed in.

Knowing the order will help to translate your list of tasks from a “To Do” list to a plan. Knowing the order means you know which tasks you will complete first. And then when you have finished that task, which task comes next, and so on. The plan guides you through each task, one by one, until you reach the end of the project. Having this ordered plan makes you efficient. When you have time for your project you don’t need to wonder “What next?” – the plan will tell you this.

So what things might you consider when you put your tasks in order?
Some tasks simply cannot be completed before others are completed. For example, you can’t build the walls on your new house, until you have completed the foundations. You can’t tile until you have prepared the wall. You’ can’t knit a sweater until you have bought the wool.

There may be some tasks that need to be done early because there is a long lead time. If your tiles need to be shipped in from overseas you might complete the task of ordering them early, so they are delivered by the time you are ready to tile.
It may be that you only have the resources to do a task at a particular time. For example, you can borrow your friends van to help you pick up building materials, but it is available one weekend only.

Consider also that not all tasks need to be ordered sequentially, one after the other. You may start some tasks at the same time as others, especially when you have a team of people who can all work on different tasks. You don’t need to wait for your small business to start up before you start working on your business plan.

Ordering your tasks is about putting them in a logical sequence, but also, as you can see from the examples, you may start to think about scheduling them against a calendar. The next step of basic project planning which will really help you to schedule your plan is to estimate the effort required to complete each task.

Group similar tasks together

I recommended in an earlier post that the first thing you need to do when planning a project is to list every task.  What are all the things your project will create and what are the things you need to do to create them?

This list is a great start, and it helps to keep it simple at this stage and just let your mind roam freely over what might need to be done.  When you have this list your next step will be to start making it into a plan.

Firstly, group together things which are similar.  Things you are going to make or do which fit together naturally.  For example, if your project was to renovate a room in your house you might group together all those things you need to do before you get started: maybe you need to buy tools, paint, or other materials.  You might group together all the things you need to do to prepare the room: clearing out furniture, stripping wallpaper, sanding woodwork.  You might then group together all the things you need to do for the renovation itself: painting, repairing.

Let's look at another example of grouping tasks.  If you were setting up a new business you might group together all those things you need to do before you get started: agreeing a company structure, finding an accountant, market research, building a pricing model.  All of those things would help you to put together a business plan.  So, your first group of tasks is based on creating the business plan.  Another group of tasks might be all the things you need to do from the moment you create your business: setting up shop, marketing, manufacturing.  Another group might be all the things you need to do to market your business: buiding a web-site, advertising, networking.

With each of these examples the groups of tasks all aim towards delivering something to your project.  It might be an empty room ready for painting, or it might be a marketing plan put in place.

Groups of tasks like these are often used in project management to provide a target to aim for, or a 'milestone'.  Completing all the tasks in a group, which often means actually delivering something, can provide a great sense of achievement.  That's another great reason to put some thought into your groups.  Try to design groups of work that not only fit together naturally, but allow you to complete something early in your project.

Of course you can have groups within groups.  In our new business example above there is a group of tasks for marketing which are part of the group of tasks for kicking off the business.  This is also a way of making it easier for yourself to get early wins.

So far we have listed the tasks we need to complete for our project, and we have grouped tasks into natural bundles that will often deliver something to our project.  The next step of building up our work breakdown structure, or project plan, is to think about the order in which we complete each of the tasks.

Keep it Simple

Project management (PM) can be a huge, complex, but powerful tool. You can plan and manage massive projects like building a bridge, or a rail line, or sending a satellite into orbit. To run this level of project you would need to plan, schedule, cost and re-plan until your plan was perfect. If you are sending someone into space, or building a rail line, don’t rely on this blog!

This blog is about basic project management. It is about using the fundamental, basic techniques of PM to help get you achieve your personal projects more efficiently. It is about delivering your work projects efficiently too, especially when you want to see results quickly. You can keep avoid over-engineering your work but still use project management techniques to help you deliver.

Let’s use an example. You have been asked, let’s say, to facilitate a small training course at your workplace. It may not make sense to build a complex project plan for this, but it would make sense to at least think of all the things you need to deliver this project, and all the tasks you need to complete. You might need to invite a speaker, book a room, arrange catering, arrange IT resources or stationery, send invites, print materials…You can use a work breakdown structure to help you quickly determine everything you need, what you need to do to deliver these, and to work on your priorities.

You do not need to agonise over the plan, or make it complex. You can keep it simple. The ability to ‘keep it simple’ is one of the ‘soft’ skills I recommend in Project Life for anyone managing a project. If you can simplify things, instead of adding complexity, you will make things easier for yourself, your team, and your stakeholders – the people you are managing the project for.

List every task

You can’t get more basic in basic project management than defining your work breakdown structure. It’s a fundamental part of planning your project. But before we look at what it can do for you, let’s pull that bit of jargon apart and say what it is: it's a list of all the things you need to do to complete your project.

That’s all it is. A “To do” list.

Put into your list everything you think you need to do.  The list might include tasks which help prepare for your project, such as buying materials or planning.  It should include all the tasks you need to do complete your project, maybe building, writing, creating.  Your list should also contain all the things you need to do to finish your project.

When you start making this list don't worry too much about formatting it, or ordering it.  There is more you can do later to turn your list into a plan.  For now just list every task that comes to mind. Later we will think about grouping similar tasks together and putting our tasks in order

The following is an extract from Project Life which explains the benefits to you of building your work breakdown structure when planning a project:

My first step in building the plan is to identify smaller jobs that make up the whole project. I literally break down the work into component tasks. Why do we go to the trouble of breaking down the project into these component tasks? Why not just say “Renovate bathroom”? I know roughly what the tasks are, so why write them down separately?

Because seeing each task as a separate item forces me to think about each step I need to take. I can take each of those steps in my mind and think about the problems I might encounter. Thinking through each step in detail allows me to foresee and prepare for work, which otherwise I am simply going to stumble into, perhaps unprepared and without the right tools. I can see steps that I might miss out or not consider properly if I thought only at project level. I can think through things that might go wrong, or might be difficult for me. If I am able to spot these risks, then I can also think about adding other tasks that help me to deal with those risks.

Having broken down the project into these component tasks, and thought about the problems that might arise, I can estimate more accurately how long each step might take. Estimating how long each step takes, and adding up each of these estimates, is going to be much more accurate than estimating at project level. My estimate for ‘renovate bathroom’ can be little more than a guess, but my estimate for “paint ceiling” has some chance of being more realistic.

Seeing each step separately also allows me to put the steps into a logical sequence. It allows me to spot dependencies between tasks. I know that before I can put in new tiles I need to remove the old tiles.

I can also group related tasks together. For example, there are a number of things I need to buy up front. There are a number of things I need to do to prepare the bathroom before tiling. This grouping gives me a sense of the main sets of tasks within the project, and also helps me to think through if I have included all such tasks.

Having the project split into smaller steps also allows me to think about who can do the work. Perhaps I can give some tasks to other people, and ask them to do the work. I will get a plumber to do some of the key tasks, for which I do not have the right skills or experience.

Formulating a plan with step after organised step allows me to get an accurate picture of what I need to do to get to the end of the project. It gives me a ‘rich’ picture, saturated with detail, which gives me the ability to visualise more clearly what is involved in getting to the end of the project: to having a renovated bathroom.

Finally, when I start work, the plan helps me to focus on one task at a time, not the whole project. I can see that to get to the end of the project I need to finish step one first, then move onto step two, then step three. Without this rich picture I might not work as logically or efficiently.