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Session 09: Upgrading Task Management

Published date

Session 08: Drafting the Review and Prototype Phases
Session 10: Action Items, Journaling, and Sessions

Hi there! Welcome to this single session. It’s been nearly nine months since the last post. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Cryptiquest went on a project freeze due to a change in priorities. The pandemic is not over but priorities have shifted and projects can resume.

The current focus is on the “How to Make Guides” project. Where this project last left off, I was drafting the guide and got perhaps halfway through that draft. As I was working on the project, there were lots of discovered changes and tools needed for the project management process which ballooned the timeframe estimates.

Some of those changes and tools I made but some of them were put off to the side. It was inconsistent and became a tad overwhelming. In addition to being a reconnection, this session’s goal is to tweak some things for the project in order to inject a system to properly log and plan issues.

So I have about three goals here:

  1. Convert the “Tasks” of the “Producing Guide Projects” document to serve more as a living document that will be updated as the project changes.
  2. Convert the “Issue Log” of the “Producing Guide Projects” document to a simple table to store the issue, session discovered, and level of urgency.
  3. Sift through the new version of the Issue Log and ensure tasks that relate to the project are inserted into the new version of the Task List.

Upgrading the Task List

For starters, let’s take a looky-loo at the Tasks list in the Producing Guide Projects document.

  • Production
    • Planning the guide
    • Drafting the guide
    • Drafting supplemental materials
    • Conducting an internal review
    • Creating the example guide (self test)
  • Alpha Test
    • Creating the test plan
    • Organizing the test
    • Testing waves of users
  • Review
    • Identifying target audience and needs
    • Preparing drafts for review
    • Conducting necessary reviews and edits
  • Implementation
    • Conducting final edits
    • Creating the guides in desired formats
    • Uploading guides to website and update navigation
  • Beta Test
    • Planning tests
    • Testing waves of users
  • Launch
    • Assessing the target audience needs
    • Creating marketing materials
    • Launching to market
  • Retrospective
    • Reviewing the life of the project
    • Listing issues
    • Analyzing issues
    • Recording action items
  • Closure
    • Identifying loose ends
    • Tying up loose ends

This isn’t really a task list as much as it is a loose list of milestones – which is okay but it’s not really helpful for project management. I think the solution will look similar but will be converted to a structure that can incorporate tasks. So the phases will remain and these milestones will be converted to sound more like milestones. Tasks can then be sorted within the milestones.

But what does that structure look like? Is it an outline like before? Is it a table? Accordions? Something to keep in mind is that some discovered tasks won’t be easy to place – as in they may be somewhere in a phase or milestone but it either doesn’t matter or won’t make sense to place it until more work is complete.

I’m thinking the structure should be something like the following:

That looks okay. The accordions could all be closed but the one that is current. I’m not sure how nested accordions look with the current styles so I may need to update that. I’m going to convert that all now.

Okay. That will not work as you cannot nest shortcodes in WordPress. No big deal. I can just use an outline and since that would all be one “block” in WordPress, I can draft that here then transfer it.

  1. EXPLORATION PHASE – DONE
    1. Milestone: Project and Product Scopes Identified
  2. PLAN PHASE – DONE
    1. Milestone: Project Plan Document Created
    2. Milestone: Goal and Objectives Identified
    3. Milestone: Target Audience Identified
    4. Milestone: Milestones and Tasks Listed
    5. Milestone: Design Specs Defined
  3. PRODUCTION PHASE – CURRENT
    1. Milestone: Guide Drafted – CURRENT
    2. Milestone: Draft Reviewed Internally
    3. Milestone: Alpha Test Conducted
  4. REVIEW PHASE
    1. Milestone: Peer Reviewed
    2. Milestone: Prototype Created
    3. Milestone: Prototype Tests Conducted
  5. LAUNCH PHASE
    1. Milestone: Beta Version Implemented
    2. Milestone: Announcement Made
    3. Milestone: Markets Reached Out To
  6. CLOSE PHASE
    1. Milestone: Retrospective Complete
    2. Milestone: Loose Ends Tied

I think that looks good. Next, tasks need to be added:

  1. EXPLORATION PHASE – DONE
    1. Milestone: Project and Product Scopes Identified
  2. PLAN PHASE – DONE
    1. Milestone: Project Plan Document Created
    2. Milestone: Goal and Objectives Identified
    3. Milestone: Target Audience Identified
    4. Milestone: Milestones and Tasks Listed
    5. Milestone: Design Specs Defined
  3. PRODUCTION PHASE – CURRENT
    1. Milestone: Guide Drafted – CURRENT
      1. Add a step for creating a “project document” and “how to journal” in the Planning Phase
      2. Tease the current Plan Phase section into two different phases: Exploration Phase and Plan Phase.
      3. Restructure current draft into Phase > Milestone > Steps structure.
      4. Draft Launch Phase
      5. Draft Close Phase
      6. Draft Project Need Analysis Tool
      7. Draft Objectivity Repository
      8. Draft Alternate Task List Template
      9. Draft Guide Style Standards
      10. Draft Guide Template
    2. Milestone: Draft Reviewed Internally
      1. Analyze steps
    3. Milestone: Alpha Test Conducted
      1. Analyze steps
  4. REVIEW PHASE
    1. Milestone: Peer Reviewed
      1. Analyze steps
    2. Milestone: Prototype Created
      1. Analyze steps
    3. Milestone: Prototype Tests Conducted
      1. Analyze steps
  5. LAUNCH PHASE
    1. Milestone: Beta Version Implemented
      1. Analyze steps
    2. Milestone: Announcement Made
      1. Analyze steps
    3. Milestone: Markets Reached Out To
      1. Analyze steps
  6. CLOSE PHASE
    1. Milestone: Retrospective Complete
      1. Analyze steps
    2. Milestone: Loose Ends Tied
      1. Analyze steps

So far, so good, I think. I’m going to wait until the first draft is ready before filling out the tasks for the other phases since process changes will undoubtedly be discovered along the way.

Next up: The Issue Log. Currently it’s just a long list. It needs more data – like an issue log for tech projects. This would require a table. I don’t need a robust table, I think the basic table that’s default to WordPress will work okay. Here’s the empty version:

IDIssueSession DiscoveredWhen to Address
1A need to split the first project phase into two phases: Exploration and Planning was identified. Session 04: Drafting the Planning PhaseImmediately
2There needs to be a repository for objectives. Session 04: Drafting the Planning Phase During the current production phase

I think that works. This isn’t intended to track the issues. Or should it? I guess it should.

IDIssueSession DiscoveredWhen to AddressStatus
1A need to split the first project phase into two phases: Exploration and Planning was identified. Session 04: Drafting the Planning PhaseImmediatelySlated
2There needs to be a repository for objectives. Session 04: Drafting the Planning Phase During the current production phaseSlated

Good enough, I guess. Now I need to add all the issue log items.

IDIssueSession DiscoveredWhen to AddressStatus
1Versioning system was never establishedSession 02: Designing the Solution As a new projectSlated
2Do not have “Testing Phases” in project plan guidelines.Session 03: Drafting the GuideImmediatelyDone
3Create Need Analysis Tool and reference it in PM GuidelinesSession 04: Drafting the Planning Phase During the current production phaseSlated
4“Project Scope” needs to be split into “Product Scope” and “Project Scope”Session 04: Drafting the Planning Phase ImmediatelyDone
5A sample guide will be needed for this guideSession 04: Drafting the Planning Phase During the current production phase Slated
6A need to split the first project phase into two phases: Exploration and Planning was identified.Session 04: Drafting the Planning Phase Immediately Slated
7There needs to be a repository for objectives. Session 04: Drafting the Planning Phase During the current production phase Slated
8This project has blown way out of scope since it’s upgrading the project planning process.Untangling Project ConflictsImmediatelyDone
9A need was identified to separate formal project content from notes.Untangling Project Conflicts ImmediatelyDone
10A section is needed to identify the target audience during project planning.Session 06: Backing Up to Scope ?ImmediatelyDone
11Need a “how to have a session” guide.Session 05: Drafting the Planning Phase (Again?) During the current production phaseSlated
12Need a “Styling your guide” guide.Session 02: Designing the Solution
Session 05: Drafting the Planning Phase (Again?) 		During the current production phase Slated
13Need a section or guide (or section in the “how to have a session” guide) about PM journaling.Session 07: Drafting Your Guide Immediately Slated
14A section is needed in project planning for creating the project documentSession 07: Drafting Your GuideImmediatelySlated
15Need to add a Target Audience section to the project documentSession 08: Drafting the Review and Prototype PhasesImmediatelyDone
16Upgrade Tasks in the PM DocumentSession 09: Upgrading Task ManagementImmediatelyDone
17Upgrade Issue Log in the PM DocumentSession 09: Upgrading Task Management ImmediatelyDone

Okay. I think that’s good. I will implement the new issue log and the new task list now. The Action Items for this session are going to be things I already addressed here but haven’t been added to an Action Item list yet.

It looks like the next session will be about adding instructions for journaling and creating project documentation. Should be fun.

See you there!

Action Items

  • Convert the “Tasks” of the “Producing Guide Projects” document to serve more as a living document that will be updated as the project changes.
  • Convert the “Issue Log” of the “Producing Guide Projects” document to a simple table to store the issue, session discovered, and level of urgency.
Session 08: Drafting the Review and Prototype Phases
Session 10: Action Items, Journaling, and Sessions

Categories:How To Make Guides

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