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Handling Projects

Handling Projects

A project is something that is not so simple to plan that you can just quickly put one or two tasks in your to-do list. It requires some thinking about what is to be done and how to go about it. G. Lynne Snead and Joyce Wycoff, in To Do . . . Doing . . . Done! (New York: Fireside, 1997), outline a VPIC model for handling projects (pp. 113-4).

Visualization

First you visualize clearly what is to be accomplished. Imagine some scenarios that represent the final result. Spend a little time, and visualize and get a feeling for what is to happen. For another perspective, you can use the same technique as in Reviewing Life, where you presume you are actually at that point in time when the project is complete.

After the images are fairly clear, write a project vision statement. Create a new project section inside your daily planner, or within your scheduling/planning software. Write a description of your visualization. When you write things down, you may get a clearer idea for what is to be accomplished. See whether you can make this statement SMART:

  • Specific and clear
  • Measurable
  • Achievable, or really doable, given the available time and resources
  • Relevant, closely connected with your or your group's values
  • Time-dimensioned, or scheduled for a specific time period with an end date

Plan

Second, you plan by breaking the project down into manageable pieces. Draw a mind-map of the project (see To Do . . . Doing . . . Done!, pp. 40ff, and 145ff). Take a blank sheet of unlined paper, and draw a small circle at the center. Then draw a spoke from this circle a short ways toward an edge of the paper, in any direction you like. On this spoke, write word(s) to describe a major facet of the project that first comes to mind. Then draw another spoke from the circle in another direction, and on this line write word(s) describing another major facet of the project. Continue like this until you feel a sense of completion, that you have included all the major parts of the project on that one paper.

Now focus on one of the spokes. Does this facet of the project have parts that can be specified. If so, draw a branch from the end of the spoke out closer to an edge of the paper. On this branch, write word(s) describing a part of the original facet. Continue until you have specified all the relevant branches of the spoke starting at the central circle. Do the same thing with the other spokes originating at the circle.

Now look at the resulting branches. Continue breaking these down into even smaller branches as necessary, until you have ONLY doable and schedulable tasks nearest the edges of the paper. At this final point you will know everything necessary to complete the project, and it will all be on one piece of paper.

Now take a look at the sequencing of tasks to be done. What is to be done first? What is on the critical path, the sequence of tasks upon which all others depend? What tasks must wait until other tasks are done? To clarify the sequence, identify the task or tasks that must be done first, and put a '1' next to it (them). You may have several things that can first be done, and can be done at the same time. Put a '2' next to the second task(s) to be done, etc.

After the sequence of tasks is clear, you can prioritze them as A, B, or C. Then you can decide who will do each of the tasks, and how long it will take to do them. Finally, you decide when they are to be done (using either forwardplanning, when no deadline has been set, or backward planning, if you have a rigid deadline--see pp. 159-60 of To Do . . . Doing . . . Done!), and you schedule them in your planner or group schedule (see scheduling tasks). If the project is very complex, you might use a Gantt chart or a PERT chart, quite possibly in software. The tasks will be put directly on your schedule if they have been assigned specific dates; otherwise, put the tasks under a project heading in your software or in a project section in your planner. Based on this mind-map and the schedule, you can determine the budget for the project.

Implement

Third, you implement or execute your plan, using your daily planner and possibly, a Gantt chart, PERT chart, and/or a group project schedule. Follow-up on assignments to see whether they have been accomplished, and remind people as needed. Whenever you do your scheduling for the day (or possibly, for a longer period of time), routinely check your projects and the project timeline and see whether new tasks need to be prioritized, scheduled, and assigned.

Close

Finally, you close and evaluate the project. This is a chance to tie up loose ends, close project files, document results, and learn from what worked and what didn't. You might do a formal analysis by means of a project evaluation or survey. You might celebrate with a completion party.

Note: If you have questions or comments about these exercises, please send email to or call Steve Randall at 510-690-0490.

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