Time Management
Above: Empty timeline with color keys on the left. I created the templates in Inkscape.
I want to know where my team is going to be by week 12.
To do this, I have decided to use a timeline, detailing what tasks need to be completed before we finish. However, I did not want a static timeline, and I did not want to be the one dictating what everyone else should have done by certain periods.
I have been thinking about how to do this for a while (ever since making the team color system), and I have found a way that I think will work well enough for our needs. My idea turned out to be very similar to the Gantt Chart Model, according to the definition provided by projectmanager (2018, 1)
Gantt Charts are still used by a lot of companies today (including the company I last worked at) even though the idea is from 1910 (1). What I don’t like is that in normal use one person will plan out everything, and then everyone else needs to meet their expectations.
Above: Google docs I created for each team member detailing tasks that they need to get done, higher priority at the top, lower priority at the bottom.
In the paper “Beyond the Gantt chart" by Maylor, H (2001, 2), there was a study conducted around project managment, and the tools used for planning. The conclusion was that there are problems with the Gantt Chart model, and the author gives an example of a tweaked model named BTGC (Beyond the Gantt Chart) which could be used instead to solve those problems.
I am doing something similar to BTGC with my approach, including the team in the managing. I think this will create an environment where we challenge the product, rather then to try and complete tasks by deadlines.
Above: Filled in the timeline with tasks. Colors show who needs to complete what task, placement indicates when a task needs to be completed by.
I do not want to end up completing all the tasks, then find out we should not have done any of those tasks in the first place, because it did not end in the outcome that we wanted.
1. Article retrieved from here.
2. Paper retrieved from here.
