Three Circles Consulting Ltd

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Time to toss out the Gantt charts?

In a word, no.  But don't rely solely on a Gantt chart to drive your project.  A truly useful project plan isn't just about Gantt charts, or tracking progress with each task.  Even more important is creating good tasks in the first place.

Just recently, I've had a flurry of questions about creating tasks that are concrete to team members (so as to get confident commitments for time-lines and resource).  People have also asked about buttoning tasks down, so there is less opportunity for scope and intent creep during the life of the project

I'd like to share an approach to answering these questions, that many organisations find works.  It boils down to asking 7 questions of each task, paying attention to the nuts and bolts of project activities;
  • What do you need before you can start the task, what specific actions does it include, what do you expect to get out of it at the end?
  • How can you test if it has been completed?
  • Can it be done with the resources and time you have?
  • How does it push the project towards its goal?
  • Is there a deadline to finish the task?
  • Does it fit with company and legal standards?
  • How will/are you reviewing progress with the task?
The answers you get make it possible to describe tasks in concrete terms.  You can create a picture of the activity, saying what is expected to happen and why.  People have something to get a hold of, to make decisions and give commitments.  Afterwards, many project teams report that they 'self-police' these commitments and air problems with delivery much sooner.

Some of the solid results people are seeing from tuning in to these questions include;

“....we knew what was covered by 'analytical testing', and even more importantly what wasn't.   As the project unfolds I can spot and challenge scope creep much more quickly”

“Getting people to agree time-lines and commit resources was so much easier”

“... questioning how each task took us towards our goal, we saw which were at the heart of our project”