Principles of Project Management Flow Part 1 and 2

Slide 1

Slide 1 text

Principles of Project Management Flow A Playbook for effective work management

Slide 2

Slide 2 text

h/t Donald G. Reinertsen

Slide 3

Slide 3 text

Swanand Pagnis • CTO at CoLearn (Surge 3, 2020) • Track record of working on things before they became cool (or hot): • AI, ML (RE/MAX, 4 years) 🏠 • Fintech (Deserve, 1 year) 💳 • Last Mile (DispatchTrack, 5 years) 🚚 • 15+ years of all flavors of remote teams

Slide 4

Slide 4 text

Part 1: Principles — Why Part 2: Practicals — How

Slide 5

Slide 5 text

Part 1: Principles — Why Part 2: Practicals — How

Slide 6

Slide 6 text

First, some questions.

Slide 7

Slide 7 text

No content

Slide 8

Slide 8 text

Lawn mowing, of course

Slide 9

Slide 9 text

No content

Slide 10

Slide 10 text

Jigsaw Puzzles 🧩

Slide 11

Slide 11 text

No content

Slide 12

Slide 12 text

No content

Slide 13

Slide 13 text

Tidying Up 😰

Slide 14

Slide 14 text

No content

Slide 15

Slide 15 text

Grocery Shopping! 🛍

Slide 16

Slide 16 text

• Are you done? • How much is done?

Slide 17

Slide 17 text

Lawn Mowing Jigsaw Puzzles Tidying Up Grocery Shopping

Slide 18

Slide 18 text

• Writing a long-form blog post 🖊 • Hiring 5 members for your team 👯 • Fundraising 💰 • Writing a novel 📖 • Getting a Ph.D. 👩🏫

Slide 19

Slide 19 text

• Retarget users on WhatsApp 📣 • Craft a Trial + Paid events schedule 📆 • Increase Retention by X% 📈 • Mute bad words in uploaded videos 📹 • E-receipts system for PoS customers 🧾

Slide 20

Slide 20 text

• Are you done? • How much is done? • Collaboration needed

Slide 21

Slide 21 text

• Work is complex, with many to-dos

Slide 22

Slide 22 text

• Work is complex, with many to-dos • Different things take different times

Slide 23

Slide 23 text

• Work is complex, with many to-dos • Different things take different times • Multiple people need to do things in parallel

Slide 24

Slide 24 text

• Work is complex, with many to-dos • Different things take different times • Multiple people need to do things in parallel • Multiple people need to do things sequentially

Slide 25

Slide 25 text

Show of Hands 🤚

Slide 26

Slide 26 text

You felt like there were too many things on your mind.

Slide 27

Slide 27 text

Sometimes, you are in the "zone" and you work at 10x your normal.

Slide 28

Slide 28 text

You felt like you really need help on something.

Slide 29

Slide 29 text

• What are you working on? • When will this be done? • Where are we with this?

Slide 30

Slide 30 text

You have too many things to do, yet you struggle to pick one and roll with it.

Slide 31

Slide 31 text

You were working on something, but something else came up, and it has now occupied your headspace.

Slide 32

Slide 32 text

Have I missed something? I need an extra set of eyes.

Slide 33

Slide 33 text

You're not alone.

Slide 34

Slide 34 text

Solution?

Slide 35

Slide 35 text

Todo lists? 🗒 🤔

Slide 36

Slide 36 text

Two Problems • Single list, so less freedom, more restrictive structure.

Slide 37

Slide 37 text

Two Problems • Single list, so less freedom, more restrictive structure. • Tasks have only two states: pending and done

Slide 38

Slide 38 text

Enter Boards. 🐉

Slide 39

Slide 39 text

Why? • 🧠 Offload your brain • 📚 Batch your work • 🤝 Collaborate on tasks • 🔮 One look update • 👓 Clarity, looking ahead, and retrospective • 📥 Capture incoming work better • 👀 A second set of eyes

Slide 40

Slide 40 text

How? 🤔

Slide 41

Slide 41 text

Six Principles • 1⃣ Track all the work. All. Document every single task that needs to be done. 🌟 • This is important — your brain needs to develop belief in this system, and that can only happen if everything gets captured as a habit. • My favorite question about Jira boards is...

Slide 42

Slide 42 text

Slide 43

Slide 43 text

Six Principles • 2⃣ Start with 4 simple lists • To Do ☑ • Doing 🧗 • Review 🕵 • Done 🏆

Slide 44

Slide 44 text

Six Principles • 3⃣ Work Right to Left, Top to Bottom • Right to left: • Always finish ongoing work first • Prioritize reviewing and unblocking • Top to bottom: Priority order

Slide 45

Slide 45 text

Six Principles • 4⃣ Divide the work into tasks of 1 or 2 days max • Anything larger: Split into smaller chunks • Engage in some upfront thinking • This helps with estimates and timelines

Slide 46

Slide 46 text

Six Principles • 5⃣ Why > What >> How • Start cards with "why" to provide context • Otherwise, we run the risk of becoming "JIRA card pushers"

Slide 47

Slide 47 text

Six Principles • 6⃣ Describe the finish line, not the route. • "Done" is essential. What do we mean by done? • There is a lovely term called "acceptance criteria." Use it well. • Don't write "how to do this" on the card.

Slide 48

Slide 48 text

Six Principles 1. Track all the work. All. 2. Start with four lists: Todo, Doing, Review, and Done. 3. Work from Right to Left, Top to Bottom. 4. Divide work into 1 or 2-day chunks 5. Focus on Why and Context. 6. Describe the finish line, not the route.

Slide 49

Slide 49 text

🧢 Recap Lawn Mowing Jigsaw Puzzles Tidying Up Grocery Shopping

Slide 50

Slide 50 text

Questions?

Slide 51

Slide 51 text

Part 1: Principles — Why Part 2: Practicals — How

Slide 52

Slide 52 text

🤔

Slide 53

Slide 53 text

✅ 🤦

Slide 54

Slide 54 text

Tools of the Trade • Subtasks • Tasks • User Stories • Epics • Projects • Sprints • Statuses • Labels • Swimlanes

Slide 55

Slide 55 text

Task • Work that needs to be tracked • Typically not user-facing • No more than a few days, 1 to 2 is best

Slide 56

Slide 56 text

Task • Work that needs to be tracked • Typically not user-facing • No more than a few days, 1 to 2 is best

Slide 57

Slide 57 text

Subtask • Work that doesn't need to be independently tracked • At the discretion of the task owner(s) • No more than 1 day

Slide 58

Slide 58 text

Slide 59

Slide 59 text

🌟 User Story 🌟 • User facing work • Independently verifiable • The primary unit of work

Slide 60

Slide 60 text

🌟 User Story 🌟 • User facing work • Independently verifiable • The primary unit of work

Slide 61

Slide 61 text

🌟 User Story 🌟 • When in doubt about "Task" vs. "User Story," create a user story

Slide 62

Slide 62 text

🌟 User Story 🌟 • When in doubt about "Task" vs. "User Story," create a user story • They bring user-centric thinking into work

Slide 63

Slide 63 text

As a student, I want to get a reminder before a class, so that I will not miss the class.

Slide 64

Slide 64 text

As a student, I want to get a reminder before a class, so that I will not miss the class.

Slide 65

Slide 65 text

Slide 66

Slide 66 text

Send a reminder to students 5 minutes before a class.

Slide 67

Slide 67 text

Epic • Larger body of work • Needs multiple user stories • Should have a start and end date

Slide 68

Slide 68 text

Epic • Larger body of work • Needs multiple user stories • Should have a start and end date

Slide 69

Slide 69 text

Project • Ongoing responsibility or initiative • A team level entity • Does not "end" 🤨

Slide 70

Slide 70 text

🌟 Sprint 🌟 • Represents Cadence • An excellent planning tool • Has a start and end date • 1 to 2 weeks

Slide 71

Slide 71 text

"Okay, but I already have a project, and it's a mess! 🤦"

Slide 72

Slide 72 text

If you already have a project • Capture all work that hasn't been captured • Create Epics with tentative date — categorize all your WIP finishable pieces of work into these • Have 3 upcoming sprints filled up with the work categorized above

Slide 73

Slide 73 text

If starting from scratch • Capture all work that hasn't been captured. • Create Epics with tentative date — categorize all your WIP finishable pieces of work into these • Have 3 upcoming sprints filled up with the work categorized above

Slide 74

Slide 74 text

Slide 75

Slide 75 text

Labels! 🏷

Slide 76

Slide 76 text

Labels are Powerful 🦾 • Flexible • Searchable • First-class support in all tools

Slide 77

Slide 77 text

Horizontal and vertical categorization at the same time is only possible with labels.

Slide 78

Slide 78 text

When it comes to information architecture, you're worse than you think you are.

Slide 79

Slide 79 text

Swimlanes 🏊

Slide 80

Slide 80 text

Swimlanes are a review tool • Vertically group and divide the work. e.g. One swim lane per Product Manager • A tool for leadership — you must get good at swimlanes • Review board weekly through various swimlanes: by Assignee, by Epic, by Label

Slide 81

Slide 81 text

Process 📐

Slide 82

Slide 82 text

• Think in terms of the Roadmap

Slide 83

Slide 83 text

• Think in terms of the Roadmap • Break it down into Epics

Slide 84

Slide 84 text

• Think in terms of the Roadmap • Break it down into Epics • Break them down into User Stories

Slide 85

Slide 85 text

• Think in terms of the Roadmap • Break it down into Epics • Break them down into User Stories • Use Sprints to drive cadence

Slide 86

Slide 86 text

Sprints are a cadence mechanism, not a release mechanism. 💡

Slide 87

Slide 87 text

Everyday Operations • Optimize for left-to-right movement of cards • Too big a card won't move fast • Too many small cards overwhelm with volume • Priority must be visually clear • Keep the "TODO" column sorted by priority • Revisit the Backlog once a month