METEOR. What can? How is it useful? Types of representations in METEOR. Part 2
Hello! Team in touch METEOR Cloud. In the last article, we talked about the capabilities of the METEOR task tracker created by our team. We figured out task boards: what they are, how to create them correctly and what value they bring. You can read about the boards Here.
In this article we will look at:
These perceptions are very important for effective work. Let's see why they are useful.
Friendly warning: the article is long, there are a lot of screenshots 🙂
Task lists
To-do lists are simple, flat table views. We have been accustomed to working with some structured data in Excel almost since childhood, so data displayed in the form of a list or table will be completely organic for many of us.
In task lists you can:
display any task details in columns
change column order
quickly search for data inside columns
sort by data in columns
group tasks by data in columns
Task lists also serve as reports. By creating task lists with certain parameters, you get familiar plates that can be printed and included in documentation.
Let's take a closer look at these functions.
Typically the task list looks like this:
Here you can see the search and filter. But, unlike boards, two additional controls appear – Sorting And Columns. As you might guess, sorting is responsible for the order of tasks in the list, and the sorting setting can be saved. If you select a specific sort order and save it, the saved sort will be used every time you open the task list. Here's how to do it:
Sorting settings allow multiple sorting (on several fields simultaneously). Sorting is done in the order in which it is specified in the settings form. Let's say your sorting is configured as follows:
The data will look like this:
The functionality for setting up columns is also very simple and is designed to select the data that should be displayed in the task list.
The column settings will be saved if you remember to click “Save Columns”. On subsequent openings they will be automatically downloaded.
And you can sort data instantly, right in the browser. This is called client sorting. It is very fast, does not require a page refresh, but cannot be saved for next use. This type of sorting is used to build quick temporary views of the task list. To use client sorting, simply click on the column header:
Searching inside a column is very simple and straightforward. This is also a client type of search – fast, but without the ability to save. Start entering your search data in the field under the column heading and the list of tasks will immediately be rearranged:
The function of grouping tasks in a list is very convenient. By clicking on the column header icon, you begin to group tasks according to the data in this column.
An example of how grouping by status works:
Example of grouping by “Task Author”:
Groupings can be multi-level:
You can change the order of columns. This can be done by simply dragging and dropping columns either in the task list itself or in the column settings form:
You can also change the width of the columns and the height of the rows. To do this, use the following elements:
We tried to give you good tools, and you can determine for yourself the best scenarios for using lists.
Gantt chart
Some information from Wikipedia:
A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart (bar chart) that is used to illustrate a plan or work schedule for a project. It is one of the project planning methods.
The Gantt chart is actively used in traditional project management or at the upper levels of flexible methodologies; it is one of the most important working tools that allows you to present a project over time. The Gantt chart looks like this:
The Gantt chart is actively used not only in the IT sphere, but also in many other fields of activity: construction, medicine, service industry, etc.
The great value of a Gantt chart is that it allows you to:
see the sequence and relationship of work;
manage dates and deadlines of work;
carry out decomposition;
plan resources;
optimize the distribution of work and resources;
communicate with customers and contractors in a very clear language.
What a Gantt chart can do METEOR? On Gantt you can:
work in manual and/or automatic planning modes;
visually plan deadlines (changing task start and completion dates);
work with open dates (if we don’t know exactly when we will start or finish the work);
work with related tasks (where work can begin strictly after the completion of other work);
visualize the hierarchy (root task with all subtasks).
We propose to consider each function in more detail.
Manual and automatic planning
Our activities in the project consist of tasks, subtasks, epics and user stories. Essentially this is a decomposition. To put it simply, it’s a hierarchy in which larger tasks are broken down into several smaller ones. Small ones, in turn, are broken down into even smaller tasks, and so on. And this happens until we reach the size of tasks that can be completed in no more than a working day.
It is in large hierarchies that the auto-planning tool is very important.
Auto-scheduling is a mode in which the start and completion dates of a task are calculated automatically based on the dates of all subtasks.
If there were no auto-scheduling, we would often be faced with a problem where, having increased the time for some small task, we would have to go through all the parent tasks and also increase their time in proportion to the first task.
Let's compare two diagrams:
This is the initial state:
And here we changed the duration of just one task – 844 – “Subtask 2” (increased by 3 days):
If it weren’t for “auto-planning”, then after changing “Subtask 2”, we would have to adjust the dates in two more tasks:
It is very uncomfortable.
Since all our tasks are in auto-scheduling modes, the deadlines for parent tasks were calculated automatically.
IN METEOR The auto-planning/manual planning mode is enabled for each task individually.
You can see this:
As long as a task does not have any subordinate tasks and is not in auto-scheduling mode, it will behave as if it were manually scheduled. But as soon as at least one subtask appears, such a task will begin to automatically calculate its dates.
Changing the start and end dates of a task
By moving the boundaries of a task on a Gantt chart or moving the task itself on the timeline, you change the start and end dates of the task.
This can be done with tasks with manual scheduling enabled or with automatically scheduled tasks as long as they have no subordinate tasks.
Working with open dates
If you clear or do not indicate one of the dates on a task card in manual planning mode, then this will be perceived by the system as a task with an open date.
Example of an open end date:
And it will look like this on Gantt: the open date in the task column is marked with a gradient:
Note that if such a task is “in the past”, then the completion date of such a task will be today, and if “in the future”, then the completion date will be equal to the start date:
Here's also an example for an open start date:
Such tasks always have a duration of 1 day.
What are open dates for? This is a good visual signal that we cannot accurately plan a task, or in this task we are dependent on external participants who cannot indicate the exact timing of the work. The presence of such tasks on the board should always lead to the introduction of correction factors for the duration of the project, indicating specific works that affect this factor.
Working with Related Tasks
Calculation of deadlines for auto-planning depends on two factors:
participation of tasks in the parent/subordinate hierarchy;
the presence of a precede/follow relationship between tasks.
We have already talked about hierarchy in some detail. Let's look at the precede/follow relationship and how it affects autoscheduling.
If such a relationship is established between tasks, then the next task can have a start date equal to or later than the completion date of the previous task.
The Gantt chart prevents these connections from being broken by prohibiting the next task from being moved earlier than the previous one. Also, this type of connection is depicted on the diagram as a line connecting tasks.
In this example, you can see that we plan to start writing articles strictly after developing an advertising campaign:
Visualization of the task hierarchy
Here, the Gantt chart has two functions:
Display the task hierarchy in a list.
Highlight task branches on the diagram.
In the task list, you can configure the display mode (hierarchy, simple list or grouped list). This applies to the left side of the diagram:
It is in the hierarchy mode on the left that all tasks will be displayed in the form of a tree in which it is possible to collapse branches:
This helps you better focus on specific tasks and avoid scrolling through a large list of tasks.
On large diagrams it is also convenient to highlight task branches. It allows us to quickly navigate which branch we are inside. Task branches are displayed on a gray background, which does not interfere with work, but is useful at the right time:
Let's briefly list some more functions of the Gantt chart.
Displaying additional data on the diagram itself (to the left and right of the task columns):
Grouping in the list of tasks by any details:
Changing the proportions of the tabular part and the graphic part, as well as setting the details displayed in the tabular part:
conclusions
We showed the possibilities of representations in METEORwhich allow each user to customize their workspace in such a way as to spend less time on orientation in the flow of tasks, organize group planning meetings with convenient visualization of what is happening, and also prepare reports for managers and colleagues.
We hope that the tools METEOR will benefit you and change your production processes for the better. We are ready to answer your questions in the comments.
