Planning and task decomposition
Planning is the basis of successful work in any area, which helps to transform goals into real results. Without clear discipline and step-by-step guidance to action, it is difficult to achieve high results in any area: work, study or hobby. However, planning is not just making lists of tasks, it is a process that includes decomposing goals into small and manageable tasks.
In this article, I want to share my opinion on the importance of planning work tasks, and also tell how my experience in BI has improved the analysis of company processes.
Task planning – why…?
A business without clear planning does not grow or develop: no plan – no movement. Planning helps:
Define long-term goals and mission (directions of development, new markets, products or services).
Allocate resources efficiently.
Manage risks. Developing preventive risk management measures will help avoid problems and crises in the future.
Increase competitiveness. Planning helps to promptly respond to market changes and adapt strategy in the context of constantly changing requirements
Planning is important for a team for several reasons:
The work proceeds more smoothly because the participants understand the tasks, deadlines and end goals.
The team manages time effectively, prioritizes tasks and meets deadlines, which also increases productivity.
Having a plan and clear goals motivates the team to achieve results, as everyone sees their contribution to the overall success.
Planning also plays a key role in personal effectiveness:
Reduces stress because you know when and what task needs to be completed to meet the deadline.
Allows you to decompose large tasks into stages and gradually move towards the goal.
Helps to find “work–life balance” – maintain a balance between work and personal life.
Promotes the development of self-organization and time management skills.
Provides transparency and predictability of the work process.
“Eating an elephant piece by piece” or the importance of task decomposition
The phrase “eating an elephant one piece at a time” may sound bloodthirsty if taken literally. However, it is actually a wise metaphor that says to tackle big tasks gradually, step by step. Personally, I have only recently started using this method, but I am already seeing results.
Imagine an “elephant” that needs to be “eaten”. The decoding usually sounds like this: “How to eat an elephant? Piece by piece”. This means that even the most complex task can be solved using the task decomposition method, in other words, by breaking it down into smaller, manageable steps. This method helps:
Increase manageability. Small tasks are easier to control and track.
Improve the quality of work. Decomposition helps to focus on each individual aspect of the task, which reduces the likelihood of errors and helps to take into account details.
Believe in your strength. The human psyche is designed in such a way that, upon seeing a complex project, a person can feel great stress and lack of confidence in their strength. Decomposing tasks into smaller stages gives a sense of progress, which has a positive effect on motivation.
How to decompose tasks correctly
Proper decomposition is a complex process that is not always easy. To successfully decompose tasks, I recommend following these principles:
Before you start decomposing, define the end goal.
First, identify the major steps and blocks of work that need to be completed.
Break each large block into subtasks. Ideally, a subtask should not exceed an estimate of 8 hours (if you estimate in hours), but there are exceptions, and you need to experiment here.
For each task, write down the completion criteria.
Create an action plan. Based on the stages and priorities, develop a detailed action plan that includes specific actions, resources, and expected results.
Remember that even the most complex and large tasks can be successfully solved if they are divided into smaller and more manageable parts.
Control over the implementation of plans
Planning tasks and monitoring their progress helps a company focus its efforts on what is important at a given time.
A good team management practice is to use task managers, such as Jira from Atlassian, Yandex Tracker, Bitrix 24, Kaiten and others. They help to visualize current work and plans for their implementation, as well as control the effective distribution of resources.
In my experience, many companies prefer the Jira tool. When I joined my current company, Jira had just begun to be implemented. At the time of implementation, we noted the following economic effects:
The workload of employees has become transparent and logical. With the help of Jira, the project manager monitors the resource load and minimizes situations when individual employees are overloaded with work.
Projects have become more organized and task execution speed has increased. It has become easier to track tasks and project progress.
Reduced time spent managing the team. More time is spent on client tasks rather than internal communications.
Improved communication. Jira allows team members to see each other’s tasks, their due dates, and status. This improves communication between project participants and reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings.
To further simplify and conveniently aggregate data on the work of all areas, it was decided to develop a report based on Jira data. The report allowed to optimize project management processes, analyze team performance in more depth, calculate costs in monetary terms and display the cost of each project, in particular.
Report pages based on Jira data
Planning and task decomposition are essential elements of successful project management. The metaphor of “eating an elephant piece by piece” perfectly illustrates the importance of dividing complex tasks into smaller, more manageable parts. Using tools like Jira allows you to automate and simplify this process, providing transparency and control at every stage of the project. Ultimately, proper planning and effective task decomposition increase the chances of successfully completing the project on time and with high quality.
Ekaterina Duntseva. Business analyst at Conteq.
