Size matters, and comparing sizes matters even more.

What will be the right size of a task so it will be easier to bring it into execution and action?  How can we size the effort needed to get it done?  And how do we know what is right for us compared to someone else performing the same task?

Kids (and adults) often mistaken their ability to get things done while getting right into action when encountering a problem or a task. Sometimes, they even are avoiding getting into action due to the fact that the task seems to be too big or too complicated to execute… I sometimes see kids getting to much homework that just looking on the size of their “homework” tasks can be frightening. Who wouldn’t prefer not to play outside instead of dealing with this giant homework assignment? Sizing those tasks has a lot to do with our ability to get them done. It allows us to better scope our attention, better control our activities related to a specific task and gain confident while getting those tasks done.

Much has been written concerning the efforts estimation of a task and its relation to ease our ability to execute it. As is commonly assumed (no matter if it is false or not) that when we know how long it will take to complete a task or what the effort entails it will be easier for us to understand when a group of tasks due to complete.  It is often assumed the same assumption about the size of a task or a problem.  

I say, When we know what’s the right size of a task according to our subjective ability to execute it, it will be easier to estimate a group of tasks and accordingly our ability to get them done.  

There are many methods that can be applied to understand a task size so it won’t be too big to deal with or too small to even consider doing it and accordingly to get it done.

If so, how do we balance the size of our tasks for ourselves or for a chield?

The answer, of course. It depends.

Here are some tips which will help us better understand the subjective size of the task according to subjective personal ability .

One.      Create your task list and make sure it is visible and apparent.

Visibility makes things happen. The Task list should not stay in your head put it on the board. So after seeing it, it gets easier to organize things and make decisions and certainly easier to understand what takes more time or less time comparing to other task.

Two.      Size your tasks by three types of sizes:

Small

Medium

Large

Extra large ** - Optional but not advisable

At this stage all we want to achieve is the ability to visualize tasks in deferent sizes. It is still one big wish lists of stuff we need to do or to achieve.  For better Visibility, create three columns on the board and place each task under the appropriate column, or perhaps even give a different color for each size. The main goal at this stage is that you will be able to see the differences between tasks sizes.

Three.      Listen and Learn

Remember when you were a child, places seemed bigger and greater probably more than they are today?  This is how a child sees tasks. Much larger than they appear to us. Things that seem small and simple to us can be perceived as very large and complicated to children. Often because they lack information or guidance, or just because that's how it is in their eyes. And yes, listening and asking questions to understand the enormity of the task in the eyes of the child is the next step we need to take.

What is a small task ? What is a big task ? What makes it large?

Four.      Once the most important tasks are on the task board, take the large tasks and split them into smaller ones. Remember only small or medium sized tasks will be executed – so make sure to split those tasks to an executable ones. Small task is one that can be completed in a relatively short period of time, defiantly not in a week or a day, and obviously appropriate for a child time frame.

As the following example.

Five.       While executing the tasks - stick to tasks that are small or medium-sized and arrange your tasks in order of action.

Six.      Select one  task at a time and start to perform.  Make sure to visualize your path to execution as well (To do – Doing – Done)  on the task board.

Seven.      When a task is too large to execute, do not be afraid to split I in to smaller ones.

Eight.      Not every task must be sized. In fact, most tasks do not required sizing.

For example, let's say, the child has only two days to study for his next exam, then we can start by splitting the tasks in a very rough manner such as What to be studied today and what to be studied tomorrow. We can then discuss any task and understand it if it belongs to the first or second day and size only those tasks that seems too big to handle.

In short, let’s try to keep things simple.

Sizing a task should be "just enough" so we can get started. We Do not need to dig too much in to the details of a tasks so we can assess accurately hours and minutes that it will take us to execute it.  Three sizes of 'small', 'medium' and 'large' can suffice.

Nine.      What will truly help get things done and understand the right size of a task for a child is parental involvement. Conversation. Children love that we talk to them, relate to what they need to do, help them understand things. So while this simple technique will help them better understand the task and may even reduce anxiety or focuses on what matters, what will make it really happen is the conversation with us, their parents.

Ten.    And do not forget to enjoy the ride.

How to use a white board to understand your work load.

Guest post : AviK, Owner at A2O Marketing

 

While managing my small business with agile techniques I had a problem.

 

I had myself a task list, which I managed daily. I would tick off the ‘done’ tasks, I make sure to work on the ‘doing’ tasks, and I would look at what I still need to accomplish in my ‘backlog’.

 

But I didn’t see how I was doing each day for each project . I’ve been ticking off tasks (in order of importance), but was I working only on the new feature? What about fixing old bugs? Managing the team? Launching the new website? I could see tasks being marked as ‘done’, but it wasn’t always easy to see what project they related to, and frankly, I would end up frustrated, and not sure if I was getting everything done.

 

Luckily, I work with Shirly. And with her using white boards and sticky notes, along with an endless supply of ideas on how to make your day more effective, and strictly related to my case (no theoretical experiments please) helped me come with an idea. I would create a task board that only shows what I’ve done - per project!

 

 

What do I mean?

Simple:

 

 

I added a row for each project I am working on, and each time I completed a task, I put it up on the board. Color coded, of course, so I could see if it was a ‘small’ task, a ‘medium’ one, or a ‘big’ one. This way, I can tell at a glance exactly what I’ve been working on today, and what projects require my attention more.

 

 

It really helps me focus better on what I need to do, and helps me prioritize my remaining tasks.

So thanks, Shirly!

 

 

Using An Action Map To Make Sense Of The To Do List

What do we do when we have a lot of tasks we need to complete?

We write them down.

So we start writing down the tasks and prioritizing them. But it doesn’t always work. We don’t always get to start really working on those tasks, getting things done.

You know why?

Because you’re not using a few simple tricks which make it so much easier to manage a large number of tasks.

For example, just look at the drawing, and how it became simple.

Visibility is a powerful tool to get things done.

An action map provides both visibility and the simple tool to follow the progress of our tasks easily from a need to do task to a completed one. Especially when we have a lot of them.

An action map is something very common used in agile software development teams to acquire visualization a bit ahead to way things needs to look like. You see , in software development , there is always tons to do, plan, change, test, and so on. When we want to get some high level sense of what comes first and what after (without getting into budget , resources and other nosing details) .. we create an action map (using sticky notes) and  sort them out into phases.

We can use this simple visibility technique for personal objectives too.

With our kids, it’s easier to use the action map to create order out of the tasks they need to deal with. We help them visualize the flow things can go. Visualizing “Now, next, later” is an easy way to think of a flow especially when dealing with kids.

 Visibility works for kids and a basic sense of order and roadmap makes the simplest order we need.

So how do we do it?

Simple.

Use a white board, wall, or window. Create three columns - Now, next and later.

●      Set the  goal

●      Break it to smaller tasks

●      Visualize your goal and tasks on a white task board

For example : Let’s say we have so many things to do in the summer….we want to take a trip to Sea World , re-organize the room , tidy up our wardrobe,  take the dog for his yearly vaccine, clear the shed…

●      Place them on a large action map and order them according to your needs.

●      When we want to get into getting things done Start doing one thing at a time, and visualize your progress of doing.

It can look like this :

●      Every day , consider moving tasks from the bottom to the “now/today” space.

As you can tell we can also set scope on one day only, and pick up tasks for the next day without confusing ourselves with more tasks that are not relevant for that day.

And … don’t forget to have fun ☺

Be like God - Kanban your way into the world

Whether you believe in God or not, the story of Genesis is an excellent example of doing one thing at a time.

As you probably know, God created our world in just seven days (vacation included)- by completing one major deliverable every day, which was made up of smaller, manageable tasks.

If you want more details, here’s the original.

Of course, things are never that simple. On the third day, God completed not one, but TWO tasks. Why? Wait for the end of the post to find out :)

So what do I mean by saying that God does Kanban and God has a limited WIP? I actually mean, that God avoids multi tasking and getting things done by controlling the load of its tasks.

Well, WIP, as you know, is Work In Progress. In Agile, it refers to all materials and partly finished products that are at various stages of the production process.

Comparing it to an industry production line: In Genesis, God put his materials in one end, ran it through the production line, and got the magnificent outcome on the other end - Our world.

Don’t take me literally,obviously, but just look at the pattern here. Each day, God selected one deliverable with a related value, and each deliverable was composed of few small tasks, each done one at a time. At the end of each day (deliverable) God took one step back, looked at the creation (demo), and took up where he left off the next day.

This is an excellent example that shows you about WIP limitations. Doing one thing at a time, and challenging yourself to achieve more according to your limits. Obviously, God doesn’t have a limit. But perhaps he was trying to teach us to do one thing at a time, by example.

Control your WIP (work in progress):  It’s simple. When we do more than we can handle, we probably won’t complete anything. Starting a lot of tasks at once, doing a little bit of everything, means that you finish late, or not at all. This also means that we have to understand what we are capable of, the size and issues we can grasp in one time.

Start finishing and finish starting.

        

Doing just a little bit from everything means you don’t do anything.

An easy example of limiting your WIP is having to attend two meetings at the same time. That’s easy. You pick one - and go to it. But what about preparing a presentation, writing a blog post, checking your email, preparing for a meeting with your team, and researching stuff for your manager. If you start all that at the same time, you won’t get any of it done, and you’ll end up missing your presentation, not answering all your emails, and meeting your team unprepared.

Now think about your kid. You’re telling him to clean his room, do his homework, feed the dog, clear the table, brush his teeth, take out the trash.... that could confuse even God :)

So how do we handle it then? How can we create our own small world, in such we can do valuable things and deliver the outcome?

Start off by making it clear (to yourself as well) that you are expected to do ‘one thing at a time’.

Then, order your tasks by schedule, priority or importance.

Make sure to start doing things with value first.

So lets take the previous example. You need to prepare a presentation next week? Start today by creating the presentation outline (‘Small task’) and send it along to get early feedback. Treating the ‘prepare presentation’ task as one big one means that your definition of done means that you have to finish the presentation today. This will affect your ability to complete your other tasks, so make sure you start and finish the scope of work as you defined it. Don’t leave unfinished tasks around.

Pick one task, complete it , and then take the next task in line.  In time, you’ll see how many tasks you can perform at the same time, but to start off with, it’s better to complete one task at a time, than start five, and not complete any of them.

In industrial factories, an incomplete cycle of work is called inventory. Factories can’t sell inventory. Inventory takes up space, which you pay for. Inventory needs to be maintained, which you pay for. Inventory is waste.

In our personal life, we pay for that wasted inventory with delays, stress and overtime, just because we try to keep up with too many tasks.

Context switching (jumping from one task to another without completing either) is another way to get little or no value from our tasks.

A nice story a friend just told me the other day about a typical Kanban situation at home illustrates another example of the same problem:

“It was Friday noon, and we were preparing for our daughter birthday party. I was with my hands in the pizza dough, and my wife said: I can’t really help you, so I’ll bake a cake for us to eat during the week. In theory, there’s no problem. But when I needed the blender, it was dirty with chocolate and I had to wash it. When I wanted to use the oven, I had to wait 40 minutes for the cake to be done.

I should have told her to just relax and drink some coffee, or put some music and chat with me, instead!”

The value = daughter birthday party ➔ pizza : was not achieved

The resources= help from others with the blender, oven. : was not available

Over doing =using the oven as a resource to bake a cake while at the same time the pizza (which holds more value) needs the same resource.

Following the concept of ‘doing one thing at a time ‘ will be made easier when you visualize your tasks on a task board. The task board will help you see your tasks, prioritize them, understand your limits and challenge yourself toward improvement.

So…  doing one thing time,  it’s easier  when , We understands that :

1. When we do more than we can handle, we probably won’t complete anything.
2. Context switching (jumping from one task to another without completing either) is another way to get little or no value from our tasks.
3. Doing just a little bit from everything means you don’t do anything.
4. Start finishing and finish starting.

So the actions applies will be:

1.       Visualize your tasks. Use a task board.

2.       Set priority to the things you need to do (see important vs urgent)

3.       Pull one task, complete it , and then pull the next task in line. make sure you start and finish the scope of work as you defined it. Don’t leave unfinished tasks around.

4.       Divide big assignments into smaller ones that have value (see how God took two small tasks on Tuesday?)

5.       Understand your resources and limits demanding to perform the tasks.

6.       Stick to doing what has the most value – even if it means not doing something else.

7.       Look back at your results. Retrospect and change  if necessary

8.       Learn and adapt to your abilities. Once in a while, challenge yourself to take more tasks (although not in parallel!), just as God did on Tuesday.

Enjoy  ☺

Read more:

• http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/workinprogress.asp#ixzz1xkAVzbP
•  http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/multitasking.html
• http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/WIP-limit
• http://blog.agilebuddy.com/2009/06/stop-starting-and-start-finishing-a-successful-lean-philosophy.html

Read more in this blog:

●              Prioritize yourbacklog

●              What is Kanban – how to get things done using the tasks board

●              Definition of done

●              Time management games

●              Visualization & sticky notes

●              Task board