Taskboards
Managing the Work
In my last Art and Scrum post I talked about tasks, which are basically todo lists for each of the stories.
As we all know there are many ways to maintain todo lists. I’ve tried all sorts of different methods of managing them and some work better than others.
For a while I was managing the project and task lists from Getting Things Done with a spreadsheet. [as an aside - I find the project lists and task lists from GTD very similar to stories and tasks from sprint - very similar - just different names and slightly different descriptions as to what they are]. There are also several software programs that can help project teams maintain their tasks lists. I think they are overkill for what I’m doing with my art business.
I didn’t much like the spreadsheet as I’m not big on putting lists online. I much prefer to hand write my lists as there here is something more satisfying about the writing process than typing. I also find online lists get out of date quickly and lists online are basically obsolete as soon as they are printed. I’d make notes on the printout and then weeks later I’d give up with the online list.
So I’m going with what many scrum experts claim to be the best way to do this: a task board.
The Task Board
A task board is a whiteboard or corkboard or some such thing that can be divided into columns and rows. I’m using one of my smaller portable design walls and have it attached to my wall as shown above.
I’ve written each story on a notecard and these are all in the left hand column. Acceptance criteria are noted on the card along with deadlines or any other notes I think are important to remember. Only stories for the current sprint are placed onto the task board.
Each task for each story is written on a white index card (sticky notes work great with white boards). There are 3 columns where a task card might be placed:
- Not Started: The tasks all start in the second column on the left. This is the column for tasks not yet started.
- In Progress: When a task is started it is moved into the next column over – this is for all tasks in progress
- Completed: When a task is completed it is moved again to the next column – for all tasks completed.
By moving the tasks physically on the board I can see in one very quick look how the sprint is going. As you can see in the above photo, I had just started this sprint as almost nothing is done and just about everything is in the not started column. As the month has progressed I’ve been moving cards to the right. At the end of the month I’ll take another picture and show what it looks like.
The Daily ToDo List
I find that having this huge pile of tasks to tackle can be overwhelming and I can start spinning my wheels. This board is really pretty and cool but I can’t use it on a day to day basis.
So each night I evaluate where I am and I move tasks cards around as they change status. I then pick 2-5 tasks that I want to work on the next day and write them down on a piece of paper. My favorite – little scraps of paper that I can carry around as I move through my day. And I get to cross stuff off. Who doesn’t love crossing stuff off a list.
This little todo list allows me to put the big task board out of my mind (so I can avoid those "oh my gosh I have way too much to do how will I ever get it done" thoughts). I just focus on just a few items knowing that they are steps that make sense that will move me forward towards my larger goals.
A Few Notes
You’ll notice some yellow and orange story cards on my task board on the right hand side. These are for stories that I’m not actually working on right now but I don’t want to forget about. Things like juried shows I entered and I’m waiting for results, or commission projects that are on currently being approved, etc. I know I won’t have to "do" anything this month on these stories but I don’t want to forget about them either.
You’ll also note there are not tasks for the last 2 stories on the board. That’s cause I didn’t have them written when I took this picture. I now have tasks for one of them and am working on tasks for the last one (the update of my website). This is not good scrum. I’m not sure I care.
The Rest of the Stories
The stories on this board are just the stories I want to work on for September. All of the rest of the stories (in scrum called the product backlog) are also written on index cards and they are stored on a shelf next to this board. Every once in a while I flip through them to make sure I’m not missing anything important.
I also add new stories to that pile when I think of new things I want to do. I used to have great ideas for things to do with my art career but didn’t really have a good way to capture them. I’d write some in my sketch book, some got added to todo lists and many were just forgotten. Now I keep a stack of blank note cards and just jot it down and add it to the list.
I find this visual and tactile representation of the goals I’m working on for the month to be really helpful. In one quick look I can see how things are going. Right now I’m thinking this is one of the better things I got out of my scrum training.
Posted by Lisa in: Goals and Intention
Tagged: art business, Focus, Getting Things Done, goals, progress, scrum, tasks, todo lists
Hi,
This looks awesome!
Congratulations for starting it and don’t be tempted to add new columns (then it starts looking like waterfall and umm… lots of task switching… bad stuff).
A few ideas (take them for what you may think they are worth):
1) Those yellow and orange cards to the right, start tracking that on another board or list. This “product backlog” is the stuff you will prioritize but not get “started” or “done” during this iteration. Those things on the right look like stretch goals or kickers or whatever and can be the death of you (lol). Put them with the rest of your current Product Backlog so you do not lose focus.
2) How long are your iterations? Looks like a month. Does that “work” for you in reality? What does “done” look like for each of them? One of the reasons I ask is because without that and a separation of the product versus sprint backlog, you may decide to kill this idea soon because nothing seems to be getting done. A problem a lot of teams I work with have.
3) Try putting the stories at the top and change the current three columns into rows. Then, put the highest priority story as #1 (to the left) and the next highest etc going right. You may “see” some impressive patterns quickly.
4) The company that makes post it notes actually makes pretty solid (if that is the right word) 3*5 index cards that really help the overall movement and so stuff does not fall off (literally).
5) I notice there are no estimates. Would that help? Like you said above, this is not “pure scrum” and well.. does it really matter in your case as long as it helps YOU (smile).
Congratulations on getting this started and trying it!
If you are interested (or your readers) you can get a free video if you subscribe to my blog (with cartoons) at http://www.implementingscrum.com/subscribe.
Good luck and hopefully this comment will also help get the word out more about this awesome blog of yours!
- mike vizdos
http://www.michaelvizdos.com
http://www.implementingscrum.com
Lisa,
I’m very grateful for the taskboard photo and description. Finally clicked with me that I could use the scrum process for a task at my day-job that I’ve been finding overwhelming–coordinating the institutional self-study for a college, done in preparation for a re-accreditation visit a year from now. There is so much to organize and keep track of, and even though I’ve done very big projects before, I’ve been having trouble getting this one lined up into a process. I’m going to try the taskboard out starting Monday–along with Mike’s suggestions for rows instead of columns and the post-it index cards. Thanks!
Congratulations. Your system looks cool.
If you ever consider a web-app, you can use this:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version and iCal are available too.
Interesting and obviously works best for you. I wouldn’t give up on an electronic system too quickly though as they do have advantages. One of the things you said about your use of a spreadsheet to keep your lists is that you print it out and it becomes obsolete quickly. I think the premise of using an online system is to use it online not in print, though I am not totally ruling out print when needed short term.
The advantages of an online system are 1) organization and simple reorganization, e.g. switching from a view of all tasks in a specific project, to looking at tasks in context (when and where you can get them done) to chronological order by due or other date, to a view of only the next tasks that need to be done to further each project. 2) and this is the most important to me, having your lists with you wherever you are, at work, at home and even on the go, and 3) sharing your lists with others is much easier done electronically.
Just some thoughts to consider. I use an application that provides all of this while allowing me to view my entire GTD at work on my Win machine, at home on my Macs and even on my cell phone. And another app lets me call in tasks to my GTD without any writing or typing, great for those thoughts that hit me while driving. I’ve written about my experiences with GTD in a blog post at http://johnkendrick.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/more-getting-things-done/ John
your task board looks like a quilt, if you sort of squint!
I’ve kept this marked ‘unread’ for a while now because I really want to use the idea. Thought I’d throw out that I did a search for “taskboard app” in Google and there are quite a few computer-based versions of this, for anyone more inclined to do it that way. :) Not found anything I can use on a Mac yet. Might try to make something myself but would rather have a widget or flash app so I don’t have to keep a large app running in the background just for my taskboard.
Interesting suggestions Mike.
1) Well – what you say is not exactly true. These are more like stories where all tasks that I could do are blocked awaiting some external event to happen. Eventually I will just include them in my current sprint knowing the story points for that sprint are actually 0. My plan is to add another state for tasks – which is blocked. That will fit them in better. I first need a bigger house!
2 & 5) I wrote about done a while back. The post is here: http://blog.lisacall.com/2008/08/what-does-done-mean.html. So yes – very important. In art, my projects are so varied a single definition doesn’t suffice – so I define it with my acceptance criteria instead. I am doing 1 month sprints – kind of. As you noted there are no estimates – that’s coming soon as this is a work in progress and I don’t want to bring art production to a halt to implement scrum. Once estimates are added and my home remodel is over and my life is back to a normal pace I’ll worry about doing more regular sprints. In the mean time I’m just testing it out and not worrying so much about it. The next 5 months I have no idea what will happen as my house becomes a construction site so I’m looking to remain open and flexible and not get all stressed out if I don’t get things completed.
3) I have the highest priority stories at the top – so same thing – just different orientation as what you suggest. The stories at the top are getting completed first. I should have mentioned this in the post!
4) Post it notes don’t stick to flannel – which is what this board is made out of (over a layer of styrofaom). Typical design wall for a textile artist. When I have an office I will reevaluate what to use – probably something similar cause I’m a big fan of pins.
Penny – so glad you found a use for this in your day to day life!
Sarah – Yep – definitely!
Tina – Yep – lots of software options to track taskboards for scrum. I’m not fond of doing things this way but definitely many people are. I hope you find an app that works for mac!
Dan – maybe one of my readers will find that of use. For me – probably not – I’m not a big fan of online apps.
John – Some people like those solutions – being online all the time. Not me – no mobile devices here except a 5 year old cell phone and I plan on keeping it that way. I find being connected all the time to be a huge distraction that I work on avoiding – not finding more reasons to make it a necessity. So with paper and pencil I’m ultimately portable!
I’m really interested in this process Lisa, although I do have trouble wading through all the scrum jargon, I tend to get glasseyed at all the terms. But for the past several months, I’ve found that writing a daily to-do list on colored index cards has worked really well for me. Somehow when I write a big list down, the smallest easiest things pop out to me, then I do them and feel like I’m well on way to finishing the whole list and gives me the necessary momentum.
I was using GTD with a computer program, but also have found that typing and reorganizing on the computer is too easy and just sort of blends into all the background noise that I’m good a shutting out, instead becoming large in my conscious planning and concentration, does this make sense?
I have had the idea that since I plan complicated quilts and designs on the wall, that this method should also work well for me to sort of visually “design my life” but so far the pin board above my desk has been neglected. I’m excited to try this process you’ve described of moving the cards across the board, but not sure I understand all of your method. Wish I could see the board a little bigger, but then I’ll probably have to come up with my own version eventually.
Pam – I know – the scrum jargon is distracting – they didn’t need to rearrange it! I totally understand what you mean about online lists just ending up as background noise. It’s easy to kinda tune them out.
here’s a link to some more task boards – this might help you in designing your own: http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/task_boards
I am really interested in the task board organization discussion because this is an area of struggle for me. But, like Pam, the scrum jargon is distracting, and I will have to wade through it again–and maybe again. The comments have been helpful also. However, for me, the problem with computer/online organizing is that I spend too much time on the computer and not enough time doing my weaving and related tasks.