“Because if you say that, what you’re really saying is you don’t know when it’s going to finish,” Croft said in his course. “And, if you think about it, if you’re going to plan a project, you have to know when every task starts and finishes.”
The first step to managing a project is defining the project and what success looks like, Croft said. The second and third steps are about defining each task to get to success, along with the budget and timeline of those tasks.
Defining each task needed to accomplish success – step two – is critical and can be difficult, particularly if you’ve never managed a project like that before.
How granular should you get for each task? Obviously, you want the tasks to be more specific than “build house”, but “install outlet on the second-floor bathroom above the vanity” is way too specific.
As a general rule of thumb, Croft said a task usually lasts about a week. So, in the example of building a house, digging and pouring a foundation – approximately a weeklong job – is a good example of a singular task.
To ensure you’ve identified all the tasks needed to complete the project, Croft recommends utilizing all three of these methods:
First, hold a team brainstorm: The first step is to call a meeting with all the members of your team and have them shout out all the tasks that need to get done to complete the project.
Use a work breakdown structure: Once your team completes its brainstorm, build a work breakdown structure (WBS). For a WBS, build a structured tree diagram of all the tasks you need to do, from onset to the eventual goal. This structured approach quickly reveals if you and your team missed anything.
Finally, double-check your list with others: Once you’ve completed your list of tasks, compare that list to others, either by doing research or asking other people who ran similar projects. The more input you can get here, particularly from people with experience running similar projects, the better.