The national bestseller "Getting Things Done", by David Allen, is a self-help book. It is based on the author's experience as a management consultant coaching professionals in office settings. Although the book is aimed at personal productivity, much is adapted here for use by the Buildings & Grounds committee, though some of the terminology is modified. I recommend the book to anyone who cares about such things (- Stu Anderson).
Getting Things Done means translating all the stuff that demands our attention into doable steps and doing them. The trouble is that even deceptively simple stuff may require multiple steps and multiple people to complete over a period of time. Keeping track of the loose ends during the process generates even more stuff which clutters our minds and keeps us from thinking clearly.
Effectiveness requires a method to collect all that stuff and store it in appropriate buckets outside of our heads. Then regularly process the buckets - check for stuff that has become "doable" and execute that next step.
Capturing information outside of individual crania is vital to the strategies outlined in UUBG-051 Mission: Shared Leadership / Strategies . Buildings & Grounds uses these buckets:
- In-Basket - stuff received from the outside world
- Not Actionable:
- Trash - ignore or no longer needed
- Someday - maybe? hold for review
- Reference - retrievable when needed
- Actionable Lists:
- Projects - require large scale planning
- Project Plans - tasks defined for a project
- Tasks - require small scale planning
- Task Plans - steps defined for a task
- Maintenance - repetitive tasks on checklists
- Calendar - to do at a specific time
- Waiting - delegated, awaiting response
For the most part, these buckets are implemented as web pages. The distinction between projects and tasks is a pragmatic one. Projects get their own webpage. Tasks are expressed in a couple of paragraphs and aggregated in tables. They can be moved between pages by cutting and pasting.
Processing the buckets occurs at several rungs on a ladder of responsibility:
- Committee Chair - Manage the entire process
- Group Leader - Manage buckets related to Group topic
- Project Planner - Convert Project requirements into task descriptions
- Project Leader - Understand Project and lead its execution
- Task Planner - Convert Task description into doable steps
- Task Leader - Understand Task and lead its execution
- Recruit - Do next step
The delineation of so many rungs is based on experience at UUFSD rather than a bureaucratic agenda. Effecting the cultural changes outlined in UUBG-051 Mission: Shared Leadership begins with building trust at all levels and encouraging the wide variety of volunteers available.
Many UUs are stressed-out professionals who sign up as work party recruits as a "vacation for the mind". "Just tell me what to do", I often hear. Over time they can be nudged up the responsibility ladder of UUBG, but only if they experience a significantly more positive environment than the typical workplace. Many with design skills are better suited to planning than leading. Many with building and repair skills have fallen into the habit of working alone but can enjoy leading if there is a decent plan. UUs are excellers - at all levels quality counts!
The workflow for processing all this stuff will depend on the tools and talent available. For now, the basic unit of actionable stuff is the loosely formatted Task stored in UUBG web pages.
Task Summaries are listed in UUBG-053 Tasks: Master Index. All tasks have a Task Status within square brackets, with values such as [TODO] or [DONE]. Task Plans are created in UUBG-042 Tasks: TODO List where they remain until they are finished and moved to UUBG-052 Tasks: DONE List. The Master Index Task Summaries are updated to track changes in Status of the Task Plans and to link correctly (to the TODO List or to the DONE List). See details in UUBG-054 Tasks: User's Guide.
The In-Basket includes the set of Task Summaries with Status still set to [IN]. Next, the responsible Group Leader writes a description of the task for the initial Task Plan. The secretary sets Status as [TODO] and posts the Task Plan to UUBG-042 Tasks: TODO List.
If the task is sufficiently complex, it will require a project. The Group Leader or a Project Planner needs to write an initial a Project document which the secretary will release as a UUBG-PPP Project:... document. A link to the UUBG-PPP document will be included in the Task Plan. The Task Plan Status becomes [PROJ].
If the task is a recurrent type, then it needs to be added to the maintenance checklist for the responsible group. Simple tasks can be embedded in the checklist document. Complex tasks also require a UUBG-MMM Maintenance: ... document for the details. A link to the UUBG-MMM document will be included in the Task Plan. The Task Plan Status becomes [MAINT].
Even if a [TODO] task morphs into a [PROJ] or a [MAINT] task, the original task remains in UUBG-042 Tasks: TODO List. There it serves as the reminder of next steps to do for that project or maintenance task, until the project (or this iteration of the maintenance) is finished.
The UUBG-057 Calendar: Tasks & Events is kept fairly sparse. It is used only for committee-wide events and tasks with hard commitments to a specific date. Do not clutter it with due dates which often reflect wishful thinking. Due dates are handled by due diligence in reviewing the UUBG-042 Tasks: TODO List.
Organizing events and activities to actually do things becomes a simple matter of listing the tasks to be addressed. The foremost example of this is the monthly UUBG-048 Event: On-Site Saturday work party. The Task List table is created simply by copying selected Task Summaries from the UUBG-053 Tasks: Master Index. This keeps the Event page compact while the hyperlinks take the curious to the full Task Plan listing.