Project Management is based on understanding and organizing your team’s tasks, which, as you might imagine, are numerous and often complex.
To address this, at the Paperless Movement®, we’ve created the “Output Elements”, a set of objects to help you streamline these tasks.
The Output Elements come in two primary categories: actionable and non-actionable.
Actionable ICOR® Output Elements
The actionable ones require execution for deliverables, while non-actionable serve as organizational elements that bring clarity, allowing you to shift perspective from a broad overview to detailed analysis.
In ICOR®, there’s only one actionable Output Element: it’s the “task”.
A task is something someone needs to complete.
Tasks range in duration from 15 minutes to three hours.
They could even be under 15 minutes. It’s what we call a “speedy”, a concept we explain further in our “Task Management like a Pro!” course.
Two critical aspects of tasks are:
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Planning: You need to define when the task will be executed.
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Outcome: Identifying what the task will achieve or produce like, for example, a script or report.
We advocate beginning each task name with an action verb, for instance, Create, Design, Write, Call, or Edit, for example, due to many reasons:
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You can clearly identify tasks in your Project Management System.
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You’re already defining the outcome that’s expected after completing the task.
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It motivates the responsible of the task to take action on it.
If tasks need breaking down into more manageable steps, we suggest using ”sub-tasks”.
In such cases, the initial task name should reflect the overall outcome, using the action verbs in the sub-tasks. That way you ensure clarity in the task / sub-task structure.
Non-actionable ICOR® Output Elements
Now, let’s explain the non-actionable Output Elements, used to grouping tasks:
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Goals
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Projects
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Workstreams
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Operations
Understanding “Goals” in ICOR® involves recognizing them not just as something the team needs to achieve, but a directional path or way to follow.
This approach ensures your project management system remains adaptable and flexible, embracing emerging opportunities without losing focus.
Goals provide a stable trajectory, accommodating all the tasks that align with the overarching direction.
“Projects”, “Workstreams”, and “Operations” allow you to group related tasks, and they’re always aligned to one or more goals. That guarantees any task inside of them are also aligned to those goals.
Projects encapsulate one-time activities with a definitive start and end date, and a specific and well-defined outcome. An example is the design of a product, for example, as always ends with the final design.
Workstreams, on the other hand, encompass ongoing, repetitive tasks, that are executed sequentially.
Content creation, such as producing YouTube videos, for example, falls into this category, where the conclusion of one cycle marks the beginning of the next iteration.
Finally, Operations involve tasks outside the realm of Projects and Workstreams, like administrative duties or unique asset creation, for example.
Conclusions
This structured approach to organizing tasks within these Output Elements creates a hierarchical system:
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Level 1: Goals
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Level 2: Projects, Workstreams, or Operations
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Level 3: Tasks
If you want to take charge of your projects like a pro, from meticulous planning to flawless implementation, in our course “Project Management like a Pro!” we dive into practical concepts like these ones, plus workflows and pragmatic implementations for effective project management.
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