Action Plan » List Tasks

The Purpose Of Listing Tasks

Once you have had a chance to meet with all the pertinent parties, it’s now time to assess the particulars of what the problems are facing the company and what is needed to get done to address those problems. The meeting with the firm’s leadership will usually provide the general direction, if not specific projects to work on. The company’s staff will also provide important perspective on the problem.

Often management wants to tackle all of the problems or goals at once. You must remind them that “you didn’t get here overnight and we won’t get out of the situation overnight”. By listing the magnitude of the situation we can manage expectations.

Another benefit to listing the tasks is that it adds clarity to project and obtains by in from the team. It is no longer just your goals but the teams goals.

Once you have a firm grasp of the situation, better formulate the tasks that need to be accomplished.

These tasks should be listed on the Action Plan and communicated to the ownership and/or management.

Have a discussion as to the relative importance of these projects as well as the resources and time required to complete them.

How Often Tasks Should Be Listed

The initial list of tasks and projects should be drawn up after having met with the ownership and/or management as well as the company’s staff. However, you’ll find that as time goes on that more projects will be assigned to you by the ownership and/or management.

You should refer back to the tasks each week. We prefer to update the list on Monday for what has been accomplished the previous week. In the same day, we add any new tasks that have been requested. If you are doing your job, the list should be over a page in depth of open tasks.

Remember there is  always more work to be done than the time available!

Update your action plan constantly in order to help you communicate to the company’s leadership as to what you are involved in and what the priorities are.

How To List Tasks

Feel free to add additional fields in order to tailor the Action Plan to your specific situation. Possible additions include columns for

• Resources (who to leverage off of)
• Time Required to Complete Task.

In addition, this task list could very well serve as the basis for a Gantt Chart for managing a project.

Another thing to consider is to put this on the company’s public drive so that everyone can see the status of projects.  

Once you have completed your list and/or updated it, you should arrange to meet with the ownership and/or management to review it. Having finished reviewing the list, you and the company’s leadership should mutually agree on the priorities. Periodically review the list and rearrange priorities as necessary.