It also helps the team understand the lifecycle of a task (i.e., a task is not completed until the client approves the final product.) This makes it clear who completed the original task so that the reviewer has sufficient context to perform their QA/QC. We double up on assigned teammates when we assign a reviewer to the task. In practice, the teams I lead like to assign one responsible party per task, so it is clear who is responsible for what. Favorite Planner FeaturesĪssign tasks by person. While minimizing time spent in email is an ongoing struggle, Planner is a useful antidote. I’ve created Planners for each of my projects and use the “My Tasks” view to create a daily to do list of activities that keeps me out of and away from my email.

I started using Microsoft Planner at work and love that it is part of the Office 365 suite of applications, making it easy to access. So, instead of coming up with brilliant new ideas when you’re in the shower, your mind may instead be running through the list of emails you need to send.Įnter Microsoft Planner-a Kanban board that I’ve found to be an excellent example of a capture system. If you’re thinking about the mundane because you’ve failed to document your next actions associated with these tasks, it may preclude you from creative breakthroughs. Your brain is spending time and energy behind the scenes to ruminate on these so-called “open loops,” or unfinished items. This is why brilliant ideas will often come to you when you’re otherwise engaged, like when you’re walking the dog or taking a shower. If you haven’t recorded your ideas in a consistent location that you trust, your brain will continue to come back to those unfinished tasks when it has a free moment. For those not familiar with the GTD methodology, one of its main tenets is that failing to document what you need to accomplish in a trusted “capture system” creates inefficiencies. I am a big fan of David Allen’s productivity system, Getting Things Done (GTD).

Before I delve into the ins and outs of this remarkable product, let me give the context for why I find Planner to be such an effective product. It’s no exaggeration to say that this product transformed the way I work and helped me recover from a place of burnout. I’m not a spokesperson for Microsoft Planner, but I should be.

Microsoft to do kanban