14 June 2021
Context
It was a day with back-to-back meetings, but I discovered a soothing way to use a project tool, the Gantt table in MS Project.
Not much was happening today as it’s a busy Monday with back-to-back meetings. There’s a comfort in being able just to get things done. And I don’t know how many times I’m going to write that Gantt charts are super and soothing for many people in my daily work life.
You see, in my previous role as a project manager, I hardly ever used a Gantt chart provided by the (industry standard?) Microsoft Project application. Mostly, it wasn’t necessary as a spreadsheet did everything I needed it to do, and the organisation had an alternative application it preferred to use for resource levelling. Over time, the skill for using the alternative application dissipated, and the application became cumbersome in untrained hands. Therefore, a spreadsheet became a good alternative.
Now that I’ve moved to pipeline management (work stack management), I’ve started using MS Project to capture meeting minutes. Yes, it’s an unconventional use for the tool. But it has a task, start, end, progress, dependency, notes and assignee columns, all of which I’d use for standard actions and decisions. In the project planner, decisions can be captured as milestones if you want or need to get precise.
It has the advantage of creating a master project to pull all the smaller pieces into it. A more significant benefit is the option of putting data into Power BI and producing a holistic work stack view (I’m not there yet, I’ve heard you can do this).
The Soothing Gantt Chart
Why do I refer to it as soothing? Quite simply, it’s because typing up in the flow with dates and who needs to do them, and if you negotiate the timing and the resource (person doing the work) successfully, everyone is happy with the outcome.
So far, the Gantt table is working well, and I’m going to keep using it for work for the next month or so to find out how it pans out. One of the surprising benefits was the process’s reception by recipients. Simply display the planner, capture the items with agreement from participating parties, screenshot the result, and send it to all attendees. At the next meeting, talk about the progress and voila! Easy!
One minor hiccup with using it; our service management tool doesn’t allow uploading the project extension. Not letting this extension means duplication because I need to print to PDF and attach it rather than uploading the data. Not necessarily all bad as PDF’s are more portable. Yes, it’s an attempt at an IT joke – PDF the “P” in PDF stands for Portable. Here’s a sad face representing the groan you’re making after reading that☹️.
For me to get there, I will need to get time to do some of the training. The dual benefit of this knowledge is it can also help me with my tarot card statistics.
Today's Cards
The Cards - Analysis
Carryover Cards
Wow! Four cards carried over from yesterday; Guidance moved from Recent Past into the Now; Healing moved from Outcome to Future Energy; Ordinariness moved from Goal to Feelings, and Totality moved from Future Energy into Others’ Views.
Cross
Guidance is in the Now influenced by the No-thingness of potential. From my perspective, necessity being the mother of invention, I turned to a skillset for pipeline management I hadn’t thought I would use. Guidance is listening to my inner voice in today’s layout, and No-thingness is all about the blank canvas or potential.
The Goal is Change, and the Past positions of Distant and Recent have Friendliness and Transformation, respectively. Remember what I was saying about necessity? Well, the Goal of Change indicates searching for a way to streamline a painful process and make it more efficient. By communicating with other areas (Friendliness) and getting their ideas, not about what I wanted to do with the application, I could transform the seeds of an idea into something workable.
We will move from Guidance to Healing in the Future Energy. Above, I mentioned the process was painful, and Healing is about the removal of pain.
Base
Ordinariness is in the Feelings position is like the moment described by Osho as you “fall together” (p.151). What Osho means by “fall together” is when you’re alone and realise there is no one else to be anything other than yourself to, you relax (p.151). Being at one with myself is soothing, and how I felt when the tool to use was already in my grasp.
Others’ Views has the card of Totality. Totality is how others might see Ordinariness. So, today, the inside me matches the outside me.
The Outsider in the Hopes & Fears position indicates me feeling my somewhat unusual approach makes me different. The difference, I’m hoping, is not so great to be noticed disapprovingly. Strangely, it’s the disapproving by others, I fear.
In the end, Moment by Moment is the Outcome. Taking each moment as it appears and not focussing on my surroundings but being of them will result. Is there any other way to be? 🤔
References
- Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
- Day 084 – Scope Creep has other Project Management views.
