Managing the work of team
For a team to be effective, they need a common view of the work they do - and we call these ‘actions’. This should be visible to all so team members can see who is working on what, what the status is and when it is due to be completed. This information should be readily available and be up to date.
This is something we see teams struggle with a lot. They try to solve it by having regular status meetings, where everybody gives their updates verbally, and everybody else loses the will to live. No wonder meetings get a bad rap.
To make this information transparent, our platform follows two seemingly too-simple principles of:
- Make the work of the team clearly visible
- Limit the amount of work in progress
This is based on a concept known as Kanban. Kanban originated in Japan, most famously in the lean-manufacturing car assembly lines of Toyota. In 2007, David Anderson tailored the Kanban method to provide a simple way to manage knowledge work. A brief introduction of Kanban can be found here for those who wish more information.
Learn how to use team actions on the platform here.
On one action board in the adapt HQ platform, you can see:
- All the work of the team as tasks on the board
- Who is accountable for each task via their profile picture
- The status of each task via the columns: “To do”, “In progress” or “Done”
- Due dates for each task
If they drill into a task they can get even more detail. A description, all the comments, who created the ticket to name a few. Recording actions like this does require discipline from the team to keep this information up to date. Team members can prepare well for meetings by updating and checking their team's action boards.
Using actions to work through the “In progress” work during a meeting is a really valuable tool for keeping everyone on track.
The work of the Leadership team is broken down into:
- Annual objectives
- Quarterly objectives
- Actions (strategic or operational)
The work of the team and the progress being made is captured in the platform. Team meetings are the opportunity for the team to align on their work, solve problems, and to make decisions that will achieve meaningful progress. The work of the team happens between these meetings.
If they succeed in doing this well, you will have effective stewardship for their leadership team.
Strategic Goals Meeting: Clarify the details