Deadlines and due dates can cause a person a lot of stress when they’re not properly organized and don’t take into account the amount of time they need to actually finish their work. And with the distractions of media and smartphones this problem seems to have only gotten worse. But there is a solution that can help people to better organize themselves with the help of technology. Project management software is being used by industries around the world because it allows their employees to lay out all their tasks and deadlines which can be shared with fellow workers and collaborators. Project management allows for people to lay out their goals but also stay on top of their deadlines which can be ways away or fast approaching depending on how a person organizes. After testing out a few name brand sites for myself, I decided to start using Trellofor my project management assignment.
Trello helps people to lay out their project management tasks visually on one page while also giving them depth of detail. Some people will write out their “To Do” lists as bullet points and with only a few words. But when people do this, they don’t take into account the smaller tasks within the tasks they are assigned. For example, if someone writes down “plan a vacation” that could mean they have to book a flight, find a hotel, rent a car, pack their bags, find someone to take care of their pet(s), etc. If all of these things aren’t taken into account and laid out ahead of time as what needs to be done, then people will find themselves time crunched and with little to no time. What Trello allows me to do is add a checklist within the objectives, to help lay out those tasks within the tasks and keep track of which ones I’ve done and still need to do. There is also an option to set deadlines for when certain tasks are due. As the deadline approaches the due date turns to yellow and then when deadlines are passed it will turn red.
I laid out the prior modules that I had already completed to try and find a flow that worked best for me so that going forward I could refer back. I organized each module into its own section for when it is completed, but in the forefront there is a “To Do” section, “Doing, and “Done.” For whatever module I have that week, I place the tasks under the “To Do” tab and then move them along as I start or complete them. Naturally a person reads from left to right so that is why my work flow moves in that direction. Within each tab are the smaller tasks that need to be done and when all of the tasks are completed and checked off for that module I move them to their module section before moving the next module in. The tasks themselves are organized from top to bottom in the order of size but also in need of completion.
I decided to take my organization and work flow to the next level with the labels.
With the labels it allows the addition different colors to the cards and then also add multiple colors to one card. So I assigned a specific color to each of the main tasks of the modules, but used the option of adding multiple colors to help layout what tasks needed to be done prior to doing certain cards. For example, the readings task is assigned yellow, the project for that specific week is assigned red, and the annotated bibliography is purple. On the annotated bibliography card though there is purple but there is also yellow. This helps to show me that in order to do the annotated bibliography I need to first complete the readings (yellow for the week). Then naturally for my blog post where I talk about the readings and reflect on the project for that week, it is labeled yellow (readings), red (project), and purple (annotated bibliography). This system helps me to prioritize all the smaller tasks that help to lead up to the bigger ones while also keeping me organized with what I completed already. The next step I would want to take with this would be to start setting hard deadlines for each of the tasks instead of having them all “due” the last day of the module even though I do them days before. This will help me to plan out my week ahead and possibly allow for the addition of my other projects and work into the software.
