Any project starts with a list of tasks that need to be done, and it’s sensible to list those tasks in the order that they need to be done.
Very quickly, however, you discover that some tasks can not begin until some other task (or group of tasks) have been completed. Tasks that run end to end are sequences and entire sequences may depend on multiple other sequences… etc.
As soon as these ‘inter-dependencies’ between tasks get complicated, they are vital to scheduling the workflow and simultaneously difficult to remember.
If you happen to be very experienced, are familiar with all the processes then you can probably look at the list and pick out the most likely next step. But what happens if you (or the people you are delegating to) are not familiar with every process?
How would you organise the tasks when a plan has not already been done for you? The next four pages lay out a simple strategy that works in all cases, big or small.
In Lesson Two we will start by arranging the task list in 2 dimensions.