SI-1 Get with the Plan

Using the Systems Planner

Here are the steps to set up your Systems Planner:

1. Download the Systems Planner (from the link above) and save it to a USB drive.
2. Print the Systems Planner as an A0 or A1 poster (80gsm monochrome will do perfectly). An A1 page is the size of a flipchart pad.
3. Write each task (from your Props Register) on a sticky note & stick it in the TO DO section. Don’t make too much fuss about where you position them, so long as they’re in the TO DO column.
   Consider colour-coding or highlighting your stickies to show the type of task – eg. Video, Checklist, email template, etc.
4. Now, move the stickies to create groups of tasks*.  Among the ways you can group them are these options:
   • process or system – for instance, group every task related to Prepare a Quote together
   • type of task – for example: videos, checklists, forms, email templates, scripts, etc.
   • team or department responsible for this task
   • person or role responsible for completing the task
5. Next, we need to arrange them to set the priority. Here we recommend using Urgent for the horizontal axis and Important for the vertical axis in the TO DO column of your Systems Planner.
6. Now step back and review your completed TO DO column. It should be clear that the highest priority tasks are those in the top right-hand corner. The lowest priority tasks are towards the bottom left.

*Remember that you can overlap the stickies to make better use of the space or to group them.

Why not just create a document?

The biggest advantages of using stickies on a poster rather than writing your tasks in a list on your computer are:

• Everyone can see exactly the same thing without the need for technology
• It’s tangible  – anyone can move the stickies around to rearrange them easily
• It’s so easy to make any changes, such as marking them or stamping them to categorise them in some way
• Lastly, as you will get to experience over the coming days, it’s great to be able to move your sticky note from the TO DO column to the DOING column. Then to the DONE column.
  There’s a certain sense of achievement in doing this. Believe me, I have an actual video of clients performing a little happy dance after moving a sticky note across from the DOING column to the DONE column. Really.

What’s this based on?

For those who’d like to understand more about the method we’re applying to get through our tasks, it’s based on SCRUM/Agile methodology. We’re applying the methodology very loosely. You’d usually find people using this methodology in the software development or product development fields to help teams get through multiple tasks when time is important. A high level of productivity (best use of time and available resources/effort) is what we are aiming for.  For this reason it’s a logical choice to help us make our systems live in the business as quickly as possible.

In the next blog, number two in this series, we’ll go through how to plan a Sprint.

Here’s the quickest way there.