User:Danisagu/sandbox

= Simplifier =

Reverse Scheduling Canvas
Simplifier is a free analog tool for managing single or multiple projects. Based on the principle of reverse thinking, Simplifier combines functionality and ease of use, putting your tasks on track in minutes with just the use of a pencil.

About
It is known that human mind isn’t designed to easily think backward. We are programmed to live foreward lives, we walk and see foreward, just like foreward is the passing of time. This is why you may find reverse thinking illogical and even quite tough at the beginning, but you’ll soon discover how great can be to foresee the future, at least within your projects.

Simplifier is a project management tool made of paper – yes, no power cords – based upon the principle of reverse thinking. Inherited from the first computer programmers, reverse thinking has grown in the last decade as a creative practice used to turn problems upside-down and come up with new ideas and it’s also a standard in industrial MRP scheduling.

In Simplifier, setting your project starts from the last step backwards to the first, with the aim of detecting imperfections in the sequence such as gaps or delays. Print it, hang it on a wall and you’re set.

How it works
Simplifier streamlines the scheduling process by excluding what’s not strictly useful. Similarly to agile frameworks, Simplifier won’t care how you reach your project’s steps and what you put between them, it just want you to get things done. That’s why milestones and dates are the only things you’ll have to set and eventually everything you and your team will need to get the project done.

Rows
Simplifier has 7 rows of 10 milestones each. The number of rows and milestones is right for you to keep the project manageable and to help you to avoid unnecessary steps. Being a reverse scheduling tool, Simplifier planning starts from the due date backwards to the start date, with the aim of avoid unforeseen circumstances. This is done by starting to set project’s milestones from the right side of the row backwards to the left one. Once completed, the plan is executed foreward like a simplified Gantt diagram.

Milestones
Milestones are typically the key points of a longer sequence of operations needed to accomplish a project and so it is in Simplifier. Start setting your milestones by filling the cells on the upper row with a brief description of what has to be accomplished and when. Start from the last milestone on the right (M1) up to the first one on the left (M10). Try to foresee how much time is needed to accomplish each milestone – including delays and problems that may occour during the execution – and set your dates accordingly.

Statuses
Each milestone’s must obviously vary its status during project running. To help you to trace project’s progress, Simplifier provides a simple drawing convention. A milestone correctly completed is identified as Done with a pencil strike from bottom-left to upper-right of the cell ( ⧄ ); a Delayed milestone with a strike from bottom-right to upper-left ( ⧅ ); a Canceled milestone is eventually identified with a simple cross-strike. At the bottom right of the canvas sheet you’ll find a convenient reminder of the three milestone statuses.

Delays, Cancelations
It may happen that a milestone’s delivery is postponed for some reason. If the delay won’t risk to impact the remaining milestones, just erase the date – or strike it, if you prefer to trace the baseline – and reschedule the milestone. Otherwise, strike the cell as Delayed and reschedule the new milestones on the first empty row below, always starting from the right (M1). Eventually, strike the old milestones as Canceled. For better deal with delays and cancelations, it’s a good rule to use a single canvas for each project.

Project Details
You can enter the project details at the left of each row. Client is the internal or external reference you’re working for, use Description the briefly describe the project or task to be scheduled or even better the deliverable assigned to that row. Owner is someone who has the responsibility of the single row’s execution.

Relationships, Colors
When a single project requires more people and tasks to be accomplished, rows can be connected each other by filling the Relationship box with your pencil. Once that two or more rows are connected, you may think at the upper row as the upper timeline or work package of a traditional Gantt diagram. With the same logic, you can track different tasks from different owners at the same time and use the verticality to make deliveries coincide. Colors are useful to eye catch the workload of each team member and quickly identify his tasks, to do that assign a color to each owner and fill the Color box.

Project Closing
A project can be closed when the first milestone on the right (M1) has been executed. To close a project, draw a single Done strike along the entire row or, if you used more rows in your project, draw a Done strike along the entire sheet. As you see, learning Simplifier is really a matter of minutes, just remember that planning is set from right to left, while execution is done from left to right.