Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Tracking projects

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Apr 16, 2015, at 9:38 AM, Sue STIGLEMAN <sstigleman [at] bellsouth.net> 
> wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have systems to share about how you track projects -- the plan, 
> the steps, the status?  
> 
> We've tried various things --email (blech)spreadsheetstables
> Everything has problems, and things still drop through the cracks.  

I've looked at this for years. A group tracking system doesn't work well unless 
everyone chooses to use it -- AND LIKES TRACKING. We have one person who is a 
detailed detail person. She makes precise lists and actually follows them. I 
make lists too, but then I forget I ever made them. For me they are just a 
process for organizing my thoughts. 

So the take-away is you first have to have a person or persons who actually 
likes doing the tracking whatever system they use. It's more about the people 
who are doing the job.

One of our detail people makes the  lists for workdays. I think she uses Word 
with 4 column tables. (I would use a spreadsheet or a database.) I think the 
columns are:

Task description
Who can explain what needs to be done and what materials needed
Volunteer's name
Status of the task at the end of the workday.

We have a person who sits at a table in the dining room with the list during 
the workday and talks to people about tasks. If the tasks aren't done, they 
stay on the list. The person who does the list will only do the list. She 
doesn't recruit volunteers to do the tasks later.

The Admin Team uses our calendar for reserving rooms in the CH to put dates for 
papers that have to be filed once a year or every 2-3 years.

Doing task reminders is irritating all the way around. With the umpteenth 
reminder, it's hard to be Shirley Temple again.

When I joined the Facilities Team many years ago there were over 100 tasks that 
had piled up. I like Filemaker Pro and did a database to track them and 
designed a printout that gave the status of each and the person responsible. I 
sent reminders for unfinished items to each person every two weeks. And sent 
requests for volunteers for the tasks that had no volunteers.

They all got done but it took almost a year of consistent attention and people 
groaned when they saw my name on an email again. 

My suggestion is one person who keeps lists, and other people who do the 
reminding. We are all busy and cohousing isn't the first priority in most of 
our lives so reminders are necessary and even helpful. People to fall back on 
are also necessary.

Someone will mention Google Docs -- I'm not a fan but many love them. I'm 
hoping Katie Henry will weigh in on this since she is a professional project 
manager.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org