Keeping Track Of Projects

Dear Import/Export Compliance Manager,

My job consists of mostly projects instead of the day-to-day stuff.  I’m trying to figure out the best way to keep track of everything.  I have tried OneNote but I don’t think it’s for me.  What works for you?

Perplexed in Pasadena

Dear Perplexed,

Good on you!  The ‘ol Import/Export Compliance Manager considers having a useful and efficient way to track your projects is one of those gifts that keeps on giving.  You’ve obviously already drunk the kool-aid on having a project tracker but we’re still going to go down the rabbit hole as to why having one is so useful (and to see how many clichés can be fit into this column). 

For the ‘ol Import/Export Compliance Manager, a project tracker is a panacea.  For you and others, maybe not as much.  Ultimately, human beings are complex and each of us does what works best for us as individuals.  Some people still love writing things down on paper while others want everything to be digital, as an example.  So take the below recommendation as a window into the Import/Export Compliance Manager’s mind palace.

For those with steel trap memories who don’t need a project tracker, you can skip the rest of this.  For the rest of y’all, a project tracker is what it says: a way to keep track of what you need to work on.  But it is oh so much more than that.  Project trackers do the following:

• Minimize the risk that you’ll let a project slip through the cracks;

• Allow you to prioritize projects by simply putting the ones you need to work on most at the top, color-coded red, written in ALL CAPS, etc.;

• Allow you to measure your workload (in this area, metrics are your BFF);

• Allow you to quickly assess your workload;

• Allow you to track your progress over time by keeping a running list of the projects you have finished;

• Quickly and efficiently put together your case for a raise when it comes time for personnel reviews, as your successes will be right in front of you;

• Show what areas you’re working on the most, if your job scope goes beyond one particular type of project;

• Track which departments you’re working with the most;

• Show initiative and organization to management

• Provide colleagues an easy way to see what you’re up to; and

• Can serve as a useful tool to align with your manager and avoid the dreaded ‘Wait, I thought I wasn’t supposed to be working on that project yet’-type situation.

  
  

The Import/Export Compliance Manager is an old-school Microsoft Excel guy.  He has found no faster way to enter data and track it, filter it, massage it, graph it and roll a 7-10 split with it.  The Import/Export Compliance Manager thinks a good tracker should consists of the following columns:

• Task Name – something short, typically no more than seven words.

• Task Description – a short description of the objective of the task, usually no more than two sentences.  It focuses on the objective; how will it be determined when the task is complete?

• Status – this is detailed enough so that, if other tasks call and the particular task isn’t revisited for a while, you’ll know exactly where you left off.  It always begins with the day and month of the last note, written in the format ##-XXX (more on this in a minute). 

• Priority – ok, so how important is it that this task gets done?  Use levels of priority that work for you.  Low, Medium and High are standard, and the Import/Export Compliance Manager likes to also use Red Hot and Hair On Fire.

• A VLOOKUP function that assigns a rating of 1-5 based on Priority.  The tracker would have a second tab with a list on it of each Priority value and its corresponding numeric value for the VLOOKUP to pull from.

• Level Of Effort – How much work is this sucker going to take anyway?  The values here can simply be Low, Medium and High.

• Another VLOOKUP function, this time assigning 1-3, with Low being the 3.  This way, a high priority and low effort project gets bumped up in the list.

• Date Entered – this tracks when the task was entered, just in case it’s useful to know how long it’s been sitting in the queue.  Sometimes when an item has been on there a year or more, it’s time to move it off the list. 

• Last Update – this is a LEFT function that pulls the first six characters from Status, the ##-XXX.  It’s easy then to see, if one chooses, what has been worked on most recently.

• Month Completed – when the task is complete, the month and year are noted as ##-XXX. 

• And lastly, there can be multiple columns for the different area the task is dealing with, such as export, import and logistics.  An ‘X’ is marked in the proper column, and more than one column can be marked.

There can be two more tabs, which utilize the same format as the first tab:

1.       Completed; and

2.       Tabled/Cancelled

The second is good because it’s a reminder of why something was deemed not being able to be worked.

The former, on the other hand, is gold.  The Import/Export Compliance Manager runs metrics for the number of tasks completed by month, which areas they were in, the total number of open tasks at the beginning of each month (it’s bad if that number is on a downward trend) and a scoring system for projects by level of effort, just for fun.  Statistics can be manipulated and lie sometimes but the Import/Export Compliance Manager likes them for being able to see a job well-done, like having a bumper crop of tomatoes in the garden.  And, as stated before, when it comes time for personnel reviews, there’s a ready-made list of accomplishments to write about. 

Again, this is what works for the Import/Export Compliance Manager and may absolutely not work for you.  As you’ve probably already been doing, Perplexed, just mess around with different tools and formats.  As you go along, like a puzzle, the right pieces will gradually click into place.  Good luck!