Organizing yourself at work is a challenge that, if a professional is unable to achieve, can even hinder their career development. Knowing how to plan your day, organize files and maintain a schedule ensures greater productivity and helps people focus on activities that add value to their work. To do this, dividing complex tasks into smaller steps can be the solution, offering a clearer view of what needs to be done.
Others might not find it necessary to make this separation and set a schedule, but new needs can emerge in the process and, if you cannot organize yourself, activities might be postponed or not even be performed.
When we talk about complex tasks, they are usually actions or projects that are divided into stages and, for the whole to be completed, breaking down these activities allows for a clearer and more practical view of what needs to be done.
How to start organizing tasks?
Before you start planning, dividing up tasks and including them in the schedule, you need to think about your objectives. Every action taken in the company has a purpose, and this purpose can guide and even help you subdivide tasks.
Therefore, understand the main objective of this activity, and list the tasks necessary to make this possible. You can find different actions, such as routine activities, specific assignments, results reports and adjustments.
This will help to design more precise tasks, indicating what needs to be done in a working day.
From there, you must have a means of seeing these tasks. This can be different based on the company or your preference. Some, for instance, like to have a physical diary where they can jot down notes manually. Others keep these tasks organized with digital systems or even through Google or Microsoft calendars.
The important thing is to choose a method that will actually be used frequently, as this file needs to be consulted and updated regularly. This also needs to become a habit and part of your routine, as there is no point in organizing it if you do not follow through and follow through on what you have planned.
How to divide complex tasks?
With the tool and objectives defined, it’s time to break down complex tasks into smaller, achievable actions. The type of work each person does can change this process, so before you start, have a clear vision of what these complex tasks are.
One way to do this is by mapping out your activities in a way that makes the most sense for your day-to-day life. On a sheet of paper, place the main activity, or objective, in the center and break it down into smaller tasks. The same can be done when the project is being done by a team, with the difference that different steps will be assigned to each person.
Understand how to divide tasks into three steps:
1- Create specific tasks
If a company is going to launch a new product, it is likely that the creation process began months, or even a year before. And each area has its role, be it the creative, production, sales or marketing teams. So, if you are on the marketing team, for example, your job is to promote the launch.
But this certainly involves a series of other activities, and for everything to be done strategically, they need to be listed specifically, such as “video campaign for Instagram”, “activation at event x”.
Within each action, new details will emerge, as in the video campaign, it may be necessary to create a script, capture images, record audio, hire someone to edit, review and approve. All of this needs to be described separately, otherwise there is no way to control the progress of the task.
2- Set deadlines
Dates are a guide for people to align and know how to plan these steps. Still in the launch example, once the date is confirmed, it is necessary to do reverse work, understanding how many days, weeks or months will be needed to execute this strategy.
Therefore, monitoring through a tool is important. Imagine that the process of promoting a new product began six months in advance, and there are actions that only happened during the week of the launch. If this is not recorded, it may go unnoticed, causing problems when the date approaches.
3- Use planning methods
There are several known methods for breaking down and completing tasks. One of them is Kanban , created in Japan and spread throughout the world because it is visual. It works through individual cards for each task, which are allocated on a board according to their status, such as “in progress” or “completed”. Today, there are simplified online versions that are even free, such as Trello, which work according to this system.
