The desire for flow permeates all projects. Unfortunately, however, not everyone manages to create or communicate the potential flow in any given project. Read how you can use the Half Double-methodology’s concrete tool to create documented progress in your project.
It creates instant flow, when the project participants work on the project within the same timeframe, regardless of whether they participate in-person or remotely. It makes communication between participants faster and simpler. This is a sentiment we often hear from our customers. But in many organizations, it is a well-known challenge, that most project participants are key resources. This means, that they possess competencies that are unique to them or that only very few employees in the organization possess. This can make it very difficult to allocate employees entirely for project work, as their competencies are often also necessary for the operation or the business. Therefore, it is important that the collaboration that happens in projects, is as effective as possible and with no downtime. The Half Double-methodology ensures a number of tools and principles that can accommodate and minimize this challenge.
Create flow with these 3 tools
Half Double’s structure defines three core elements: Flow, Impact and Leadership, each with their own collection of tools and methods. The core element Flow utilizes the three following tools:
- Co-location
- Visual planning
- Rhythm in key events
Create presence, and minimize ineffective dialogues
Start by electing part of the group as the core team. These project participants are typically responsible for deliverables in the project or possess a key function within the organization. Their roles or titles in the project can be project manager, co-project manager, co-ordinator test manager, product owner or scrum master. These participants need to be allocated at least 50% to the project, on the same days of the week. With this initiative, you are likely to experience a significant boost in the project’s performance. In Half Double, this type of allocation is a premise, and not just something, that project managers have to argue with detailed estimates of the participants’ concrete tasks in the project, in order to make it happen.
When you have allocated minimum 50%, the next challenge is typically to get a project room for your project, so you are really doing co-allocation. This challenge was confirmed by the participants at our webinar, where only 20% agreed, that it is easy to get a permanent project room. It is also a challenge many of our customers face, because the number of conference rooms are limited and as a rule cannot be permanently assigned to individual projects. Therefore, you may need to think creatively in order to create a stable project framework. This can for example be done by placing the project at the back of an open-plan office. Or by utilizing online tools, making the project room virtual.
Although it can be difficult to create a common project, we often see, that it is precisely one of the key factors, that make a big impact on the projects flow. This is caused by the shared location often meaning that a lot of focus is put on the project’s activities instead of everyday operational tasks.
Create a steady rhythm
The other tool that is a part of Flow can initially be mistaken as a classic meeting calendar for the project’s meetings. But it is way more than that! The first significant difference is the period of time that the calendar covers. The traditional meeting calendar typically covers several months or twelve months to a whole year. Half Double’s calendar tool, called Ryth in key events, only covers to period that the project’s sprint consists of.
In Half Double it is expected that a sprint typically lasts 4 weeks. But we have on several occasions seen a local altering of this area to ensure that the project’s sprint is in time with the organization’s other projects and activities. In these cases, a sprint can be agreed to be for example 2 or 3 weeks. Regardless of the duration of the sprint, the important part of the rhythm in key events, is that it is reviewed after each sprint. In this way, the team can decide which meetings are essential to have and which should be dropped.
Ryth in key events is especially useful, when you want to create cohesion and focus on important milestones, deliverables and steering group meetings. Two of the meeting types we often see bring great value, is one meeting every other week and one daily morning meeting. The morning meeting for the core team consists of a walkthrough and a co-ordination of the project’s tasks and challenges. This creates an involvement of details and an understanding of each other’s tasks, and what co-ordination is needed to make them succeed. In the second meeting, the project owner is present in the project room and outlines the project’s solution together with the core team. Through this, the project owner becomes familiar with the project and the core team, which gives better insight leadership-wise, and an understanding for the handling of challenges and problems.
We can only recommend, that you take a closer look at the tools included in the core element flow, if you want to be inspired by project tools, that create speed and intensity in the project’s exportation.
