c8T Workflow
c8T workflow defines the flow of work for all of our projects, from design to marketing. Some project types have different phases and lists that they abide by. Some of the project types you may run across at c8T may include but are definitely not limited to:
- Projects
- Marketing
- Passive Income
- Onboarding ( you are here!:] )
- Proposals
This article will attempt to outline the policies and procedures of these workflows.
Projects
Project development is the largest and most complex workflow track at Mythic Table. It requires special consideration for a number of reasons:
- Prioritization
- Dependence and constraint coordination
- Complete and Accurate
- Collaboration
- and much more…
The Process
At c8T Table, we have adopted an agile/kanban approach to project planning. We collect tasks for all projects in a given milestone. We try to do this at the beginning of the milestone. Unfortunately, we may not have enough details available nor time available to fully flesh out the specifics of each of these projects. You’ll see the details that we have thought of in the Not Started status in most projects.
Development Stages and the Kanban Board
Our Development Board looks like this:
The columns represent the stages of work and they are controlled by statuses on the tasks. Statuses can be updated by opening the task and changing them directly or by dragging items from column to column. If you are reading this and are totally lost, check out this totally awesome crash course in the Kanban organization used at c8T. It is important to note that all tasks represented here are Stories of one sort or another. Keep that in mind as you proceed. There is more on task types below.
NOT STARTED
Tasks in this column are vague ideas of what needs to happen for the project to be a success. They may be placeholders or they maybe well thought out. It is important to note that these tasks are not started. Tasks will stay here until we are ready to commit to them. At which point they will be moved to Open
Open
This is an area in which we move tasks that we are committing to start soon and that we are attempting to flesh out. The work done in this area will outline the project and the scope of work needed to finish the project and it should be represented in the task description. Planning should not be done in task comments.
During the Open phase we will attempt to cover as much as possible from the steps required to complete the work to the acceptance criteria required to ensure the work is complete and accurate (see below). The steps are important because they assist others in collaborating with us. They help us break the work into small meaningful chunks that can be done in isolation and merged separately.
“No plan survives contact with the enemy”
No plan will ever account for everything, so when an item finishes this phase, it doesn’t mean the plan can’t change. In fact, we expect things to come up during development and that the steps and acceptance criteria will change. It’s important for us to continually update these.
In Progress
When an task is started by a team member it is moved into this column. It will remain here until all subtasks are complete and the results meet the requirements.
Before moving this task onto the next step a little time should be spent in updating the Task description. The following should be considered:
- Remove any tasks or description of areas that were not developed for whatever reason
- Update the Acceptance Criteria
- Make sure everything has been done to your satisfaction
Review
When a product is produced and placed in the project folder, it is ready for a review. This critical step allows an impartial reviewer to confirm the standards of the product against the acceptance criteria and to feed back into the system by:
- Approving the ticket and sending it to
Closed - Failing the ticket and sending it back to Open with a clear note as to why
Closed
As the title suggests, completed tasks go into here. They should never be reopened. Instead, new tasks should be used. This is key to our invoicing system as well; closed tasks are looked at to see what is left to be invoiced
Invoiced
Don’t even think about moving tasks to or from here. Only the person in charge of invoicing gets that privilege. Maybe one day you too can be in charge of sending clients emails about how much they owe for our services… one day. Until then, please don’t touch the invoiced tasks!
Priorities
Understanding how to use the c8T Development Board for priorities is important and thankfully very easy. Just use the following three rules when selecting the next item on which to work.
- Start from the right-most column (Review).
- Then go from top to bottom.
- If there is ANYTHING you can do to help with this process, that is what you work on next.
And that’s all there is to it. Thanks and looking forward to seeing you on the Boards!