In this fast-paced digital world, time is of the essence & getting products shipped on time is
the need of the hour. With deadlines and never-ending iterations, managing work around the clock is a challenge for most designers and not matching timelines can create management crunch on other’s team’s timeline.

Occasionally, designers also deal with the abstraction (when requirements are not well-defined). Many clients aren’t able to visualise the unknown & hence, designers are expected to articulate the unknown within a limited scope of time.

So how can one plan tasks, especially in a highly stressful environment & get to the optimal
solution? Read on.

1. Step 1: Dissect Each Task Into Multiple Sub-Points

Remember, if eating a pizza is the task at hand, we do not gulp the entire pizza at once. Instead, we dissect the circle into smaller triangles for a smoother execution (did we just get you hungry? 😉 Similarly, if you were to finalize the visual design of the product, the first thing you’d need to do is define the brand guidelines & then experiment with the visual variations. Take approvals on their preferences and then apply them on a bigger sample set. This ensures more efficiency, lesser scope of misunderstanding due to middle management and fewer revisions, thereby keeping you and the client on the same page.

Getting clarity on what all one needs to completea task helps in planning and time allocation.

2. Step 2: Define Your Core Task  

Once you’ve defined & divided your set of tasks, the next step is to address the elephant in the room (not by size, but by value) Identifying the core task is the most important part of the solution and once that is defined, most of your heavy lifting is done (be ready to flex some brain muscle). In other words, the core task is “20% of the part which defines 80% of the solution”. For instance, at the wireframing stage, defining your homepage or dashboard is critical because they initiate most flows or summarise the entire product.

3. Step 3: Stimulate The Core Task In Your Mind  

Now that you’ve identified the core task, take 10-15 mins to visualize the steps required to complete it from start to finish. This will help review the overall flow of the task as well as probe you into the intricacies required to actually finish it. On concluding this step, you should have a list of dependencies (areas you need further clarity on) so that before you jump onto the flow of execution you can happily eliminate them.

4. Step 4: Keep Your Reference / Framework / Templates Handy

Once you have a clear understanding of the task at hand, find a references that will help you give a structure to your thoughts. It’s a lot easier to execute your workflow once you have reference to guide your starting point. Iterations will naturally follow as you progress.

Remember, train your brain to be a smart worker, not just a hard worker.

1. Step 5: Reflect on The Entire Process

Finally, when you’ve checked a task from the list (phewww!), sit back and ponder upon a few things. Evolve by asking these questions:

• What were the challenges you had to face?
• How could they be avoided?
• Any new experience & processes identified while working on those tasks?
• If you could do one thing differently, what would it be?

Takeaway:

No matter how good of a designer you are- until you prioritize your tasks, the thinking you’ve
done won’t see its glory. Organizing your thoughts will help you ship your innovation on the
right path.