
So, I have finally set up the Trello board like I was supposed to. I didn’t realise that it was more a requirement than a request so its taken a little while for me to sort out. I have to admit that this has addressed a problem for me though.
The Goals Keep on Coming…
Once I started thinking about what it is that I wanted to learn, the kind of developer I wanted to be and the tools and knowledge that I would require, the SMART goals started coming thick and fast. The problem that I started to experience was simple overwhelm. More specifically, I was struggling with the effectiveness of the tool that I was using which was Workflowy. I could not see where I was in relation to the tasks that I had already defined and frankly it was making me very reluctant to issue myself with any more goals, despite them being identified as necessary. I have experienced this in the past and know to visualise the tasks, usually using pieces of paper and a time line on the wall. I think that my experience with Trello in the past was not that good as I, and the leadership of the Commercial Game project on the BA were constantly on it and found that many team members didn’t pay any attention to it therefor wasting out own time. I think that how I feel about Trello was linked to that experience more than how effective the tool can actually be. I am happy to have been pushed into using it a second time and time (and use) will tell if its ‘Team Trello’ or, well, just get out of my face Trello!

Deciding on a Structure
This was a little tricky but nothing that a little thought could not sort out. I am pleased that I am somewhat late to the party and I learned a lot from Sam’s very, very good journal and posts on Canvas about his use of Git Trelloish, which I strongly believe to be the name of that tool… It might be Git Kraken Glo. Might be. I like the way that Michael Scott set up the Trello board in the example video and I think that using the ‘user stories’ approach makes a lot of sense if there is one project to a board. But, I think that for that tasks that I have to accomplish, Sam’s idea (which was the same as mine, I promise!) was that one list should have all the SMART goals and then the other lists track tasks that are related to them. So, thats what I decided to do. I now have a list of all the SMART goals and have created a label for each of them that is used to link the smaller task cards that will move around the board. I also decided that for the most part the main card that resides in the SMART goal list will contain a detailed set of checklists so that I can track how for I think I am through a particular goal. From that card I have extracted a task or three that has gone into a list called Sprint To Do and I would like these completed by the 30th of this month. I have made sure that all of the goals that I have identifies so far are represented in that list ensuring (hopefully) that all of the goals move forward in some meaningful way by the deadline. I have also put a work in progress limit on the In-Progress list of 3. This eliminates that uncomfortable feeling that you ‘should be doing something else’, common to large sets of tasks. I think that this will work well and I expect that I will be more productive and focused thanks to using this board.

I Do Like a Good List

So, the way that I have thought through the lists is this. I started off with Michael Scott’s version with the Project To Do in there too but quickly found that it was really a double for the the SMART goals list so I took it out. However, I have already found that I need some other sort of ‘dumping ground’ for things that are not real objectives yet but that I do not want to lose track of either. This lead to the inclusion of the list called Goals and Activity Ideas. This is a place to put things that may form into full on SMART goals or not. From there I have gone through each of the defined SMART goals and pulled at least one, but usually two or three tasks, and put them into a list called Sprint To Do. Thats the pool of things that I can then draw forward into the list In-Progress. I have put a WIP limit on this as I said (you were listening, right?) as it prevents the task flood. From there, the task hits the Update Journal list and I am pretty pleased with this. I have been struggling to track what I should be talking about sometimes with regard to my own personal practice. I think covering the course material is obvious enough but sometimes I just don’t post about what I am doing, making it look like I’m not doing anything. So, Im really keen to see if this list does what I think it will and have me updating the journal more frequently. From there tasks go to Peer and Staff review so that I can get some much valued feedback about things and if all is good and I have been a good lad, then its onto the Complete list. I’m not sure what happens if I’m not a good lad though.