Welcome back. In the last video, I shared some tips for conducting online research to help improve your domain knowledge and discover tasks to add to your project plan. In this video, you'll learn how to identify more tasks by analyzing key conversations related to the project. The Sauce and Spoon project is fairly complex and will result in a project plan with many tasks. Populating your plan with a set of tasks can indicate to future employers that you're able to identify key areas of work based on documentation, research, conversations, and more. It can also demonstrate that you're able to synthesize these tasks into a single, organized document, which is a critical part of project management. Reviewing project documentation and researching your project online can help you identify tasks, but that won't tell you everything you need to know. Discussions with other people working on the project, from stakeholders to team members, can help you uncover tasks that you're still missing or clarify the smaller subtasks. Let's start with tips for identifying tasks through group conversations with members of your project team. One way to discover more tasks is to hold a group brainstorm session with team members who will likely work on those tasks. For example, Peta might meet with the Sauce and Spoon project team to brainstorm potential challenges that the waitstaff and guests might have with the tablets. Discussing these as a group can help identify ideas for tasks that may have been overlooked. Another way to discover tasks is to hold one-on-one conversations with team members about tasks they'll likely be responsible for completing. For example, you might have a discussion with a vendor who specializes in training restaurant employees to determine how to prepare for the training, or you might reach out to a graphic designer to discuss creating new marketing materials. Your team, outside vendors, and company executives have specific expertise and job experience that gives them a deeper understanding of the work required to complete tasks or reach milestones. Through conversations with teammates, you might learn that certain tasks are more complex than you assumed, or that you're missing a key step of a given process. In this case, leverage the expertise of your teammates to discover what you don't know and to fill in gaps in your list of tasks. In addition to connecting with teammates to uncover project tasks, it may also be helpful to consult with other people in your organization who are experts on given tasks. Though these people may not be involved in your project, they may be able to provide valuable expertise that can help you identify processes and fill in gaps. Once you've connected with members of your project team and other experts in your organization, examine your list of tasks. Are there still areas where you need more information? If so, it may be helpful to have a conversation with your key stakeholders to fill in any gaps. As we've discussed, senior stakeholders are often busy with other aspects of their jobs, so you should be strategic about who to ask for a conversation. Stakeholders who have high- or medium-level interest or influence in the project are most likely to provide the information you need. Some examples include stakeholders who are subject matter experts and those who are directly affected by the outcome of the project, like your team's leadership. You can refer back to your stakeholder analysis for help deciding who would be best to connect with. Once you've identified which stakeholders would be most helpful, make sure you're prepared by gathering as much information as possible ahead of your conversation and outlining clear outstanding questions that you still need answers to. During the conversation, present your research and your current list of tasks and explain exactly how they can help you move forward. This will give your stakeholder a clear picture of what you've accomplished so far and help them to identify gaps or missing tasks that are required to achieve your goal. Ample preparation helps ensure that you can get the information you need while respecting the limited time of your stakeholders. Keep in mind that conversations you have about project tasks will often contain more details and information than you need to create a thorough list, but you may want to note some of this extra information since it may be useful later in the project. Each task on your list should be detailed enough that you'll be able to check in on progress and identify problems early on, but not so detailed that you're endlessly revising your project plan and burdening your team with the need to update you constantly on their work. The right level of detail to include in your task list will vary from project to project and team to team. Striking the right balance is a skill you'll develop over the course of your career. Let's do a quick recap. Discussions with other people working on the project can help you uncover missing tasks or clarify smaller subtasks. Some ways to uncover tasks include brainstorming with team members assigned to similar or related tasks. Holding one-on-one conversations with team members about tasks, consulting with other people in your organization who are experts on given tasks, and having conversations with stakeholders. The right level of detail to include in your task list will vary from project to project and team to team. As a project manager, a key part of your role is identifying the right level of detail and then synthesizing it into a clear, concise list of tasks in the project plan. In the upcoming activity, you'll review the supporting materials to uncover more task details and add them to the Sauce and Spoon project plan. Head to the activity to get started, and then meet me in the next video.
