myWork has several tools for getting work done: projects, milestones, tasks, sub-tasks, sticky notes, and the records of the work itself (repairs, work orders, orders). Most lost time comes from using the wrong one: a job split across two places, a task waiting on something nobody can see, a milestone with nobody planning it. This page tells you which tool fits, and where the detail is.
Which tool fits the work?
Five rules that keep work moving
- A task is work one person can do from start to end without waiting for anyone. It is done, for that person, when they hand it over with Finish. The review is the reviewer's work, not theirs.
- Work that has its own record stays on that record. A repair is worked on its RO-, a work order step on its WO-, an order on its MPO-. A task for the same work splits the conversation and counts the time twice.
- A stopped task always says why. Nobody should have to guess what a task is waiting for. See What a task is, and what to do when you are stuck.
- Finish or hand over before you start the next thing. Your company may allow only one task in progress at a time. Handing work over with Delegate or Wait for sub-tasks frees you to start the next one.
- The project manager decides what and by when; the department that delivers it decides how. A milestone can be given to a department, which names a leader to plan it. See Giving a milestone to a department.
Where to read next
If you do tasks
- Doing a task: start, output and finish - the everyday flow.
- What a task is, and what to do when you are stuck - the way out for every kind of stop.
- When a task is delegated to you - working a slice of someone else's task.
- Pausing a task and clocking out: what happens to your time.
If you give out work
- Creating and assigning tasks.
- Sub-tasks & delegation: how work rolls up the tree - breaking work down, handing it on, and what happens to your own task.
- Waiting tasks: one after another, and sent when people arrive.
- Reviewing work: rate, request changes & the 48-hour window.
If you run a project
- Milestones or tasks? Planning a project - getting the split right.
- Giving a milestone to a department - when the work needs a discipline you do not run.
- Running a container BESS project - the full walk-through for a real job.
- Reading a project's Timeline and Who can see a project, and who can change it.
If you lead a milestone
- Leading a milestone - planning the work, giving it to people, and reporting back.
If you manage people
- Finding and understanding your tasks - including the My department tab: what each of your people is working on.
- The Task Orchestrator: keep work moving while you are away.
Signs that work is stuck
Look for these on the Tasks page and on your projects. Each one has a fix.
- A task in Ready to start for days. Nobody has picked it up. Is it for the right person? Is the brief clear enough to start?
- A paused task with nothing in its chat. Nobody knows what it waits for. Ask, and see the way-out list in What a task is, and what to do when you are stuck.
- A task in Ready while its sub-task is being worked. Its owner handed the work on but never handed the task over. Wait for sub-tasks on that task fixes it.
- A task titled with a record number (an RO-, MPO- or WO- number). That work has its own record; work it there.
- A milestone marked "unled". It was given to a department that has not named a leader. Nobody is planning it yet.
- A milestone with no required task. Nobody is doing it.