What is the preferred number of tasks to assign?

Question

I am going to lead a small team for the first time in my career and I am determined to not subject my team to the same issues that I perceive to have been subjected to as a programmer.This question is about one such issue. Some managers that I worked with usually assigned one task at a time and assigned the next task only when I completed the task at hand. Some managers used to assign a few tasks at a time, along with their priorities and left me to tackle them in the order that I liked.I like the latter method, since it allows me to take a break and work on another task, if I hit a wall on any one task. But the managers who preferred the former method probably did so for a good reason.So my question is, how do I choose, as a manager, the right way of assigning tasks? If you feel your personal experience as a manager or programmer assigning or getting assigned tasks contributes to the answer, please share it.As an engineer I tried to look at it as a operations research problem, but I just want to ensure that if there is anything more to it, I don't overlook it.Thanks.

Answer 1

Having a list of tasks to work on is the most efficient method. Here is the technique I found most useful with my teams. I create lists with my team members, meet with them daily (stand up meeting using the Agile method), we prioritize the lists, they are allowed and encouraged to shift priorities when they hit road blocks, and we have a goal to complete a number of tasks by a date. Here is an example. I had a team that needed to create over 80 drawings in a short time. So I worked with the team to determine how many we could do in a week- on the average. They determined that they could do 6 per week. So my goal was by Friday that 6 would be done and it did not matter which 6. Yes this puts a lot control in their hands- but that is the point. I develop teams to be empowered and internally motivated. By doing this they accomplish more and take the time to make sure we do not miss anything. External motivation (common with handing out a single task) means people do only enough to get someone off of their back and ignore other problems. My team members are happier and more productive.

Answer 2

I will answer this question from the viewpoint of my career as a senior project scheduler. In my schedules, I try to find the 'right' level of detail for the tasks. And I assign a person or group to the task. And the task is tied to a deliverable, product, or event. The tasks are also sequenced and tied together so that we can forecast when we will achieve key milestones and the project finish.

So with that simple overview of how I build out tasks, now I will address how I manage them and discuss them with the team. I believe that the person assigned the tasks should know that they are assigned the tasks. So I produce two reports weekly. The first is the list of tasks that need to be updated by each person or their lead. These tasks should have started or need to be updated. If they got delayed, I need to know because it may change the project forecasts. The second report is a look-ahead report. Each person should know what tasks are coming up.

So in my belief, the project team members should be fully aware what tasks they are assigned, when those tasks should start and when they should be finished. They should also know when the project is scheduled to achieve key milestones and how these dates can be impacted if tasks are delayed. Information sharing is the key. And let's not forget that the people performing the tasks should have had the opportunity to provide input into the task durations. There should be no surprises. Hope that helps!