To make sure I have got a true definition in mind as I put a system together I need to know exactly what a task or action is and how it is structured. The easiest way I always find is to brainstorm it and throw at it any connections I can think of.
A task :-
- A job, an action, assignment, duty, exercise, function, undertaking, piece of work
- Is undertaken, performed, done, acted on, worked on
- Has impact on the environment
- Changes something in the universe
- May need to be done by a certain time
- May need to be done by somebody
- May need to be done using certain skills
- Needs to be done a certain way
- Requires certain resources
- May not be understood
- May not be clearly defined
- Depends on what is to be done being understood
- May need to be done before, during or after another task
- Has been done
- Has not been done properly
- May need to be thought through
- Is impossible to do
- Is not worth doing
- Is too late
- Creates more tasks once done
- May need to be confined within certain resources
- Needs to be done in time
- Needs to be done in budget
- Needs to be done to a certain quality
- May need to be checked to see if it has been done
- Can be broken into subtasks or new tasks
- Can be aggregated into a new task
- Many together can form a workflow or project
- There may be certain criteria necessary for this task to be completed
- May not be based on a goal, milestone etc.
- May be direction, principle or ideal driven
- May need multiple combinations of resources to complete
- May not be finished
- Is being done right now
- Is not being done
- What do I care about this task
- Was done and no-one noticed or cared
- Was over done
- Was better if not attempted in the first place
- Was done brilliantly
- Should be done by someone else
- Is it really worth doing
- Is one that nobody wants to do
- Is accomplished in six stages
- May need to inform other resources that they may be needed or prepared
- May need to be recorded or monitored
- May need to be undone
- May not have changed anything
- Can be delegated
- May need to be stopped
- May need to be repeated
- If not done well will produce other remedial tasks
- Any criteria understood about the task may be known, unknown or completely wrong
- Isn’t defined properly
- Cannot be finished
- Needs to be deputed, delegated to someone else
- Is taking too long, costing too much
- Is completed early
- Has a context – only happens under certain conditions, methods, people, location etc.
- May be created by something on a regular/irregular basis
- May be created in something changes
- Increases the skill or history of the resources doing the task
- Has a definition
- Needs to be created, read, updated, deleted
- Needs to be visible, accessible
- Needs to be understood
- Transforms a system
- Begins, Is, and Ends
- Needs to be created and then only accessed or thought about when it needs to change or be done
- Is a definition of a perceived change to the universe
- May create unplanned or even unknown tasks
- Has a pretask, posttask state
- May be better done another way
- Has been planned and scheduled
- Has been paid for
- Has been checked and passed
Time to walk away, let’s see if others come to mind. Later I will come back and start pulling out the structure… clean it up and mind map it… I think mindmop is a good term for it.