Chapter 10: Managing Projects and Tasks with Microsoft Planner and To-Do

Managing projects and tasks is a challenge for individuals and teams. Some people try to track tasks using emails, notes, and spreadsheets. To make matters worse, there is a lot of confusion around agile methodologies. The result is reworking, wasting resources, and chaos.

In this chapter, you will learn how to apply agile methodologies to your projects and how to use Microsoft Planner and Microsoft To-Do to manage tasks and projects effectively. We will cover the following topics:

• Understanding Agile methodologies
• Creating and customizing boards
• Managing files
• Adding and editing tasks
• Using conversations
• Grouping and filtering
• Copying a plan

Understanding Agile methodologies

Agility is a broad concept. To cut a long story short, decades ago, management approaches focused on command and control, centralized planning, functional organizations, and hierarchy. Although some organizations still benefit from predictive waterfall approaches to planning, most organizations and teams are embracing agile and hybrid approaches.

What does being Agile mean? Agile is characterized by certain behaviors, concepts, and techniques. The Agile Manifesto (https://agilemanifesto.org/), introduced in 2001, emphasizes individuals and interactions, working products (increments), customer collaboration, and responding to change. Instead of creating a plan that details everything in advance, agile focuses on prioritization, continuous delivery, and continuous improvement.

There are many agile frameworks and methodologies. The two most widely known and adopted ones are Scrum and Kanban. The following diagram depicts a representation of the...

Creating and customizing boards

You can access Microsoft Planner from https://www.office.com/, or you can visit https://tasks.office.com/ directly:

1. On the left side, there is an option to create a new plan.
2. Once you click on that, you have to define a name for your plan, as shown in Figure 10.4, and then you can click on Create plan:

Figure 10.4 – Creating a new plan

3. Once the plan is created, you will have access to it, as shown in Figure 10.5:

Figure 10.5 – Customizing your plan

4. You may customize columns as required. Double-click with your mouse's left button to edit the column's name. You can also add or remove columns as needed. Once you are happy, you can add team members to your plan from the upper right, as shown in Figure 10.6:

Figure 10.6 – Adding members

Before we add tasks, it is important to set up how you will manage files, which we...

Managing files

By clicking on the three dots for more options on the upper tab, you can select Files, as shown in Figure 10.7:

Figure 10.7 – Accessing files from Microsoft Planner

Another tab on your browser will open, as shown in Figure 10.8. It is important to understand that the plan you created in Microsoft Planner is connected to a SharePoint site and a document library that will help you and your team in collaborating on files in real time, co-authoring files with version control:

Figure 10.8 – Creating folders and files

As well as creating folders and files, you can upload documents from your computer. To keep your files organized, I recommend that you create folders for your team, as shown in Figure 10.9:

Figure 10.9 – Organizing folders

Now, let's get back to our plan – creating tasks and assigning tasks to team members.

Adding and editing tasks

Adding tasks is easy and flexible. You just need to click on Add task, as shown in Figure 10.10, and type the names of your tasks on each column or bucket. You can drag and drop tasks between buckets as needed:

Figure 10.10 – Adding tasks to Microsoft Planner

Once you have added a task, you can double-click on the task to edit it. You can assign one or more team members to a task, edit Bucket, and update the Progress and Priority fields. You can also add start and end dates; both are optional. You can include a description of the task under Notes, and you can create subtasks under Checklist, as shown in Figure 10.11:

Figure 10.11 – Editing tasks in Microsoft Planner

In Figure 10.11, as an example, I added more information to a specific task. It is also possible to add attachments, connecting files from the document library to the task, which is very useful in helping your team members to access...

Using conversations

As the project progresses, team members need to communicate regarding tasks. You can use conversations from inside a task. As a result, only the people assigned to that task will focus on the conversation without distracting other team members with emails and group messages.

To start a conversation, simply click on the task and type your message under the Comments section, as shown in Figure 10.12:

Figure 10.12 – Conversations and comments on a task

Conversation records will be stored on the task as people reply to your messages. On top of that, you will receive an email about a conversation on a task assigned to you, as shown in Figure 10.13:

Figure 10.13 – Email notifications about comments on tasks assigned to you

You already know how to create and customize a plan, how to create and edit tasks, and how to organize files and conversations. What's next? As the number of tasks increases, you...

Grouping and filtering

By using Microsoft Planner, you can group or filter tasks. Grouping means you will organize tasks in columns by Bucket, Priority, Labels, and Assigned to. To choose, find the Group by option at the upper right, as shown in Figure 10.14:

Figure 10.14 – Grouping tasks

You should try to group tasks by Priority, Assigned to, or Labels. This will help you to organize tasks visually beyond buckets. As well as grouping tasks, you can filter tasks, as shown in Figure 10.15:

Figure 10.15 – Filtering tasks in Microsoft Planner

Filtering means that only tasks that pass a specific rule will be shown. For example, I can filter on tasks assigned to me. All other tasks that are not assigned to me will not show up in the results, as shown in Figure 10.16:

Figure 10.16 – Filtering example

As you can imagine, it is possible to combine grouping and filtering, as necessary. A common question...

Copying a plan

To copy a plan, you go to Planner hub, click on the three dots on the plan you want to copy, and then click on Copy plan, as shown in Figure 10.17:

Figure 10.17 – Copying a plan

You can edit the name of your new plan and select what information you want to copy, as shown in Figure 10.18. You also have to select a group, and then just click Copy plan:

Figure 10.18 – Choosing what information to copy

Microsoft Planner is a flexible and intuitive task management tool. In this chapter, you learned how to use the main features to organize tasks and teams. As you explore Planner, you will find better ways to collaborate with your team.

Summary

As a final word, although Microsoft Planner is a simple tool, it is very powerful. You can adopt any methodology you want. However, be advised that you and your team must reach an agreement on how to work together. Otherwise, you may end up with a big mess with multiple plans in Microsoft Planner. Think of Microsoft Planner as an infinite virtual board in comparison to the physical boards you have in your office.

Establishing your way of working is important to get the most out of the tool. By way of analogy, you would not have multiple boards and Post-it notes in different rooms of your building without a purpose and organization. The same applies to Microsoft Planner. Keep yourself and your team organized.

As you define a workflow and methodology, you will benefit from Microsoft Planner's features and integrations with other Microsoft 365 applications, making you and your team more productive.

In the next chapter, you will learn how to create a workflow and...