Design a task assignment form for an app.

Clarify:

What is this app about? – App for managing outcomes and conclusions from sprint planning meetings

Is task assignment in an office or non-office setup? – Office setup

Is this a desktop app or a mobile app? – Desktop & Mobile

Any specific country this app is for? – This app is used by teams across the globe

Target users:

Program managers (alike) – who summarize outcomes and assign tasks to devs, product owners

Devs/ Product mgrs (alike) – who are assigned a task and have to take action, respond

Managers – who need an overview of pending actions, status, person assigned to

Scope: 

Program managers

             Desktop app

User journey:

Summarize outcome - > List action points - > Identify owners for action points - >  Put down ETA - > Follow up for task completion - > Update action point status

Pain points

• Misses key action points/ tasks 
• Ends up identifying the wrong owner for a task
• Don’t get a reply from action owners. Needs a lot of follow up 
• Don’t understand the grey areas/ status of a task that are currently in flight.
• Miss focus on key blockers 

 Evaluation criteria: Impact on timelines (IT), Impact on productivity/ cost (PC), Likelihood of happening (LH)

Misses key action points/ tasks – IT High, PC Medium, LH Medium – P2

Ends up identifying the wrong owner for a task – IT High, PC Medium, LH Medium – P3

Don’t get a reply from action owners. Needs a lot of follow up – IT High, PC Medium, LH High – P1

Don’t understand the grey areas/ status of a task in mid way – miss focusing on the correct problems – IT Medium, PC low, LH Medium – P5

Miss focus on key blockers – IT High, PC Low, LH Medium  - P4

Solutions:

Evaluation criteria: 

Impact on timelines (IT), Impact on productivity/ cost (PC), Effort required to build

1. Quickly type and validate task list with participants – via recommended text, click and select options, one click participant selection – IT medium, PC Low, EF Low
2. Set up frequency of reminder notification to action owner for task completion – IT High, PC Medium, EF Low
3. Mark tasks as critical blockers – IT High, PC Low, EF Low
4. Allow provision for escalation to manager if ETA is not met – IT High, PC Medium, EF Low
5. Review user record of timely task completion, recommend buffer in ETAs – IT High, PC Low, EF Medium

 Final solution of task assignment form:

·      Create/ assign tasks  to users

·      Set up frequency of reminder notification to action owner for task completion

·      Mark tasks as critical blockers – accordingly update notification subject, mark to manager for critical tasks

·      Review user record of timely task completion, recommend buffer in ETAs

KPIs:

North star: % tasks completed within ETA

Feature level KPIs:

#tasks assigned per month

# notifications setup

#tasks by criticality

#escalations to manager

#resolutions within ETA post escalations to manager

Change in task completion rates within ETA from users at different ratings