40 Tasks and Deadlines

Creating a Task List

To begin the nuts-and-bolts planning process, you must first make a list of all the tasks that are going to be done. Let’s say you are going to paint a room. Tasks might include:

• Get paint samples
• Choose a paint color
• Remove all furniture
• Take off trim
• Paint trim
• Apply first coat
• Apply second coat
• Put trim back in
• Put all furniture back in

How detailed the task list becomes is up to you. We suggest writing the task list in the way that you will accomplish it. For example, if you are going to apply the first coat of paint yourself; you may want to include all steps, such as crack-filling, sanding, taping, etc. If, however, you are contracting the task out, “Apply first coat” may be the only item you need to monitor. (Your painter probably wouldn’t appreciate being micro-managed!)

Estimating Time

When building your schedule, never guess times. Gather the most reliable information possible and use a scientific formula to get the best estimate. The better your estimates, the more reliable your plan will be.

First, make a table, list your tasks, and fill in the estimated time for each. (We have numbered our tasks in the example on the next page for easy identification.) Time can be listed in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. You should keep the same time scale for each task.

Next, identify what the best and worst case estimates would be. Now, for each task, plug the numbers into the formula given above. The result is the estimated time.