Visualize Your Workstreams

One of the most helpful things you can do when you are doing cross-group or cross-team work, or working across multiple projects, is to show and share a simple map.  Here is an example:

When people can see the map, it’s a lot easier to follow the flow of work.  It’s also easier to see intersections or common touch points.  Most importantly, it’s easier to set expectations around what to expect, and what will be delivered when.

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Comments

• Anonymous
  September 25, 2012
  Hi JD Meier, I love this approach. Please could you let us know what tool you use to visualize your workstreams? Thanks

• Anonymous
  September 26, 2012
  @ Jason -- Thank you. I use a few tools of the trade:

1.  PowerPoint (the above visual is from PowerPoint)
2.  Whiteboard (I tend to sketch things on a whiteboard)
3.  Visio (when I need to do a really detailed and compact view, I default to Visio)