How to plan projects in the open, without the stress

How can you define project requirements, engage multiple stakeholders, delegate work, and track progress—all in the open? Here's one tried-and-true method.
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I see the same conundrum over and over again with my clients: how to plan and manage work in a way that keeps people on their toes—but doesn't make them want to rip their hair out. (Trust me, you think I have this little hair for some generic reason?)

It doesn't seem difficult, right? Figure out what you want to work on, make a plan for working on it, and deliver. Job done.

Not quite.

Consider these questions:

  • How do you gather and understand requirements?
  • How do you track those requirements?
  • How do you map them into real work that someone can deliver?
  • How do you clarify when the work should be completed, what success looks like, and who is involved?
  • How do you track all this without bogging down your execs (or your teams) with too much detail?

In the next episode of my open organization video series, I present an overview of the methodology I use with clients. It is simple, effective, open, and can work across startups to large-scale enterprises.

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Jono Bacon is a leading community manager, speaker, author, and podcaster. He is the founder of Jono Bacon Consulting which provides community strategy/execution, developer workflow, and other services. He also previously served as director of community at GitHub, Canonical, XPRIZE, OpenAdvantage, and consulted and advised a range of organizations.

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