2024-12-05 · Products & systems

A helpful to-do list structure:

- Dump initial tasks into the Dump without worrying about relationships.
- Affinitize tasks (cluster like with like), then name the task groups to avoid contriving the names of your lists/groups. Task groups should generally not exceed 5 business days (think of 4 days as the time box for each slice).
- Sequence unknowns/risky task group elements first and create inputs and outputs from one cluster to another if doing one set helps you do another (start with things with more outputs than inputs)
- Visualize state movement across: Not started, Unsolved, Solved, and Finished. You can indicate that using colors.
Kanban is great for disjointed ticket (reactive) work. Dumplink is excellent for whole and discrete project (meaningfully large and strategically important proactive) work, like new features or chunks of new products.

This is a great tool when kicking off a project on day one for development so PMs and developers can ensure they are seeing what is in each other's heads.

Discussion

How task groups relate to code:

**Second Order To-Do List Structure (Affinity + Sequencing + Visual States)**

**Key Idea:** Group tasks by affinity, tackle unknowns/risks first, and track tasks visually (e.g., Not Started → Unsolved → Solved → Finished).

- **Decomposition:**

- Breaking down shaped work into tasks.
- **Abstraction:**

- Roll tasks into groups to track progress at a second-order view to avoid getting stuck in the weeds of exact technical details at the outset.
- **Pattern Recognition:**

- Grouping tasks reveals **common themes** or recurring “types” of work.
- Helps you see patterns like repeated integration tasks or repeated design tasks.
- Identifies logical steps where finishing one cluster enables work on another.
- **Algorithm/Procedure:**

- Provides a **prioritization workflow**: do the risky/unknown tasks first and track through states (Not Started → Unsolved → Solved → Finished).
- Visualizing states keeps the team aligned on what’s next in a structured manner.