Prathima's Miles & Milestones

I love being organised. I am “obsessed” about keeping things neat and tidy. Yes, you can relate me to Monica from FRIENDS. (wink)

Initially I was obsessed with semi-colons and now its agile. So when eventually when I heard about the rituals of agile, I fell in love with it. When I started my career as a developer, I was a part of the Scrum team. I eat, sleep and breathe agile practices. I used to have a inventory of suggestions but due to the project deadlines, it was a flash in the pan.

In a couple of years, I changed my role from being a developer to a Scrum master. I fell in love for the simplicity of the project management tools like Trello, Balsamiq, Invison and so on. I love to explore the business domain of the product owner be it — Statistics, surveys, healthcare, amusement and so on. Once I get the complete knowledge of the realm, I usually list out my questions and relate better to the problem statement.

Eventually, I started applying the concepts in my personal life as well. I have a Trello board to list and track my progress for my Bucket list, Job Hunt, Dance, Gymnastics, Trips and so on. I even convinced my parents to follow one for monthly groceries so that it is coordinated and prioritised!

There’s always a `Plan B` when `Plan A` fails. So while formalising plans, we can easily think of the the scenarios. Eg: If I am organising a trip with my friends, I add a card with the description of the place, goals — be it adventure or a relax at the beach kind of vacation, tentative dates and so on. There will be various checklists for resorts options, nearby places, travel options, articles referred to and so on. My friends will comment on the same card if they have preferences, travel guide and so on. Once the items are finalised, we move the card to “Doing” list with a final checklist of “Things to carry”. After we are back, we move it “Accomplished” list 🙂 In this scenarios, there are always chances of `Plan B`. Due to the thorough research, its easy to switch plans without any disappointments.

So life is easy when things are organised — be it in a project or a hobby. Try to retrospect your progress for your priorities.

HINT: You can use JIRA for a weekly progress graph as well. Let me know your progress in the comments.

Good luck!