TSPi Support Tools document (pdf) - Carnegie Mellon University

9.14. The Task Planning Template: TASK
The TASK form is first completed in the planning phase and updated every week thereafter.
Things to Check: TASK Form
The first thing to check on the TASK form is that the engineers have produced a sufficiently
detailed plan. No engineer should have tasks that are planned to take more than about ten hours.
If any do, suggest ways to subdivide these tasks and have the team leader get the forms corrected
and review them the next week.
If the team is using the TSPi tool, much of the work of completing the TASK form will be done
by the tool. Then all you need to check are that the tasks are properly entered and that the proper
products and phases are identified for each task. Also, examine the actual hours for each
completed task to ensure that the engineers have been properly entering the tasks on the LOGT
forms. Finally, make sure that the engineers entered the week when each task was done.
Interpreting the Data: TASK Form
From the TASK form, you can determine whether the teams have a reasonably balanced
workload or one or more of the engineers is overloaded. After the teams have worked for a week
or so, examine the updated TASK forms to see which students have completed their tasks on time
and which ones are falling behind. The data on the TASK form also show how the team is
progressing and can help you anticipate problems. A typical problem is that one or two engineers
are consistently late and are delaying the entire team. The team leader should then consider
rebalancing the team's workload to reduce the work for these engineers.
Common Reporting Mistakes: TASK Form
If the teams are not using the TSPi tool, they must complete the TASK form manually. This
requires that the engineers obtain their time data from the time logs and accumulate these data on
the TASK form against the proper tasks and products. They must also note the week each task
was completed and determine the earned value for each completed task. They generally have a
substantial volume of data, so this is a highly error-prone activity.
General Comments: TASK Form
The TASK form provides a key tool for tracking team progress. It is important that the engineers
complete it correctly and that they update it every week. Examine the TASK forms every week to
ensure that the teams are updating them properly and that the work is proceeding roughly as
planned.
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