How to Organize Your Planner Like a Boss

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Author: Kasandra Murray

As the owner of Unlucky Umbrella Studio, Kasandra focuses on the importance of growing marketing and operations together. She has over a decade of experience in management, operations, and marketing. She aims to help businesses resolve critical issues and increase revenue, which leads to happier clients and a better work culture.

Wondering how to use Microsoft Planner for project management?

We’ve been using Microsoft Planner effectively for years now and have fine-tuned how we delegate, manage, and stay on top of tasks, from small one-off projects to large projects that can last months and require multiple people to execute. Continue reading to discover some of our core principles and organizational tactics for Microsoft Planner.

Keep it Simple

We always operate under the principle of K.I.S.S. (keep it short and simple). As humans, it’s in our nature to take the path of least resistance. It’s similar to how people naturally create desire paths or desire lines. Whatever the shortest way from start to finish is, that is the way we will pursue it. Applying the natural tendencies of humans to your processes and organization increases your likelihood that individuals in your organization will follow them. If someone is taking a shortcut, ask “Why.” It's likely due to something not optimized in your process. See if you can change it to make it easier for your users.

Create A New Plan for Big Projects and Miscellaneous Tasks

Think of plans as a way to categorize your tasks. There are plenty of ways to do this, but remember to keep it simple. We’ve found success creating plans that are department-specific or client-specific. Before creating a new plan, consider whether an existing one can be adapted or used instead. Less work for you and the people the tasks are for!

Use the Now-Next-Later Method

Example of how we use the Now Next Later Method

Coined by Janna Bastow, the Now-Next-Later method of organizing tasks has been a game changer for us. It simplifies the prioritization process and helps our junior employees quickly know what they should focus on. It also provides a level of flexibility we couldn’t achieve when trying to plan through other tools like calendars or Gantt charts. We’ve added a bucket named “Need Stakeholder Approval”. If new ideas or tasks arise while employees are working on projects, they can add them to the list for later approval.

Here is each bucket from he method and how we paired it with Microsoft Planner:

• ❗Now (Assign Due Date and User)

  • Use these tasks to prioritize the most important tasks

  • Limit tasks to 1-2 per user in this bucket (too many tasks in the now bucket muddles the water)

  • Assign a due date (so it shows up on the user’s “My Task” list with a date, and they get

• ⏳ Next

  • The Next bucket should be tasks that are more urgent than the Later bucket and can be moved by you or your team as they complete their Now tasks.

  • Optional: Assign tasks to users if you want to build out their task backlog.

  • Optional: Do NOT assign a Date (this helps reduce priority confusion, but sometimes doesn’t work for every project)

• 📅 Later

  • The Later bucket should be low priority or tasks that are dependent on other tasks first. Continue to move items from the Later bucket into the Next bucket as your team completes tasks.

  • Do NOT assign users

  • Do NOT assign tasks

• 👍👎Needs Stakeholder Approval

  • You or your team can use this bucket to add new tasks that require stakeholder approval before working on them.

Schedule a Standing Meeting To Update Plans accordingly

Depending on the project, you’ll want to schedule a regular standing meeting with your team. Sometimes, that may mean once a day, once a week, once a month, or as needed. Remember to keep it simple and consider your team’s time. Ask your team when you need to meet next if you're unsure of how often meetings should be scheduled.

Stay Flexible

Understanding that every project is different and the needs of your teams may vary, be open to trying new things. Tweak the process to accommodate the desired paths we discussed earlier. Continuously solicit feedback from your team and identify opportunities to implement incremental improvements to the process over time.

Do you have a project you are struggling to get off the ground?

Contact us today to see how we can help!