The Ultimate Way to Finish Complicated Projects
Find progress no matter what.
I want to share with you a simple way that will greatly help you overcome technically challenging projects. Whether you’re writing a book, drafting a business plan, developing an app, apply this method to finish your most complicated tasks.
This method is known as ETIP (Elementary Task In Progress).
Elementary Task in Progress
An elementary task is an effortless and basic task that is hardly broken down into smaller, easier steps. The task in progress should always be so simple that its execution is straightforward.
Ask yourself, “what’s the most basic step I can take to get closer to my goal?” Identify that step. Work on it. That’s your ETIP.
If your work feels overwhelming, chances are, your tasks are not ETIPs. Follow these steps to turn your project into a series of ETIPs.
- Break the task in progress into simpler, more basic steps.
- For each step, break it up even further until it is in its most elementary form. This is your ETIP.
- Pick the first ETIP and start working on it.
- Once done with your first ETIP, move to the next one.
Unless a task is an ETIP, never work on it.
An Example
Let’s say you are part of a team that is building an online hotel booking app.
You are the person tasked with implementing the user profile screen. You receive a design mock-up (i.e. what the profile screen should look like) and a user story (i.e. the different actions the user can perform).
The user story goes like this:
- A user can upload their avatar picture.
- A user can check and edit their personal info: home address, travel interests, etc.
- The user can search for a hotel room in the city they are visiting.
The given user story is made up of three main tasks. You picked the first task from the above list and started working on it.
Soon, you discovered that you have no idea how to request permission to access the photo library on the user’s device. You are also not sure how to save the selected picture.
You see, the first task is far from being an ETIP—time to apply the ETIP method.
Task 1 breakdown
A user can upload their personal picture can be broken up into the following:
- Get access to the user’s device’s photos library.
- Select a picture from the list of available photos.
- Render the selected photo inside the placeholder.
- Save the photo in the database.
- Make a network request to display the picture every time the user navigates to the profile screen.
We just broke task 1 into five steps. Is step 1 an ETIP? It does not seem like it. Let us further break step 1 down into simpler, basic steps.
Step 1 breakdown
Get access to the device photo library step can be broken into:
1.1. Ask permission to access the user’s device’s photos library.
1.2. If permission is granted, launch the device’s photo library.
1.3. If permission is not granted, return a message to the user saying that permission to access the photos library is denied.
Step 1 is now made up of three simpler steps. Can you break these steps even further? Maybe you can.
However, in my experience, this is enough to start working on each step with simplicity. But if you can, break each step even further until it is in its most elementary form.
Pick the first step “Ask the user for permission to access their device photos library’’. This is now your ETIP. Start working on it.
Conclusion
The ETIP method is a wonderful technique to overcome any challenging project. Every time work feels too overwhelming. Break your task into basic and simple steps that you can execute easily.
Never work on a task unless you make sure its completion is simple. The ETIP method will help you always progress in completing your projects no matter how big your challenges.
