Webinar
Microsoft Planner 101
19th February 2020
We will try to answer
some questions during
the webinar, and a few
more at the end.
Both participating
companies will email
you the recording
within 48 hours (so you
won’t miss it!).
You can listen via your
computer or by dialling
the phone number in
the email you received
today.
Housekeeping
About ClearBox
ClearBox Consulting is a specialist independent consultancy
that believes in making the workplace a better and more
productive experience.We understand technology, but we
approach it from the people side first.
Our goal is to help organisations collaborate and communicate
more effectively.We specialise in intranets and the wider digital
workplace, including internal social media, enterprise mobile
strategies and real-time collaboration tools.
Sam Marshall
Managing Director
@SamMarshall
ClearBoxTraining andWorkshops
• SharePoint for Internal Communicators
• Office 365 for Business Leaders
• Intranet strategy & Management
• Intranet Governance
• Intranet Launch and Adoption
• Technology explained in business
terms
• Delivered in-house or virtually
• Up to 10 people
• Interactive, team exercises and real-
world examples
hello@clearbox.co.uk
How much experience do you
have with Planner?
• Seen it, not used it
• Just played with it
• Set up one real plan
• Using regularly
Poll
Agenda
 Planner basics
 Use Cases Part 1
 Planner set-up and principles
 Use cases Part 2
 Planner integrations
 Limitations & Frustrations
 Q&A
Introducing Planner
Teams gets all
the love
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Planner - Let’s
hear it for the
underdog
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Five things to know about planner
Based on
Kanban
board
concept
Great when
tasks are not
inter-
dependent
Free (as in
licensed,
not as in
beer)
Relies on
O365
Groups
Part of
Microsoft’s
vision for
unified
tasks
Kanban boards
How it looks
Haven’t I seen
that before
somewhere?
Trello
Main components of a Planner board
Priority
indicator
Due date
‘In progress’
indicator
Attachments Assignee
‘Buckets’
Task cards
• Create tasks and assign to
team members
• Show progress visually by
moving between buckets
What it can do
• Create tasks and assign to
team members
• Show progress visually by
moving between buckets
• Discuss issues in the
context of a task using
comments (limited)
• Add files and images
stored in SharePoint
• Tag with labels
• Add a checklist
What it can do
• Issue Management
• Search/filter
• Comments
[DEMO – Facilities Issue management]
• Website – tasks.office.com
• Office 365
• Groups
• Teams
Where to find it
• iOS and Android apps
• On a tablet
• To-do
Where to find it
Planner vs Project
Planner vs Project
Planner Project
Project scale Small Large
Task dependencies None Gantt chart
Milestones Fluid Significant
Resource workload Guestimate Plannable
Who updates Everyone Project Manager
Ease of use Intuitive Elvish runes
Cost Bundled At least one kidney
Typical use case Weather widget Colonise Mars
To-do is to Planner as OneDrive is to SharePoint
Planer vs To-do
Planner use cases: part 1
Need
• Magazine, intranet news or website
planning stories (sales pipeline too)
• Simple review and approval process
• Charts show workload
Editorial Pipeline Scenario
Editorial pipeline [Demo]
Need
• Magazine, intranet news or website
planning stories (sales pipeline too)
• Simple review and approval process
• Charts show workload
Design principles
• Don’t lose ideas
• Progress ideas at different rates
• View by contributor
• Document moves with process
Editorial Pipeline Scenario
Need
• Standing weekly agenda
• Make sure actions from last
week not lost
• Built-in OneNote for
minutes
Design principles
• Quick way to see if actions
overdue
• Any team member can add
agenda items
Variant: Meeting actions
Need
• Any ‘Request’ type service – IT, HR,
Procurement
• Works where whole request fits one
card
Design principles
• Any member can pick up a task
• Show urgent tasks easily
• Simple reporting on status
• Resume stalled tasks
Issue management scenario
Issue management scenario
Issue management – Stalled item card
Issue management scenario
• No ‘completed’ bucket
• Completed tasks normally
hidden or deleted
Planner set up and principles
• Create a new plan from
• Planner hub
• TeamsApp
• SharePoint team site
• Mobile App
• Tip: create the plan
wherever the group makes
most sense to you
• Copy a plan to use as a
template
Setting up a plan
• It also creates a Group
• Outlook mailbox
• Calendar (but not tied to schedule)
• SharePoint team site
• OneNote notebook
• Can I create a plan without a group?
• Only by assigning to an existing group
• You can have multiple plans per group
When you create a plan…
Public vs private plans determined
by group setting
Setting up a plan
• Use buckets for major ‘state’
changes
• Buckets are there to visually
limit work in progress
• Group by ‘Assigned to’ to check
people aren’t overloaded
• Profile photos help a lot
Good practices and Tips
• Use labels for attributes that
don’t change across buckets
• Use checklists for minor steps
• Use ‘template’ task cards for
consistent checklists
• Group by ‘Priority’ then drag
to change priority setting
Good practices and Tips
Deleting a plan is harder than you’d think!
Planner use cases: part 2
Our work
Report Production scenario
Need
• Complex report, many sections
• Some steps require iterations
• Multiple authors progress at
different rates
• Multiple sub-steps to complete
Design principles
• Clear overview of progress
• Detect when sections running late
• Organise by both vendor and
author
Report Production scenario
• Using a checklist for
within-stage steps
• Search and filtering
• Grouping
Demo – Complex Report
Virtual Workshops
• When you wish you could use
post its but people aren’t in the
room
• Dragging cards has tactile
appeal
• Multiple people can work at
once
• Combines well withTeams set
up for a workshop
• Encourages more details than
handwritten Sharpies
Virtual meeting facilitation Scenario
• Product reaction cards
• Idea collation
• Label categorise by
platform
• Assign yourself to a card to
‘vote’ for it (not as nice as
Trello)
[Demo – Workshop Facilitation]
Planner integrations
Planner and To-Do integration
Planner and Teams
Planner and Teams
Only shows plans
that are added to a
Team
Tasks in Teams on Roadmap
Planner and SharePoint
SharePoint web part for Planner
Example Integrations for Planner and Power Automation
• Create a Planner task for emails received in a shared
mailbox
• Create a daily digest of planner tasks and status
• Create a Planner task recurring every month
• Create a Planner task when a Microsoft Form is completed
• Create events in Outlook Calendar when Planner tasks are
added
• Post a message to Teams when a Planner task is created
• Post a message to Teams when a Planner task is
completed
Demo: Using Forms > Flow > Planner
Create a Planner task when a Form is completed
Form embedded on SharePoint page
1. Requires a full-fat Group
2. Assigning a task to an external gives them
access to the whole Group
3. Comments very limited
• No @mention
• No notifications unless a reply
• Emails for every comment – you can’t stop this
4. No import from Excel
5. Export to Excel looks like shit
6. Moving a task between plans doesn’t move
everything e.g. files or multiple tasks
7. Poor search
8. Only one checklist and max 20 items
Limitations and frustrations
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Planner and Trello features comparison
Planner Trello
Integration with Office365 apps Integration via Zapier, IFTTT etc.
Free with Office365 licence Free up to 10 team boards
One checklist within a task Multiple custom-named checklists within tasks
Start and due dates as standard Due dates only as standard
Analytics dashboards as standard Analytics dashboards via power-ups
Calendar view as standard Calendar view via power-ups
My tasks view for employees that aggregates tasks
from across plans
No equivalent as standard
Notifications are all or nothing @mentions in card discussions trigger notifications
Tasks can be assigned a priority No equivalent as standard
‘In progress’ indicator No equivalent as standard
No Excel import Import from Excel
• Planner basics
https://www.clearbox.co.uk/microsoft-planner-an-unsung-gem-in-
collaborative-task-management/
• Planner on Microsoft
https://products.office.com/en-gb/business/task-management-software
How notifications work
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/stay-on-top-of-tasks-and-plans-with-
email-and-notifications-cce223d6-b0ae-43cf-a080-266e2414a859
• Kanban
https://medium.com/@pullnews/kanban-for-everyone-f72fd4c327f9
Find out more
Q&A
ClearBoxTraining andWorkshops
• SharePoint for Internal Communicators
• Office 365 for Business Leaders
• Intranet strategy & Management
• Intranet Governance
• Intranet Launch and Adoption
• Technology explained in business
terms
• Delivered in-house or virtually
• Up to 10 people
• Interactive, team exercises and real-
world examples
hello@clearbox.co.uk
SharePoint intranets in-a-box
10% off
Planner101
clearbox.co.uk
30+ intranet products reviewed
600+ pages
Immediate download
Our expert assessments of products
that transform SharePoint into a useful
and useable intranet.
Connect
ClearBox Consulting
clearbox.co.uk
@ClearBox
hello@clearbox.co.uk
+44 (0) 1224 458746
Treliske House, Queens Park Road,
Chester, CH4 7AD, UK

Microsoft planner 101 - ClearBox Webinar

  • 1.
  • 2.
    We will tryto answer some questions during the webinar, and a few more at the end. Both participating companies will email you the recording within 48 hours (so you won’t miss it!). You can listen via your computer or by dialling the phone number in the email you received today. Housekeeping
  • 3.
    About ClearBox ClearBox Consultingis a specialist independent consultancy that believes in making the workplace a better and more productive experience.We understand technology, but we approach it from the people side first. Our goal is to help organisations collaborate and communicate more effectively.We specialise in intranets and the wider digital workplace, including internal social media, enterprise mobile strategies and real-time collaboration tools. Sam Marshall Managing Director @SamMarshall
  • 4.
    ClearBoxTraining andWorkshops • SharePointfor Internal Communicators • Office 365 for Business Leaders • Intranet strategy & Management • Intranet Governance • Intranet Launch and Adoption • Technology explained in business terms • Delivered in-house or virtually • Up to 10 people • Interactive, team exercises and real- world examples hello@clearbox.co.uk
  • 5.
    How much experiencedo you have with Planner? • Seen it, not used it • Just played with it • Set up one real plan • Using regularly Poll
  • 6.
    Agenda  Planner basics Use Cases Part 1  Planner set-up and principles  Use cases Part 2  Planner integrations  Limitations & Frustrations  Q&A
  • 7.
  • 8.
    Teams gets all thelove This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
  • 9.
    Planner - Let’s hearit for the underdog This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
  • 10.
    Five things toknow about planner Based on Kanban board concept Great when tasks are not inter- dependent Free (as in licensed, not as in beer) Relies on O365 Groups Part of Microsoft’s vision for unified tasks
  • 11.
  • 12.
  • 13.
    Haven’t I seen thatbefore somewhere?
  • 14.
  • 15.
    Main components ofa Planner board Priority indicator Due date ‘In progress’ indicator Attachments Assignee ‘Buckets’ Task cards
  • 16.
    • Create tasksand assign to team members • Show progress visually by moving between buckets What it can do
  • 17.
    • Create tasksand assign to team members • Show progress visually by moving between buckets • Discuss issues in the context of a task using comments (limited) • Add files and images stored in SharePoint • Tag with labels • Add a checklist What it can do
  • 18.
    • Issue Management •Search/filter • Comments [DEMO – Facilities Issue management]
  • 19.
    • Website –tasks.office.com • Office 365 • Groups • Teams Where to find it
  • 20.
    • iOS andAndroid apps • On a tablet • To-do Where to find it
  • 21.
  • 22.
    Planner vs Project PlannerProject Project scale Small Large Task dependencies None Gantt chart Milestones Fluid Significant Resource workload Guestimate Plannable Who updates Everyone Project Manager Ease of use Intuitive Elvish runes Cost Bundled At least one kidney Typical use case Weather widget Colonise Mars
  • 23.
    To-do is toPlanner as OneDrive is to SharePoint Planer vs To-do
  • 24.
  • 25.
    Need • Magazine, intranetnews or website planning stories (sales pipeline too) • Simple review and approval process • Charts show workload Editorial Pipeline Scenario
  • 26.
  • 27.
    Need • Magazine, intranetnews or website planning stories (sales pipeline too) • Simple review and approval process • Charts show workload Design principles • Don’t lose ideas • Progress ideas at different rates • View by contributor • Document moves with process Editorial Pipeline Scenario
  • 28.
    Need • Standing weeklyagenda • Make sure actions from last week not lost • Built-in OneNote for minutes Design principles • Quick way to see if actions overdue • Any team member can add agenda items Variant: Meeting actions
  • 29.
    Need • Any ‘Request’type service – IT, HR, Procurement • Works where whole request fits one card Design principles • Any member can pick up a task • Show urgent tasks easily • Simple reporting on status • Resume stalled tasks Issue management scenario
  • 30.
  • 31.
    Issue management –Stalled item card
  • 32.
    Issue management scenario •No ‘completed’ bucket • Completed tasks normally hidden or deleted
  • 33.
    Planner set upand principles
  • 34.
    • Create anew plan from • Planner hub • TeamsApp • SharePoint team site • Mobile App • Tip: create the plan wherever the group makes most sense to you • Copy a plan to use as a template Setting up a plan
  • 35.
    • It alsocreates a Group • Outlook mailbox • Calendar (but not tied to schedule) • SharePoint team site • OneNote notebook • Can I create a plan without a group? • Only by assigning to an existing group • You can have multiple plans per group When you create a plan…
  • 36.
    Public vs privateplans determined by group setting Setting up a plan
  • 37.
    • Use bucketsfor major ‘state’ changes • Buckets are there to visually limit work in progress • Group by ‘Assigned to’ to check people aren’t overloaded • Profile photos help a lot Good practices and Tips
  • 38.
    • Use labelsfor attributes that don’t change across buckets • Use checklists for minor steps • Use ‘template’ task cards for consistent checklists • Group by ‘Priority’ then drag to change priority setting Good practices and Tips
  • 39.
    Deleting a planis harder than you’d think!
  • 40.
  • 41.
  • 42.
  • 43.
    Need • Complex report,many sections • Some steps require iterations • Multiple authors progress at different rates • Multiple sub-steps to complete Design principles • Clear overview of progress • Detect when sections running late • Organise by both vendor and author Report Production scenario
  • 44.
    • Using achecklist for within-stage steps • Search and filtering • Grouping Demo – Complex Report
  • 45.
  • 46.
    • When youwish you could use post its but people aren’t in the room • Dragging cards has tactile appeal • Multiple people can work at once • Combines well withTeams set up for a workshop • Encourages more details than handwritten Sharpies Virtual meeting facilitation Scenario
  • 47.
    • Product reactioncards • Idea collation • Label categorise by platform • Assign yourself to a card to ‘vote’ for it (not as nice as Trello) [Demo – Workshop Facilitation]
  • 48.
  • 49.
    Planner and To-Dointegration
  • 50.
  • 51.
    Planner and Teams Onlyshows plans that are added to a Team
  • 52.
    Tasks in Teamson Roadmap
  • 53.
  • 54.
  • 55.
    Example Integrations forPlanner and Power Automation • Create a Planner task for emails received in a shared mailbox • Create a daily digest of planner tasks and status • Create a Planner task recurring every month • Create a Planner task when a Microsoft Form is completed • Create events in Outlook Calendar when Planner tasks are added • Post a message to Teams when a Planner task is created • Post a message to Teams when a Planner task is completed
  • 56.
    Demo: Using Forms> Flow > Planner
  • 57.
    Create a Plannertask when a Form is completed
  • 58.
    Form embedded onSharePoint page
  • 59.
    1. Requires afull-fat Group 2. Assigning a task to an external gives them access to the whole Group 3. Comments very limited • No @mention • No notifications unless a reply • Emails for every comment – you can’t stop this 4. No import from Excel 5. Export to Excel looks like shit 6. Moving a task between plans doesn’t move everything e.g. files or multiple tasks 7. Poor search 8. Only one checklist and max 20 items Limitations and frustrations This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
  • 60.
    Planner and Trellofeatures comparison Planner Trello Integration with Office365 apps Integration via Zapier, IFTTT etc. Free with Office365 licence Free up to 10 team boards One checklist within a task Multiple custom-named checklists within tasks Start and due dates as standard Due dates only as standard Analytics dashboards as standard Analytics dashboards via power-ups Calendar view as standard Calendar view via power-ups My tasks view for employees that aggregates tasks from across plans No equivalent as standard Notifications are all or nothing @mentions in card discussions trigger notifications Tasks can be assigned a priority No equivalent as standard ‘In progress’ indicator No equivalent as standard No Excel import Import from Excel
  • 61.
    • Planner basics https://www.clearbox.co.uk/microsoft-planner-an-unsung-gem-in- collaborative-task-management/ •Planner on Microsoft https://products.office.com/en-gb/business/task-management-software How notifications work https://support.office.com/en-us/article/stay-on-top-of-tasks-and-plans-with- email-and-notifications-cce223d6-b0ae-43cf-a080-266e2414a859 • Kanban https://medium.com/@pullnews/kanban-for-everyone-f72fd4c327f9 Find out more
  • 62.
  • 63.
    ClearBoxTraining andWorkshops • SharePointfor Internal Communicators • Office 365 for Business Leaders • Intranet strategy & Management • Intranet Governance • Intranet Launch and Adoption • Technology explained in business terms • Delivered in-house or virtually • Up to 10 people • Interactive, team exercises and real- world examples hello@clearbox.co.uk
  • 64.
    SharePoint intranets in-a-box 10%off Planner101 clearbox.co.uk 30+ intranet products reviewed 600+ pages Immediate download Our expert assessments of products that transform SharePoint into a useful and useable intranet.
  • 65.
    Connect ClearBox Consulting clearbox.co.uk @ClearBox hello@clearbox.co.uk +44 (0)1224 458746 Treliske House, Queens Park Road, Chester, CH4 7AD, UK

Editor's Notes

  • #2 Login as Adam Open Planner Hub https://tasks.office.com/cbxc.onmicrosoft.com/en-GB/Home/Planner/#/plantaskboard?groupId=87682ee2-2a6b-4c1f-bf6b-bedbc8155ea3&planId=bXeNmQvMrUaS0KgL-p2dr5YAHmTX Open Teams page https://teams.microsoft.com/_#/conversations/General?threadId=19:d87724da1ae7469ca069462f95577863@thread.skype&ctx=channel Open Forms https://forms.office.com/Pages/DesignPage.aspx?origin=shell#FormId=8QsP0SoXykqLzC9RfqSHQeIuaIdrKh9Mv2u-28gVXqNUMElBRlFOOFZWWU5PQlVZRzMxM09RSVZLSCQlQCN0PWcu Open Flow https://emea.flow.microsoft.com/manage/environments/Default-d10f0bf1-172a-4aca-8bcc-2f517ea48741/flows ToDO https://to-do.office.com/tasks/id/2oiF2j5pbEaBN_m9xFGiqpYAABI2/details?ru=https%3A%2F%2Fto-do.office.com%2Ftasks%2Fid%2F2oiF2j5pbEaBN_m9xFGiqpYAABI2%2Fdetails
  • #6 Ready in Zoom.
  • #12 Kanban means “card wall” in Japanese – developed at Toyota in the 50s
  • #17 Purpose of visualizing buckets in Kanban was to LIMIT WORK IN PROGRESS
  • #18 Purpose of visualizing buckets in Kanban was to LIMIT WORK IN PROGRESS Comments – no @MENTIONS! Only ONE checklist and max 20 items
  • #19 Comments go into Group email, and then your personal email for ANY FURTHER COMMENTS https://tasks.office.com/cbxc.onmicrosoft.com/en-GB/Home/Planner/#/plantaskboard?groupId=87682ee2-2a6b-4c1f-bf6b-bedbc8155ea3&planId=bXeNmQvMrUaS0KgL-p2dr5YAHmTX Explain Layout * Plans on left Cards Show a card Group By Filter by Charts Schedule
  • #20 TASKS likely to be new name in 2020
  • #22 Allegedly, a re-think of Project is coming that will work alongside. REALLY its Waterfall vs Agile here!
  • #23 Project for the Web – cheaper and friendlier and has planner-like view of tasks. ASK – How many have had formal PM training (Prince2 etc.?). How many use more than 10% IRL?
  • #27 Demo -- Add an idea --Move to submitted --Assign to writer (group and drag to bucket) -Mark as in-progress --See charts – LOOK AT THAT!! --Attach Word doc draft from SHAREPOINT --OneNote and Files
  • #31 IT helpdesk, HR helpdesk Later I’ll show how tickets can be raised using MS Forms and Flow New tickets logged Urgency indicated When someone picks them up they assign themselves We use ‘Stalled’ so ‘Picked up’ doesn’t get over-long
  • #32 Labels indicate e..g part needs ordering Checklist on card indicates
  • #33 Checklist on card indicates actions following diagnosis e.g. part needed We DON’T have a ‘completed’ column, it should drop off at that point.
  • #36 Big complaint on User Voice e.g. people want a personal planner board
  • #39 Label for e.g. “Internal / External” “UK/ France / Germany” so only SIX of them!
  • #44 Running late <> Overdue!!
  • #45 Complex Report board Show template card Image or checklist, not both Images take up too much space! Group By “Assigned to” You don’t need buckets per name Person has their own “My tasks” Filter – acts like search but ONLY ON CARD NAME, not notes e.g. buffalo Filter – ‘Vegan’ Filter by Assigned to TWO people and Label=STALLED better than “Group by” OR you can do “Group by” and then “Filter” e.g. Assigned to and then Next Week
  • #47 You COULD do it in Excel My wife’s an accountant, she’d do everything in Excel, even write a novel. But the act of moving and dragging cards – especially on a tablet, works really well Beware – as people must be in a group its better for internal workshops. External ones are a barrier. Trello much better in this regard.
  • #48 Group by BUCKET again Voting – nearest is to say “vote by assigning up to 6 cards to yourself” @Mentions also a sad omission
  • #57 IT helpdesk, HR helpesk
  • #58  DEMO: Skunk trapped in pool table. DATE must be +1 day for flow to run!! https://cbxc.sharepoint.com/sites/Estates-Facilities/SitePages/Facilities-re.aspx https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=8QsP0SoXykqLzC9RfqSHQeIuaIdrKh9Mv2u-28gVXqNUMElBRlFOOFZWWU5PQlVZRzMxM09RSVZLSCQlQCN0PWcu https://emea.flow.microsoft.com/manage/environments/Default-d10f0bf1-172a-4aca-8bcc-2f517ea48741/flows
  • #60 Comments: get someone to comment as soon they pick up a task. That way they see replies. Just allocating them to the task isn’t enough. Person who sets up task should ALSO comment to subscribe.