Lifting the crushing weight of ambition
This repo contains the documentation for P-N as a github booklet.
The goal of this booklet is to provide an ultralight framework to manage N-number of projects with irregular effort dedication while still making progress. It's meant to facilitate the organic growth of project scopes, but manage the overwhelming cognitive load and prioritize ideas.
P-N is characterized by it's lack of timeboxing and quantifiable point metrics, but with an emphasis on minimizing the effort when transitioning between multiple projects. Because it removes so much of the traditional structure and process, participants are able to dump the cognitive load of juggling projects and focus on one thing at a time.
In P-N, every project has a Project Description containing general information about the project. This includes the following;
- Name
- Project Statement: Up to a few paragraphs describing the end goal of the project
- Implementation Details: Optional; how you plan on accomplishing the end goal
- Current State: Up to a few sentences describing the current state of the project.
- Braindump: A structureless list of tiny tasks or items for further refinement.
Along with the Project Description, a living list of Checkpoints are created (analagous to unstructured User Stories). Checkpoints represent states of the project with the lowest complexity reasonably possible, and usually mean the end of a particular high-complexity task. This is to allow you to step away from the project and come back to it with limited 'boot up' time to get back into the project.
For example, if you were building a house, a checkpoint would be to completely install the electrical wiring. You could step away for a month, come back and do the next task knowing that all of the wiring is completely done. A less effective checkpoint would be to install wiring on the first floor only, since this leaves a lot of questions that need to be answered before you can start work again. Are there enough wires on-site? Does a second breaker box need to be installed? What were the plans for power outlets in each room? The house is in a state of high complexity and work shouldn't stop until a state of low complexity is achieved.
P-N was created for;
- Solo developers tackling too many projects for methodologies like Agile to make much sense. For a solo developer, especially when these projects are just side projects, being able to dedicate a set amount of effort for a particular time block becomes very difficult to predict and lends heavily toward burnout.
- Organizations with a volunteer or variable work force, where total effort isn't able to be planned effectively.
- Anyone who is doing multiple projects of any length in their spare time; such as learning a new language, honing a musical instrument, creating internet content, or practicing woodworking craftsmanship.
No, it certainly doesn't! You can use Agile or other methodologies for individual projects, P-N is created to help manage any number of concurrent or organic projects at the same time. This becomes particularly useful in organizations that tend to hop from project to project before completion.