Network Diagram

■ Significance & features

Activities that involve the community are built up from many tasks—interview appointments, procuring supplies, publicity, running the event on the day. Most of these can be foreseen before the activity begins. Yet if you plan the steps only in your head, tasks that should be visible drop out, and right before the main event, “we didn’t do that” bursts out.

Omissions have patterns. One is lining up in a single column tasks that could be done in parallel, thereby misjudging the estimate of manpower and time. Another is taking lightly steps that stall on the other party’s schedule, such as interviews and getting permissions, and not preparing a backup in case you are refused.

This tool is a method of working back from the final deliverable (the exit) to identify, without omission, the necessary deliverables and tasks, and organizing their order and dependencies into a single diagram. In the diagram, distinguish [deliverable] = something to complete from (task) = work. Because you identify things based on “what is needed for completion” rather than the order you thought of them, you can prevent overlooking foreseeable tasks.

The whole is four steps: “decide the exit → work backward to identify → write in deadlines → write out tasks.” You may have a generative AI make a first draft, but always verify the validity of the steps yourselves. The AI draft is a “well-made provisional,” and finalizing whether it fits your own site is the human’s job.

■ How to use

(When to use it)

You use this tool when planning an activity. Create it with the whole team when starting an activity as a team, when reviewing the plan before an interim report or the main event, and when handing over the plan of steps to the next cohort. A representative may make a draft and everyone verify it.

For tools, anything that can draw boxes and arrows will do—sticky notes and a whiteboard, Miro (an online whiteboard), PowerPoint, and so on. A template for making it in PowerPoint is provided in the worksheet / detailed explanation (“Network Diagram Worksheet”).

(Four steps)

First, decide the exit. Define as one the final deliverable—what needs to exist for this activity to be complete when it ends. The trick is to write it as the name of something that leaves a form, like “an improved tour plan” or “a finished video and its viewing data,” rather than “hold an event.”

Second, work backward to identify. Starting from the final deliverable, trace in order the intermediate deliverables before it, the tasks to make them, tasks that must be done first before you can proceed, tasks that can proceed in parallel, and tasks needed on the day or after release. Branch off parallel work freely. The branches become the blueprint for dividing roles.

Third, write in deadlines. Working back from milestones such as the interim report or the main event date, put a date on each node. Only here does “less time than you thought” become visible.

Fourth, write out tasks. List the (tasks) in the diagram and add owner and deadline. This list becomes the input to the Kanban board that manages daily progress.

(When you have generative AI make a first draft)

Tell it the activity’s theme and final deliverable, and the generative AI will produce a first draft in a few minutes. Always include in the prompt the constraints “do not add steps by guessing” and “write [needs checking] where you cannot judge.”

Do not use the resulting draft as is; verify it as a team. The points to verify are compiled in the verification checklist of the worksheet / detailed explanation.

(Materials used)　*See the “Download” materials

The guidance (“Network Diagram Guidance”) is a participant-facing document to hand to the members of your activity. It walks through everything from the definition of the method, the four steps, the completed image, to example prompts for generative AI, in slide form.

The worksheet / detailed explanation (“Network Diagram Worksheet”) is a set of PowerPoint templates. For three typical types of activity (video production / holding an event / planning a tour), it contains editable templates with typical tasks written in beforehand, plus a blank template and a verification checklist.

■ Track record & usefulness

The network diagram is a basic process-management method included in the PMBOK (the international body of project-management knowledge). Beyond corporate project management, it is widely used as material for university project-based learning (PBL) and project-management education.

The simple version in this guide is used in the APU course “Field Practicum” to plan the activities of each team partnering with the community. Multiple teams on different themes each compiled their steps into one diagram, and through the instructor’s corrections, could resolve omissions and unreasonable steps in the plan before the main event. The finished diagram is also used as is for interim-report materials and as handover material for the next cohort.

■ Next steps

(To daily management with a Kanban board)

Once the diagram is finished, copy the list of (tasks) into a Kanban board (a chart that manages tasks in three columns—To Do / In Progress / Done) and use it to manage daily progress. The network diagram is the “map of the whole,” and the Kanban board is “today’s work chart.” It is effective to compare the diagram and the board once a week to check whether any branch is behind. How to use the Kanban board is covered in a separate practice guide.

(To more full-fledged process management)

Once you are used to it, you can advance to full-fledged process-management methods such as the WBS that hierarchically breaks down work, the Gantt chart that shows schedules with horizontal bars, and the critical path method that identifies the path that cannot be delayed. The framework of the thinking is the same as this guide. If interested, look into an introductory book on project management.

■ Glossary

・Network diagram: a diagram that organizes the connections (order and dependencies) of deliverables and tasks with arrows. In this guide, you make it by working back from the final deliverable

・Deliverables and tasks: [deliverable] is something to complete (a tour plan, a video, a report, etc.), and (task) is the work to make it. Distinguishing them prevents the state of “we did the work but nothing remains”

・Milestone: an immovable landmark date (interim report, the main event date, etc.). Deadlines are worked back from here

・Kanban board: a chart that manages tasks in three columns—To Do / In Progress / Done. Used when dropping the diagram down into daily work