Work and Task
Work is a specific activity or behavior of an organizational unit that takes place within a certain physical timeframe. As a result of work in the physical world, a work artifact is produced. You can also say that it is a process in which the organizational unit participates together with resources. Or, within this process, the organizational unit provides a service using certain resources.
For example, John Doe uses a hammer to drive nails within a set period and receives payment for it. John Doe, in the position of carpenter together with the hammer, constitutes the organizational unit. The service is driving nails.
When discussing work, the main interest is not so much in its content[1], but in how to assemble the necessary resources for this work, as well as which organizational unit should perform these tasks to produce the required work artifact.
Managers often play the role of planners who, based on the planning method, assign work to performers. What interests them is: which performer, within what timeframe, and with which resources, should create a specific work artifact.
Each cell of the 3x3 Table can be viewed as a set of tasks that need to be completed[2]. You can also say that the description in the subsection "How Systems Thinking Helps in Work Activities" about the essence of systems thinking can be considered as high-level or typical tasks that need to be done in any project. For example, it is necessary to develop a usage concept or secure investments.
Tasks arise as a result of systems modeling, and for them to be completed, they need to be formulated as work. A task contains an action that must be performed within the project. Ideally, it should mention the method. A task becomes work when the following are known:
- Who or which performer (full name);
- By what deadline;
- In which role;
- By which method (practice);
- With which resources;
- What work artifact will result.
To properly formulate work, the planner must have accessible information about the availability of resources (time, funds, and components) and the skill level of the performers.
The enterprise architect must divide organizational units (departments) in such a way that each can operate as autonomously as possible in teams. Otherwise, it will be impossible to coordinate all the work that includes tasks for each cell of the 3x3 Table, as well as to account for the incremental development of the system of interest. Also, keep in mind that a project may involve developing numerous "our systems" for a wide variety of teams. This makes work management even more complex. You will learn more about this in the third semester of the main program.