Have you ever felt satisfaction at validating an activity? When we make a list of tasks and proceed to tick them off, our motivation and job satisfaction rise. That is why, when we validate an activity, we say that we’re not merely moving it onto the list of completed tasks on the Sinnaps panel, rather its power extends much further. The key lies in the dopamine.
It has been proved that each time we complete a task our brain secretes a substance called dopamine, a neurotransmitter which is responsible for generating feelings of achievement, satisfaction and happiness. Hence, we wish to stay motivated to have continued success and be able to continue to experience this highly positive feeling.
If we split the project into little blocks, activities and sub-tasks, the brain is thus being given more opportunities to secrete dopamine. However, don’t be fooled. Dopamine can also trick you. If you perform many little tasks, you’ll have a great sense of achievement and satisfaction and will believe you’ve done many things. Very true. You’ll also think you’ve had a highly productive day. Not so true.
That’s why we recommend you do a couple of mini-tasks, validate them and then tackle a big activity. Balance out the dopamine so it doesn’t cloud your judgement so much. 😉
Another way to trick the brain is by splitting the large activities into sub-tasks and related objectives.
How do I produce dopamine with Sinnaps?
Using your management app, you can generate dopamine by validating activities, sub-tasks or objectives. Sinnaps allows them to be validated and this allows an extra shot of motivation and satisfaction so as to keep going.
What’s more, monitoring and validating an activity is important work in keeping your project up-to-date and informing team members of the progress made therein. It also works as a communications tool in collaborative projects.
Note: all Team Members involved in an activity can validate it. The Project Manager can also do so, of course.
Validate an activity by entering the activity panel and clicking on the validations icon.
Each time we validate an activity this will automatically appear on the activity and project walls. This will make sure everything on your planning is current. Sinnaps will send an email notification to those involved in the activity. Click here to find out how to modify your notifications.
Validated activities will appear in green on our planning.
Lastly, remember that you can use the same activity panel to validate sub-tasks and objectives in this activity – if you are working on it as a resource or as a leader.
Validate objectives
Validate sub-tasks
Exert direct control over validations in your project
The project wall is the automatic record of all relevant events that occur from the start of the project to the day we consult it. Thus, we are informed at all times and we have an overview of everything that is happening in the project.
This means we can be up to date on activity, sub-task and objective validation in terms of who and when. We can see it in the example below. A team member has validated two sub-tasks in the Diagnosis activity. This automatically generates dopamine in the Project Manager and their degree of satisfaction will rise! 🙂
