{"id":110987,"date":"2018-11-29T05:17:27","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T13:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-automate\/how-to-manage-a-request-backlog\/"},"modified":"2018-11-29T05:17:27","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T13:17:27","slug":"how-to-manage-a-request-backlog","status":"publish","type":"power-automate","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-automate\/how-to-manage-a-request-backlog\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginner | Flow of The Week: Create and manage a request backlog with Microsoft Flow"},"content":{"rendered":"
Whats up Flow Friends?!\u00a0<\/p>\n
This weeks post comes from awesome community member Bryant Boyer!\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Bryant Boyer (@BryantBoyer<\/a>) is a Product Manager at BrainStorm, Inc. (http:\/\/www.brainstorminc.com<\/a>) and specializes in successful rollout and adoption of Microsoft applications, especially Office 365. His expertise and interests are with Microsoft Excel, Flow, Power BI, Dynamics 365 CRM, citizen developers and no-code solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n What would your day look like if you were entirely in control of where you spent your time? It should be ridiculous to even ask that question, but the reality is that workplaces are trending more agile. With the added emphasis on the ability to be nimble, folks are more likely to lean on one another to reach their goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here is an example of my own. When I get to work each morning, I write down the three things I want to accomplish, and I dive right in. It isn\u2019t long before an email, a private message or call in Teams, or even a visitor at my desk pulls me out of my deep thinking and sets me on a different path. And once I\u2019ve been pulled into the ether, there is no telling when I\u2019ll find my way back to what I was working on. And at this moment, y\u2019all are nodding your heads–this isn\u2019t uncommon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n What\u2019s the best way to stay focused and accomplish what you need to? I don\u2019t want people to stop bringing questions to me. But I wish there was a way to wait until I had time to allow the distractions in. I\u2019ve experimented with pausing my inbox, going on do not disturb in Teams, and a few other strategies, but the only real solution is going to involve a new sort of communication and collaboration contract with my coworkers. Here is one such solution that I\u2019ve found to be successful in filtering requests on a team level and could absolutely be applied on a personal level as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This Flow is going to leverage Microsoft Forms and a connection to Planner. There are also two variations: the first is an integration with Teams for visibility on a broader scale, and the second includes an approval step prior to creating a card in Planner. Let\u2019s dive in!\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since this is going to connect Microsoft Forms and Microsoft Planner, you\u2019ll need to have created each of those first. Let\u2019s begin with Microsoft Forms. Navigate to https:\/\/forms.office.com<\/a> and create a New Form.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Forms is pretty intuitive, and it\u2019s up to you exactly how you want to gather information about your requests. Let\u2019s start by taking a look at the Forms settings, which you can find by clicking the ellipses icon on the top right of the navigation bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n One huge plus with using Microsoft Forms with your co-workers is that Forms will grab the name and email address of the person submitting a response (that is if the \u201cRecord name\u201d box is checked). That means that you won\u2019t have to ask any questions related to who is submitting the request.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The second important setting to note here: keep the \u201cOne response per person\u201d box unchecked so that your coworkers can submit more than one response.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In terms of questions for the form itself, I always include something about priority, and perhaps a category to easily bucket requests. Check out the \u201cEisenhower Box\u201d for a good strategy to prioritize tasks. Also, think with the end in mind\u2014this will eventually be a Planner card, so ask for what you would need to fill out a card (title, description, etc.).\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\nIntroduction\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Create a Form\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Create a Plan\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n