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Scheduling, planning and follow-through. Some questions
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Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
May 19, 2014 at 08:27 AM
Jim, I’ll try to ellaborate further and provide additional proposals when I have more time, but for the moment my main suggestion is to use a time logging system to record the time you spend on activities. As others noted, showing the relevant data can be a very strong argument for changing the work approach. I personally use Klok which provides a real-time visual overview of my workday.
Ken, may I ask which programme specifically you refer to as ‘half’? Trello? And do you mean that you consider it half a programme, or that you have only half-chosen it?
Posted by Hugh
May 19, 2014 at 02:18 PM
Alexander, as you say, using time-logging software is another way of demonstrating to a manager what is possible and what is not. (At one employer I worked for, managers who expected more than was humanly possible were known as ‘The Impossiblists’.) As a side-issue, there are several such applications, offline and online. Klok seems to have advanced by several degrees since I looked at it for personal use two or three years ago.
Posted by Ken
May 19, 2014 at 09:53 PM
Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
>Ken, may I ask which programme specifically you refer to as ‘half’?
>Trello? And do you mean that you consider it half a programme, or that
>you have only half-chosen it?
Hi Alexander,
I knew this group would not let me get away with “half” an answer, but I did not want to distract too much into a software discussion from the OP’s issue. But, I will elaborate a bit on my software selection, which is still a work in progress.
First, you are correct, Trello is the “half” program, and that is mostly because I cannot fully incorporate it into what I am trying to do. But, I have found it to be an amazing program, and with a bit of maturation, it could be an amazing program. I really like that it is dead simple to use, very mobile friendly and very responsive. I wish that I could say the same for Producteev, the fourth program that was in the mix, but pulled when I had too many issues around responsiveness (either having entered data appear, or having mail message never show up). The main things that Trello did not really offer that I wanted were more control over setting reminders, better control over subtasks, including the ability to assign them, better tagging features, and greater data incorporated into email messages. Still, I could not completely give up on Trello, so it may be used for specific tasks and projects in the future.
In addition to the items that I discussed above, my other big issue is remembering things. I used to be able to remember items without having to immediately write them down or log them into a program, but I suspect that age, stress, and perhaps some of the chemotherapy drugs from the past few years have made that just a bit harder. Its not like I cannot remember anything, but my memory used to be tack sharp, and now it is just sharp. That, combined with an ever-increasing number of items in need of attention at home and at work, and it is more than I can manage without some assistance and reminders.
The two programs that I am curretly trying to use to solve this program are Asana and Toodledo. Asana is a great program for task management, and shares many similar data features as Trello, like the ability to easily add dated comments to a task. But what I really like about Asana is that it offers similar levels of control, like assigning a task or setting a due date, to subtasks. Also, you can create header categories within task lists, a useful Trello-like feature, and a task can be assigned to more than one project. The issues that I have with Asana are control over its reminders, and not so great mobile apps. If they beefed up these two areas, it might be a stand-alone solution for me.
And this brings me to Toodledo, a program that I have used off an on for a number of years. It’s browser interface is still a bit dated, but it offers several powerful features, like a good reminder system, and excellent native apps for mobile devices, all of which, IIRC, can work offline, an issue with the other programs. So, what I am trying to implement is a system where Asana is my back end for storing and arranging all of my tasks in detail, for work and for home (replacing Trello in both cases), and then I “assign” items in need of immediate attention to Toodledo (which automatically send a task to my Toodledo account). In theory, this should allow me to focus on the items I need to focus on regardless of where I am at, without distraction, but with the ability of reminders/alarms (and also the ability of my calendar to send appointment reminders into the mix). When I am at a desktop and want to have a full overview, I call up Asana. I am still seeing if this is workable, and I am still getting the hang of all of Asana’s features, limitations and quriks, so it is definitely a work in progress. But, even if I do need to make adjustments, I will probably still use one of these three programs, or some other combination thereof.
My apologies to the Jim, the OP, if this is too far off topic, but it may provide some food for thought as we both try to work through similar work issues. Jim, I would be interested in hearing your current thoughts after reading through this thread. I find the advice given here to always be helpful and thought-provoking. These are not topics that I can discuss in detail with work colleagues as they generally have little or no interest in them, so I am thankful that I can come here to discuss ideas as I muddle my way through them.
—Ken
Posted by MadaboutDana
May 20, 2014 at 10:05 AM
Ha! How amusing, your development largely parallels mine. I still use Trello as my main organisational app, but for reminders and multi-day events, you do need something more immediate. I was using a very nice iOS app called ToDoList, which also allows you to put lists side by side and includes useful alarms, but unfortunately it’s entirely limited to iOS.
On the Mac, I’m looking forward to exploring Tree Outliner in particular. Now that’s an app that could do with multiplatform versions! It’s kind of like Workflowy and Gingko in one (although Gingko is, in certain respects, superior, and I can’t wait till there’s an offline version available!).
The issue of subtasks is one that has taxed me for years. I used to be very much in favour, but as I have grown older and more appreciative of minimalist/ultra-streamlined systems, I actually find subtasks - as depicted in many outliner-style task managers - slightly annoying. I do like subtasks embedded within main tasks, however (as per Wunderlist, Trello etc.).
Having said all that, I still use the majestic Priorities as an alternative to both Trello and Reminders when setting up certain kinds of task/subtask. Oh dear. Alice in CRIMPerland… there’s a book there, you know…
Posted by Ken
May 21, 2014 at 03:23 PM
MadaboutDana wrote:
>The issue of subtasks is one that has taxed me for years. I used to be
>very much in favour, but as I have grown older and more appreciative of
>minimalist/ultra-streamlined systems, I actually find subtasks - as
>depicted in many outliner-style task managers - slightly annoying. I do
>like subtasks embedded within main tasks, however (as per Wunderlist,
>Trello etc.).
>
>Having said all that, I still use the majestic Priorities as an
>alternative to both Trello and Reminders when setting up certain kinds
>of task/subtask. Oh dear. Alice in CRIMPerland… there’s a book there,
>you know…
This whole thing is quite a work in progress, both my software coonsiderations and improving my work habits. But, I have a soft spot for Trello, since it does what it can do very well.
I understand the issue around subtasks, and I could make the task a project and each subtask a task, but that would probably clutter up my projects list, and that does not seem to be helpful to me as I try and sort through things. I looked for the iOS app ToDoList, but was not able to find it. I will search again, as the idea of side by side lists sounds interesting.
—Ken