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Scheduling, planning and follow-through. Some questions
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Posted by MadaboutDana
May 18, 2014 at 10:08 AM
I entirely agree with Paul and Franz - the more I’ve played with planning/project management software, the more irritating I’ve found it for managing all the things that do, indeed, “slip through the cracks”.
There’s a very nice, thought-provoking system described here: http://www.bulletjournal.com/
It’s entirely paper-based, and yet extensible to any number of different software solutions if required.
Personally, I’ve almost entirely abandoned the many to-do apps I’ve played with over the years, and ended up on Trello. I like being able to see multiple to-do lists side by side! And Trello is free, cross-platform and collaborative.
For urgent reminders, I’ve gone back to apps like Apple’s Reminders or in Windows, Stickies.
Posted by Chris Murtland
May 18, 2014 at 04:45 PM
I’m starting to like to use checklists that are reviewed at different frequencies. For instance, I have morning, afternoon, evening, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly checklists. Other lists are triggered by something other than time; e.g., a project start or project end checklist.
What I like about this is that it provides a simple but robust framework for getting myself to do certain things on a regular basis and simply reminding me to do valuable things. For example, I might decide to review the status of all my projects every Monday or every afternoon; another example is to spend some time working on my most valuable project every morning. The content of the examples is nothing unique, but the point is that the recurring checklist framework helps me stick to good productivity ideas I’ve read or discovered for myself. I can also change what happens and when by simply modifying a plain list, so it’s very flexible. It’s iterative, in that I can redesign my day or week by modifying my checklists at those levels, so I never feel stuck doing something just because it once seemed a good idea.
I use Workflowy for this because of its paper-like nature, ubiquitous access, and ease of making reusable lists, but it seems like pretty much any software that can list items - or even paper - could be used.
Posted by Hugh
May 18, 2014 at 06:45 PM
It sounds to me as if the issue is less about software, and more about psychology. Managing upwards is difficult; it’s especially difficult if the person you’re managing upwards is failing to manage downwards very well.
If she’s asking you to do too many things, and asking you to do them in too diffuse a way, she’s not managing you properly. One way or another, she needs to be made aware of this - of course with all your charm and pleasantry turned on. And then, crucially, she needs to be asked to choose. What tasks should you give priority to? What are the consequences of this choice? And how should those consequences be handled? To say the least, those aren’t decisions that all managers relish. Nonetheless, they’re implicit in the job description. It’s one reason managers are paid more.
The purpose of software in such circumstances - I’ve found - is to display the commitments, especially time commitments, and the constraints. The software’s role is to bring the manager’s choices starkly to the forefront. Especially for tasks that last several days, I’ve found project planning software, for example MS Project, the best. It’s logical, it’s quite simple, it’s relatively easy for the manager to understand, and it illustrates the potential problems and conflicts of resource usage, such as yours, very well.
Just don’t get bogged down in drawing up beautiful project plans; that’s not what this is about. You want something that says: “These are my working days; you can readily see that it’s impossible to do all that I’m being asked to do in the time available. How should I proceed? Take on less? Do what I do do less thoroughly? Hire additional people?” If she can’t or won’t answer such questions, I’d honestly start to look for a job elsewhere.
Posted by Hugh
May 18, 2014 at 07:52 PM
The above sounds more clear-cut and deterministic than I intended. Abbreviation tends to have that effect.
And of course, all managers prefer solutions rather than problems, answers rather than questions. So rather than saying: “We clearly can’t carry out all these tasks,” it would be better to say “We can’t do them all, but why don’t we try this mix?” Project planning software will enable you very simply to ‘flex’ various combinations of tasks for her, examine different scenarios, and explore the resulting consequences.
Posted by Ken
May 19, 2014 at 05:58 AM
You have my sympathies, Jim. I have struggled with this issue for more years than I care to imagine. My work involves project management for a number of projects, and it seems that as the years have gone by, I spend less time actually working on what I would like to work on, and more time responding to e-mail and voicemail messages. One of the problems with this change in work habits is that I have slowly learned to become a “sprinter”, but at the expense of my “long distance” skills, and my work still has many long terms aspects. I also work in a cube farm, so privacy is very limited, and distractions are frequent. In short, I sometimes feel that I have the attention span of a gnat, and if I am not careful, I can get quite stressed out about the situation and find myself further unable to concentrate. Or worse yet, wishing that there was a software/hardware solution that would help me be more productive.
While I know that software is not the answer, and that really I need to rebuild my concentration habits, I do believe that for some people, the right software can help in the rebuilding process if only because it can instill some structure and framework. I have been struggling with an acute dose of this recently, and have felt a bit like a dog with a bone, because there are just too many things (short and long term, low and high priority) for me to effectively track on paper. Yes, the CRIMPing was a bit of a time investment, and I am not certain if it will fully pay off, but I had to do something, and trying to devote that time I spent CRIMPing into work time was just too stressful for my mind.
To make a long story short, I evaluated four programs, and have settled on two and a half (for now). I understand that the software is not going to solve many of my time management and concentration problems, but it just might help me to build some structure, and to effectively have a comprehensive look at what needs to get done, if only so I can decide what I can or cannot get done. It is frustrating to say this,but we can only do so much in a day, and unless you can readily and easily identify and eliminate big time vampires, you need to work with your manager to determine what is the top priority, and what can be pushed back (as was mentioned above).
And, FWIW, I find that a few minutes of meditation once or twice a day helps to clear my mind and reduce my stress level so I can better concentrate. If I am anxious about being behind schedule, I am even less effective. And when all else fails, I pull out a single piece of paper and write down the top tasks that are on my mind. Usually they are the most urgent, and a few 20-minute Pomodoro sessions allows me to concentrate on one or two of the more important ones.
Good luck,
—Ken
P.S. The two and a half programs that I chose were Toodledo, Asana and Trello in case anybody is interested.