Perhaps this is a bit of a rant, but I will try to fit a question into my post, so bear with me. I am again at a point where my life is greatly overloaded both at home and at work, but the latter is more of an issue at the moment. I have multiple complex projects involving multiple parties, and everybody seems to want everything yesterday. As I cannot defy the laws of time and physics, I am trying to do the best I can, but I have reached that point where it feels like no task manager is capable of helping me continue to move forward. With the possible exception of Ecco, which was pulled from my work machine several years ago and is not really a viable candidate for use at the moment, none of the many task managers that I have used seems to help when tasks and complex items in need of attention crop up faster than I can enter them. And, even if they are entered, all I see is a screen of more tasks than can possible be addressed, and usually the screen is void of the new urgent items that just cropped up. Clearly this is not an ideal way to manage things.

So, my questions are as follows:

--When the pace rapidly picks up and stays at an accelerated level for some time with other parties expecting rapid response on large amount of items, are you able to continue using your task manager at this pace?

--And, is your task manager able to effectively help you when your list of priority tasks is long and constantly growing?


It seems like trying to maintain the task manager in the above situation is almost competing with the actual tasks themselves for my time and attention. I really like Asana, the program that I am currently using, and find that it offers many of the features I would want if you were to ask me what I needed. But, like Toodledo, Trello, Outlook and a host of others, I am not feeling like I have a handle on my ever-changing and constantly growing work load. Should I be seriously looking at changing how I use my tools, or have I just reached the capacity of my bandwidth? I like to believe that I am a reasonably organized person, as I have been managing multiple projects for over 25 years, but I just cannot seem to keep on top of the situation when the pace is accelerated as well as I would like. Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Staring at a task list in frustration is not helping my situation, and I have somewhat resorted to just working on whatever is most in crisis.

Thanks,

--Ken

Ken.

What you describe is a situation where no tool can help:

"when tasks and complex items in need of attention crop up faster than I can enter them. And, even if they are entered, all I see is a screen of more tasks than can possible be addressed, and usually the screen is void of the new urgent items that just cropped up. Clearly this is not an ideal way to manage things"

If I am not mistaken, there is simply too much workload for one man. If you were one of my clients, I'd say that it's time for a decision (or several decisions).

Just my 5ct. And my best wishes for you, Franz

Hi Ken and other Outliners

What you describe is typical overload situations.

The way I tackle this is two-fold:

1- Long term, complex tasks are entered in an organize fashion, in an outliner (Ecco is a good tool, I now use my own InfoQube of course, but in the same Ecco spirit)
2- Short requests, small tasks, especially if not related to the "big" picture go in a flat list, unordered. Quick to enter, quick to mark as done and move on. Marking it as done simply implies adding a done date. This help me remember what I've done, come reporting time.

Ideally, I work on longer tasks at the beginning of the day or when I know I have a couple hours of more or less uninterrupted work ahead of me. The short tasks are done when urgent, or when I have 30 minutes or less before something else (lunch, meeting, etc)

HTH !

Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer

Ken wrote:

So, my questions are as follows:

--When the pace rapidly picks up and stays at an accelerated level for
some time with other parties expecting rapid response on large amount of
items, are you able to continue using your task manager at this pace?

--And, is your task manager able to effectively help you when your list
of priority tasks is long and constantly growing?

I think this is both a question of tool and a question of method. Your tool should be flexible enough to accommodate different scenarios and changes in the method, to make sure it doesn't lead to breakdown in discipline or in the method.

I use multiple tools. I distinguish between date and time specific tasks (which go in Google Calendar), and tasks that need to be worked on to accomplish those date and time specific tasks.

For these sub-tasks I use primarily WorkFlowy, mainly because it's so easy to hoist/zoom into a branch and shut out the noise of all other non-relevant tasks. It is also good for parking tasks, for picking them up later, or for forgetting them (by having them being pushed down in the list or the hierarchy), yet still being able to recall them.

However, sometimes I need to track a mini project plan (a set of date related tasks) apart from the calendar or Workflowy, as a reminder or for clarity. Then I create a to-do list in ConnectedText's Outliner, which has the benefit that I can link to specific documents within or outside CT.

Finally, sometimes the best thing is to work out tasks in longhand. For that my tool of choice is the Boogie Board Sync, as I can import and convert the handwritten notes into CT as image files, and then display them in another monitor, to remind myself what needs to be done.

But when things get really busy, nothing works better than saying "no" to non-essential or non-critical requests or finding someone else to do them...

Franz Grieser wrote:

Ken.

What you describe is a situation where no tool can help:

If I am not mistaken, there is simply too much workload for one man. If
you were one of my clients, I'd say that it's time for a decision (or
several decisions).

Just my 5ct. And my best wishes for you, Franz

Hi Franz,

Thank you for the well wishes, and for confirming that sometimes too much is just too much. My manager is trying to resolve the situation, but I suspect that some things may not meet deadline, and this is always a big disappointment to me, as I do take pride in providing good customer service.

Pierre Paul Landry wrote:

Hi Ken and other Outliners

What you describe is typical overload situations.

The way I tackle this is two-fold:

1- Long term, complex tasks are entered in an organize fashion, in an
outliner (Ecco is a good tool, I now use my own InfoQube of course, but
in the same Ecco spirit)
2- Short requests, small tasks, especially if not related to the "big"
picture go in a flat list, unordered. Quick to enter, quick to mark as
done and move on. Marking it as done simply implies adding a done date.
This help me remember what I've done, come reporting time.

Hi PPL,

This is a bit of what I was trying, with paper being my unrecorded flat list. I am glad to hear that even an information software designer uses an unrecorded flat list when necessary.

--Ken

Dr Andus wrote:

Ken wrote:

Finally, sometimes the best thing is to work out tasks in longhand. For
that my tool of choice is the Boogie Board Sync, as I can import and
convert the handwritten notes into CT as image files, and then display
them in another monitor, to remind myself what needs to be done.

But when things get really busy, nothing works better than saying "no"
to non-essential or non-critical requests or finding someone else to do
them...

Hi Dr. Andrus,

It seems that longhand certainly does have its place for many of us, although mine is usually on pads of scrap paper. And I would love to find somebody else, but my position is somewhat of "chief cook and bottle washer" (I do not know if this is just an American expression, so apologies if it is unfamiliar) so I really do not have anybody who can spell me of work assignments.

--Ken

Ken wrote:

I am glad to hear that even an information software designer uses an unrecorded flat list when necessary.
--Ken

Well not quite... a bit of modesty commanded the lack of details on how fast, flat list items were recorded...
Whenever possible, they are recorded using the IQ inbox (entered either directly if I'm at my desk or using the EmailToIQ feature when not).
A keyboard shortcut (CTRL+M) marks the task as done and it goes away from sight until I need to report, where done items are shown, grouped by day/week, etc

Pierre

As Franz wrote if there is too much work to be done in a given time no tool will help you out.

When it comes to the point to keep track of many Tasks/Projects I appreciate MyLifeOrganized (http://www.mylifeorganized.net/ With it's views there are plenty of ways to see what can (should) be done. There are many properties that can help to schedule tasks (importance, urgency, reminder, dependencies ...). At times this may seem as overly complex and one may get lost in organizing but it did help me to stay on top of things.

I agree with Franz.

Another way to overcome information (to-do) overload is to get off the grid, i.e. make yourself unavailable (don't allow others to pass on tasks to you). Get off email, switch off the mobile phone, hide somewhere to get important work done.

I find that a lot of tasks get solved by others, by themselves, or fall by the way-side even in a 24 hr period, or the perspective of time allows you to make a better judgement about what is important and what can be ignored. I realise this may not be possible in every line of work, but it's worth trying, when possible.

Bernhard wrote:

When it comes to the point to keep track of many Tasks/Projects I
appreciate MyLifeOrganized (http://www.mylifeorganized.net/ With it's
views there are plenty of ways to see what can (should) be done. There
are many properties that can help to schedule tasks (importance,
urgency, reminder, dependencies ...). At times this may seem as overly
complex and one may get lost in organizing but it did help me to stay on
top of things.

Asana seems to offer a number of views, like MLO, and perhaps I need to reconsider how I use my views, but things seem to happen quite quickly, that when I finish long conversations involving lots of issues, I could easily spend all of my available time afterwards just writing up tasks rather than actually working on them. I am certainly adhere to the idea of spending a bit up front to save in the long term, but the ratios of spending (time) to saving in this case are just not that great. But, when I do have some quite time, I will reconsider how I am using my views to see if there is a way to better capture tasks as they are generated.

--Ken

Dr Andus wrote:

Another way to overcome information (to-do) overload is to get off the
grid, i.e. make yourself unavailable (don't allow others to pass on
tasks to you). Get off email, switch off the mobile phone, hide
somewhere to get important work done.

I find that a lot of tasks get solved by others, by themselves, or fall
by the way-side even in a 24 hr period, or the perspective of time
allows you to make a better judgement about what is important and what
can be ignored. I realise this may not be possible in every line of
work, but it's worth trying, when possible.

A very good suggestion. While I cannot easily remove myself from my workstation at work, I do sometimes stay after hours as this has a similar effect. I wish I could do this more often, but for a variety of reasons, this can only be done on a limited basis.

--Ken

Ken wrote:

I cannot easily remove myself from my
workstation at work

In that case it is about resisting the temptation to check your email (and turning off any instant email notification) for a prolonged period of time. Every new email has the potential to distract you from your current work, introduce new to-dos, which at the time of arrival might seem urgent or important, but from the hindsight of a few hours they might not (or even disappear or get solved by others).

If something is urgent, let other people come over and tell you in person (or have them call you on the phone) that they sent you an urgent email. That is another way to filter out what is urgent and important. Or if it's the phone or voice mail that is the problem, then one needs to turn off/disable those. It makes sense to filter communication through the channel that you can control the best.

I know how difficult it is to do this from my own experience. I noticed that I used to check my email as a way of procrastinating, hoping that some more interesting task comes along to distract me from my current tedious work, and surely enough, seemingly "urgent" and "important" emails come in unexpectedly all the time. Sometimes colleagues just reach for the email too quickly, too ready to 'delegate' the problem to you. It is important to fight back and let them try to work it out by themselves (which they'll be forced to, if you don't get back to them immediately).

There is also the old trick of turning on the "Out of Office" notification, to manage their expectations, and then they'll be still pleased when you get back to them a few hours later.

I have found ToDoList to be an excellent tasklist with project support. Can handle resources and basic reports. Not a full blown Project Manager yet for most people it will handle the workload.

The input screen has just about anything you can toss in, using a reduced entry screen can be a benefit. You can customize the the screens. All data can be exported in xml format, Excel, HTML ICS etc.

Did I mention it is freeware? Or can be used in portable mode

See here:


and here:

Arnold wrote:

I have found ToDoList to be an excellent tasklist with project support.
Can handle resources and basic reports. Not a full blown Project Manager
yet for most people it will handle the workload.

The input screen has just about anything you can toss in, using a
reduced entry screen can be a benefit. You can customize the the
screens. All data can be exported in xml format, Excel, HTML ICS etc.

Hi,

Thanks for the recommendation. I am familiar with the program, as it has been around for quite some time and has quite a following. I am not sure that a switch is the best course of action in this particular case as much as a possible change in habits.

--Ken

I agree with the others that you probably are being asked to do more than is fair or reasonable. However, if you're committed to trying to deal with it all, I would like to make an "out of the box" suggestion as a tool for managing it all: give TheBrain a try.

Here are the reasons I think TheBrain MAY be the answer for you:

- You can put any information into it. Add spreadsheets, e-mails (at least if you're using Outlook on Windows), Word documents, PDFs... almost anything can be associated with a thought (TheBrain's nomenclature for an item).

- It's primary viewing mode is always drilled to a manageable, bite-sized spectrum of information. So you don't have to be looking at a long and growing list of tasks. Just focus on the tasks at hand.

- It is very flexible with regard to how you categorize your information, so you can build a system that works for you. For example, you can add multiple tags to a thought, so you can relate it to colleagues and priorities and contexts... whatever. You can assign a thought type to any thought (just one type per thought). Visual properties can be associated with thought types, so you can add visual cues to your thoughts in this way. So, for instance, you can have a thought type of "simple to do" and give it a checkmark icon, so you can quickly designate any thought as a "simple to do."

- You can, if you choose, add due dates and alarms to thoughts.

- TheBrain has a deceptively simple and effective search function, so you can quickly find anything in your Brain.

- You can link any thought to any other thought, so you are not stuck in a typical linear hierarchy, like you get with any of the task list programs.

TheBrain is really easy to use, though it may appear complicated at first. The developers have a ton of how to videos that explain things pretty clearly.

The price is a bit steep, so you should definitely try it before you buy it. But I'm like you: I get overwhelmed once my tasks lists (I use Toodledo) get to a certain length. TheBrain keeps me sane (pardon the pun).

Steve Z.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I agree with the others that you probably are being asked to do more
than is fair or reasonable. However, if you're committed to trying to
deal with it all, I would like to make an "out of the box" suggestion as
a tool for managing it all: give TheBrain a try.

Thanks for the suggestion, Stephen. I have usually passed on mind mapping types of software as they do not seem intuitive as to how I organize. But, I will have a look as I suspect that a bit of familiarity might give me a different perspective on it, and possibly some ideas about better use of my current programs as well.

Thanks,

--Ken

Ok, I am probably going out on a limb here, but I am wondering if Asana should be left for actual tasks, and if I should be using something else for notes and quick capture of thoughts (prior to being entered into Asana as actual tasks). This may just spread out the mess, but it may also allow me a "work space" for quick capture of conversations, notes or unstructured work items. Work is not going to let me install any software on my machine, so I would need a web-based or portable, no-install app. Ideally, this program would have folders, tags, and automatically place a date and time to any note. Outlook offers dated notes, but for a variety of reasons, I cannot put categories to them. I know there are a host of programs, but I am just not putting my finger on any that are very reliable and quick to use. I would consider something like Toodledo, but the interface is just a bit too clunky for what I want. Does anybody know of any web-based programs that auto-date notes and have folders (and tags)?

Thanks,

--Ken

Ken wrote:

Does anybody know of any web-based programs that auto-date
notes and have folders (and tags)?

WorkFlowy could be one option, if you're willing to accept that any item can also play the role of a folder, i.e. once it's a sub-item, it's in the 'folder' of the parent. This is supported visually by allowing you to zoom into (hoist) the parent item, which is like clicking and going into a folder. You could use all caps (or bold) for folder names, to distinguish them from notes items.

Each item can have a title, and an inline note.

Each item has the "Last changed" date and time recorded (visible in a tooltip, if you hover over an item's bullet point).

There are two categories of tags, whether preceded by # or @, which then can be searched for. It's a bit basic.

I read something about military pilots experiencing "task saturation" in the cockpit - too many things competing for their attention at once. They overcome this by following checklists.

Of course, designing the right checklists (and how often to go through them) to get you past the overload is perhaps not as obvious with knowledge work as it is flying a plane.

Another tip, which I got from J. D. Meier's "Getting Results the Agile Way," but which I've also seen elsewhere, is to pick out the top three outcomes for each day and each week and to focus on these outcomes first rather than tasks. I also like his idea of "flowing value" rather than "burning backlog," which means you focus on providing the most value to your stakeholders rather than just checking off as many tasks as possible.

Also, it may be unpopular, but I've found that if I get super overloaded, I simply ignore a lot of things (and especially the overhead of "processing" all the things put onto my plate by others), and the truly important and urgent will keep coming back to me.

Finally, I think the real productivity killer with overload is the increased decision-making overhead. You start to get the deer in the headlights syndrome where you can't do much at all because you're so worried about choosing the wrong tasks at the wrong times. There is something to be said for sometimes just cranking through as many tasks as possible in any random order (or any order that seems good in the moment) rather than spending any time deciding.

Theory is always easier said than done, however. I would agree that the tools used can also introduce time overhead and friction. You don't want to have to spend a lot of time entering in a bunch of field values for each task. Actual paper or Workflowy would probably be best for reducing data entry overhead. In Workflowy, you could take notes in outline form in a meeting and simply tag the action items at the same time - all as fast as you can type.

I sympathise, I must say. As the director of an SMB who's also heavily involved in day-to-day production, I have a ridiculously full task list. And yes, I do find it helpful to run stuff in parallel. I have a main task list I keep for putting things down in a reasonably structured way, then I have a 'daily' list that is really more akin to detailed notes.

The apps aren't really the point here, it's the approach. My 'formal' task list has everything in it, more or less organised by priority, sometimes by due date. But I try and avoid putting huge amounts of detail in there – it's a tracking system rather than a full-on management system.

Once I prioritise the tasks I'm going to do today, I jot them down in a separate note-taker (currently my favourite is Mindscope, but I regularly experiment with others - as you know!). This is where I keep details notes on what I'm doing during the day. But it's also where I jot down fast-moving stuff that comes in during the day, so I can transfer it to my 'formal' list once I've reached a break in the flow.

It may sound a bit clunky, but being able to focus on a short list of tasks (not more than today + tomorrow) while you're actually working is a lot easier than being overwhelmed by a vast list of every task under the sun - keep them apart, I say! I've found this approach makes a huge difference to my sanity and organisation.

Apps I've used/continue to use for the main list: 2do, OmniFocus, The Hit List, Things, Wunderlist et al. Apps I've used for keeping close notes: Workflowy, Quiver, Outlinely, OutlineEdit, Mindscope et al.

MadaboutDana wrote:

It may sound a bit clunky, but being able to focus on a short list of
tasks (not more than today + tomorrow) while you're actually working is
a lot easier than being overwhelmed by a vast list of every task under
the sun - keep them apart, I say!

Your post reminded me of these two Gingko blog posts by Adriano Ferrari, which are well worth reading in the context of this thread:

"Two (silly) Techniques for Lasting Change"

http://blog.gingkoapp.com/essays/two-silly-techniques-lasting-change

"Decluttering your Extended Mind"

http://blog.gingkoapp.com/essays/decluttering-extended-mind

Some questions that might affect the recommendation:

1. Is this a temporary problem or is it expected to continue, even get worse?

2. Is there a budget for solving the problem?

3. Is assigning an assistant (human) feasible?

4. What operating system(s) are you using?

If it is expected to be a long-term problem, then redesigning office workflow is probably the optimal solution, which may call for company system-wide redesign and new role-based project management software that can automatically convert incoming emails to tasks. I.e., you may be doing what has become the work of two staffers and your role could be split in two. On the other hand, if the problem is expected to be temporary, then temporary assistance and delegation of tasks might be in order. Simply having someone to answer the telephone and to filter and convert emails into tasks by project can work wonders in freeing up time with further personal productivity obtained as the assistant gains experience with your work and can assist on specific tasks.

> Work is not going to let me install any software on my machine, so I would need a web-based or portable, no-install app. Ideally, this program would have folders, tags, and automatically place a date and time to any note.

If you are using Windows, you might take a look at NoteCase Pro. The Win32 version can be installed portably (and has more features than the Win64 version because some libraries have not yet been ported to Win64). It is also multi-platform, with builds available for Windows, OS X, Linux/Unix, and several mobile devices. Nodes are automatically date/time stamped for creation date and last modification date. It's an outliner and features node tagging. The feature that most distinguishes Notecase Pro from other outliners is that it features an in-memory flat List View of nodes, a non-persistent sortable flat list view of any arbitrary group of nodes. List view can be filled using Search, double-clicking on a tag, several other user actions, or scripts. Once in List View, the arbitrary group of nodes can be sorted by columns, including the date/time stamp columns, task properties (e.g., due dates, expiry date, status, priority), tags, custom node properties, etc.

All of those properties can be searched using the NoteCase Pro Find dialog, which enables highly granular searches with text, regular expression, and boolean queries and a wide variety of search limiters (e.g., full document, branch, children, descendants, listed nodes, marked nodes tasks, node clones, titles and content, tags, titles only, content only, custom property/value, "Done" nodes, nodes with attachments, and date ranges, such as precise date, before, after, for date created, date modified, date task started, date task due, date task expiry, and date task completed.

NoteCase Pro is highly extensible with Lua v. 5.3. I've written about 80 List and NoteGroup scripts, with about 40 scripts each classified as Choose NodeGroup to List and Process Listed Nodes, all in a hierarchical menu structure (along with about 120 other scripts). Those discussed are in my Cornucopia Scripts collection, all embedded in a single NoteCase Pro document. I put all of my scripts in the public domain and I'm happy to share.

There is a free plugin available that implements a complete Getting Things Done system (other free plugins too).

Changing a node to a task is as simple as double-clicking on a node title and hitting the Task button. To convert back to a normal node, hit the Delete button on the Task Properties Dialog.

There may be other apps that are better for your problem. But this is the program I know backward and forward that appears to meet at least most of your criteria. http://notecasepro.com/

Very sensible thoughts. Of course Notecase (being Java-based) is also available for Mac...