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Overcoming Overload?
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Posted by Garland Coulson
Mar 19, 2015 at 02:41 AM
I coach a lot of people on time management so here are a few thoughts.
If you could get a company wide project management system going that everyone used, then no one would have to email, phone or walk into your office and interrupt you for updates. Instead, each task and project is just updated with comments and progress reports. Saves a lot of emails.
The one I use personally is Teamwork.com.
Also, try to set aside at least one “Power Hour” each day where you turn off ALL notifications (phone, email, mobile), close your door and put a sign out that you are not to be interrupted unless the building is on fire. Then work on the most important priority task/project in that hour.
Exceptional performance requires exceptional focus - multitasking has been proven by science not to work.
Posted by Ken
Mar 20, 2015 at 04:14 PM
Garland Coulson wrote:
I coach a lot of people on time management so here are a few thoughts.
>
>If you could get a company wide project management system going that
>everyone used, then no one would have to email, phone or walk into your
>office and interrupt you for updates. Instead, each task and project is
>just updated with comments and progress reports. Saves a lot of emails.
>
>The one I use personally is Teamwork.com.
>
>Also, try to set aside at least one “Power Hour” each day where you turn
>off ALL notifications (phone, email, mobile), close your door and put a
>sign out that you are not to be interrupted unless the building is on
>fire. Then work on the most important priority task/project in that
>hour.
>
>Exceptional performance requires exceptional focus - multitasking has
>been proven by science not to work.
I suspect that your first suggestion can be implemented in some environments easier than others, and as I work in a municipal government, I do not see it happening as software decisions are made in what seems like another solar system IMHO. By necessity, it is a bit of a top down structure, and Microsoft currently rules the day as we will be heading to Office365 in the near future.
I would totally agree about the “power hour”, but for me it usually comes at the end of the day after hours. It can be useful, but for a variety of reasons, it is reserved for special occasions like this recent overload.
And speaking of which, I wanted to give a very short update before I create a separate thread about a piece of software that was not discussed in this thread, but which I wanted to discuss. I open a Workflowy account, and can totally see why folks like it. The hoisting is very nice, and being cross-platform is great in today’s ever changing device environment. I used it to take notes rather than Asana, and it turned out that it helped me find a key mail message that somehow got deleted, but I mostly chalk that up to taking notes and not the program itself. But, Asana got neglected during that time, and I still find myself not comfortable using the most basic form of outline for containing a multitude of different projects, notes and tasks. I am primarily a folder kind of person, and am starting to warm up to judicious use of tags with them. Having said that, I suspect that Workflowy is not going to be an effective solution for me. But, I really do appreciate the wisdom and support that I received from everybody here. I am still in the midst of this mess, and it is probably going to last for some time longer, but a sanity check, a little support and some good work habit suggestions from everybody here are quite appreciated.
Thanks,
—Ken
Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 20, 2015 at 04:22 PM
Thank you, Ken. The volume of interesting answers to your heartfelt issues shows just how important this particular aspect of outlining, or information management, or whatever else one chooses to call it, actually is. I suspect information overload is the main reason most of us are interested in ‘outliner software’ in the first place.
As for me: I’ve been using Ulysses for Mac and iPad increasingly over the last few days, and it’s gradually become my go-to task manager. Despite the shortcomings (and there are a few), the app’s versatility is truly astonishing – outliner-style hierarchy, plus multilevel nesting, plus tags (keywords), plus a powerful search function. Much better for my way of working that Workflowy!
But I do wish it supported an alternative to iCloud…
Posted by Paul Korm
Mar 20, 2015 at 04:35 PM
I’m glad, Ken, you feel like there’s a bit of relief. Please persevere!
MadaboutDana wrote
>As for me: I’ve been using Ulysses for Mac and iPad increasingly over the last few days, and it’s gradually become my go-to task manager.
That’s really interesting. I’ve used Ulysses through every iteration and I would never have thought of using it for task management—I use it for writing documents for clients and publication. How do you do that, Bill?
(BTW, I’m falling in like again with Write—mainly because the document folder in Dropbox that Write is using syncs instantaneously and I can sync that same folder with DEVONthink, Write on the desktop, and TheBrain. I like the idea of universal inboxes that can be access on multiple platforms and through multiple apps. I’m developing a feature matrix of apps that support that. I’ll publish a link to the matrix, here, whenever I get it finished. Rather, *IF* I get it finished.)
Posted by Paul Korm
Mar 20, 2015 at 04:36 PM
“How do you do that, Bill”—> meaning, how do you use Ulysses for task management.