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Overcoming Overload?
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Posted by Ken
Mar 10, 2015 at 11:21 PM
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
Posted by Ken
Mar 10, 2015 at 11:26 PM
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
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Mar 11, 2015 at 12:19 AM
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
Posted by Bernhard
Mar 11, 2015 at 07:14 AM
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.
Posted by Hugh
Mar 11, 2015 at 09:38 AM
I agree with Franz.