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Planning & executing
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Posted by Dellu
Aug 10, 2021 at 06:44 PM
I am very pleased to find so many constructive suggestions and directions in here. You guys are so great: feel so home in this small blog for years now.
Talking to you guys here like talking to a nice experienced family member. So many insights here.
@Prion:
>“How to take smart notes” which I found to be quite insightful.
I heard that is a great book on how to take notes. I will check it out; it might help me. As to your advise on the use of paper and pencil, I totally agree it is one of the most effective tools to focus on sth. I will try to set up sth here in my home office.
@Cyganet: the weekly reviews: You reminded me the time I was reading a book on Agile projects. The writer has same concept of reviewing progress on the weekly basis. I tried to do a review for a few weeks. But, I didn´t keep it for a long time. But, yah, I think you are right:
Planning a specific project for a week: and, then execute that single project and review it at the end of the week probably what I need.
Reading The PARA system suggested by @Stephen also gives the same suggestion.
Reading the Para system, the whole system is about narrowing down responsibilities so that they would be actionable, concrete projects that can be executed in fixed time range.
The Para system, is by the way, very similar to the Agile system.
The Kanban seems more of a task management. The Agile and the Para focus on narrowing vague responsibilities into actionable, concrete projects and task.
@Amontillado: yes, I have read about the Eisenhower in the “the seven habits“. But, I never tried it, nor did I know anybody using them. The Captain Picard, never heard of it.
@Andy Brice: Yes, constructing some kind of hypothetical deadline; or promise sb to give a draft is a brilliant idea.
@ Ken also the same idea. Putting a time frame is really magical to me. I remember the times I did magic in a few days when I have sth to submit for a professor.
I am going to try to get a good fried who can read my draft.
@David, Andy and others who think serendipity and relaxed rambling is fine: totally disagree with u. As Prion noted, the academic is a very harsh game: focus is very important: would go down the hill, otherwise.
As to Zettel: I personally find it more of a problem for me than a solution. Collecting so many notes that I might use in the future, crafting wonderful atomic notes, cleaning it up, etc, is a way of procrastination, way of avoiding the hard work of writing that ugly draft.
@satis: I have recently learned a plugin in Obisidian that can do a Kanban. But, I really don’t know much about Kanaban.
Is Kanban effective for private projects? I had the impression that Kanban is mostly for teams. It also seems like just a regular todo list with some graphic stuff. I probably don’t understand what Kanban is.
Posted by satis
Aug 10, 2021 at 09:00 PM
Dellu wrote:
>@satis: I have recently learned a plugin in Obisidian that can do a
>Kanban. But, I really don’t know much about Kanaban.
>Is Kanban effective for private projects? I had the impression that
>Kanban is mostly for teams. It also seems like just a regular todo list
>with some graphic stuff. I probably don’t understand what Kanban
>is.
Kanban is at heart a simple organization tool - a visual system for tracking progress of work over a project lifecycle - which does not need to be for teams. I don’t use mine with anyone else. You can make one at home with Post-It Notes on a wall, or index cards on a corkboard. You create columns that reflect workflows, most simply as TODO/BACKLOG, DOING, and DONE. It’s easy to see at a glance what needs to be done, be done next, and where you are in the process.
As an example, here’s an editorial calendar example done by Trello, which you can open and peruse.
A freelance writer friend uses a version of this to keep track of solicitations, work in progress, payment for work, and his social media posting schedule.
Obsidian can do kanban in a rudimentary form, but I greatly prefer the power and flexibility and intuitiveness of a real kanban system like Trello, which utilizes color labels and tagging, lets you have checklists within ‘cards’ and see how far along you are, can integrate with calendars, can attach files and add due dates, and a lot more.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Aug 11, 2021 at 07:29 AM
As recommended earlier, I suggest you take a look at some material on the Kanban Method, such as:
https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/kanban/
Some key points of relevance to both teams and individuals: visualise the flow of work, limit work in progress (WIP), stop starting and start finishing.
The Kanban Board, nicely described above by Satis is the main tool of the Kanban Method, as it is used to visualise workflow. However, the values and principles of the Kanban Method are also very important. Such principles include
- Start with what you do now
- Agree to pursue improvement through evolutionary change
which can be very important in overcoming resistance to change.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Aug 11, 2021 at 08:25 AM
I like this methodology, @Franz – nice, tight approach.
Franz Grieser wrote:
Hi Dellu. I can relate.
>Don’t know how much of my lifetime I spent losing myself in reseach I
>could not use.
>
>This is how I proceed today when researching (for a book or any other
>project). It’s not perfect but has saved me a lot of time.
>
>1. I define a desired outcome.
>That can be anything from “find out more about ...” to “find numbers to
>substantiate my point” to “find out what I do not know” ...
>
>2. The last 30 or so minutes of the time I reserved for research, I do a
>review:
>- What have I found out? I write the most important findings down.
>- Have I come closer to the desired outcome? If yes: Fine.
>- If not: Have I found something worthwile? What is it?
>
>3. Depending on the project and the research results: I may need to
>check whether the desired outcome is still valid or whether I should
>better change course.
>
>4. I check what I wrote down and decide whether I need to research more.
>
>
Posted by Simon
Aug 11, 2021 at 10:56 AM
Cyganet wrote:
Hi Dellu,
>My way of tackling this lies in the process, not the tool.
I think Cyganet has hit the nail on the head. Without a process you will continue to flounder. Tools are developed to help a process. Without a process they have little value. To this end, I would encourage you to to define a process that works for you and then obtain the tools that will best help that process. I have personally found that Kourosh Dini’s, “Being Productive” course (not affiliated) immensly helpful in developing my own process. You need to be able to establish habits and focused priorities.
At some point we all come to the realisation that we have the tools to do the job, but lack the process and hence motivation. I’m amazed how some people are so productive with pen and paper and others with a single outliner tool. I believe it has to do with process and would encourage you to make that your main focus. Establish a baseline process and tweak it as necessary. The greatest fallacy in the digital world is that there is a tool that will solve all my problems.