Needing // A new task management system for work. As I progress in my new role, I find myself constantly trying to manage a lot of figurative balls in the air, and some of them are coming pretty close to dropping. On the positive side, I’m not forgetting the big stuff. But I’m forgetting the small stuff, the little tasks — send this to so-and-so, inform so-and-so about that — that arguably are more important to my overall effectiveness as an employee and as the lead of my team. When someone asks me about a task and I realize I just totally forgot about it? It sucks.
Waiting // For the water to warm up. Our neighborhood pool opened last weekend and I mentioned to Emma on Saturday that maybe we could go on Mother’s Day. She was SOOOO excited about it, so we did indeed go on Sunday. The weather was gray and windy and the water was really chilly. Poor Emma totally wasn’t expecting that the pool — which feels like bathwater in August — would make her shiver. She and Jose swam for about 10 minutes but after that she was ready to be smothered in towels.
Preparing // For Emma’s first dance recital tomorrow. This is her second year of dance (which she does once a week via her daycare) and we skipped the recital last year because…well, because I didn’t want to deal with the rigamarole it involves. I decided to do it this year and I’m trying to keep an open mind but sheesh. They just take it so darn seriously. She’s a 3-year-old, not a professional ballerina!
Writing // Charlotte’s birth story, at last! Look for it here soon if you’re into that kind of thing.
Smelling // My neighbor’s jasmine. Their vines are creeping through the fence that divides their backyard from the street, and I always take a good long sniff when I get the mail. Ahh.
Becca says
I feel you about the task management thing. I am starting to wonder about my inability to manage the balls having to do with age. Or maybe it’s also position – I feel like a lot of people I worked for thought I was effective because I helped them with all those balls, maybe now I need one of me?
Jennifer says
I have a couple methods that work for me.
I use Outlook Journal, but the tool doesn’t really matter. I have an on-going to-do list which is more or less continuous. The first thing I do when I come in in the morning is copy yesterday’s to-do list to a new Journal entry. Crossed out items are deleted. I review the list and order it in terms of priority for the day. When I complete items during the day, they get crossed off but not deleted. This enables me to go back and review when I did what, and they’ll be deleted when I create a new entry the following day.
I categorize my to-do list depending on what kind of work I’m doing. For example, I have a technical job now, and my categories are pretty straight-forward: current, lower priority/longer term, and personal. At other times, I’ve categorized by project or whatever makes sense.
When I attend meetings during the day, I take a pad of paper, which I take actions on. When I get back to my desk, I transcribe the actions to my to-do list. If for some reason I can’t do that immediately, the paper goes into my Inbox, and I try to transcribe before I leave that day. I also have a recycling box so paper I’m done with doesn’t get messy or mixed up with my inbox papers before I get around to taking it to the recycling bin. In past, I’ve also used a laptop and entered notes directly into my journal. I think most people go digital these days, but I like paper. Paper is never a permanent source of notes – just a temporary place to jot down what’s needed. The permanent source of notes is the transcribed information in Outlook Journal. I have one or two technical diagrams on the wall by my desk, but otherwise, I keep no permanent collection of paper whatsoever. In the unusual event I have a drawing I need to keep, I photograph or scan it.
With longer term actions, I make entries on my Outlook calendar. For example, if I have something due in two months that I plan to start in one month, I make a note of when it’s due on my calendar, and then I also make a note when I want to start it. At that time, I’d move it to my to-do list.
We use P6 to manage schedule down to individual engineers. I review P6 two or three times a week. When I start a new project, I break it down into tasks. I enter these into JIRA, but for personal use, I just make a new Outlook Journal entry that captures the ordered tasks to complete the project. I then move a subset of those ordered tasks to my to-do list day by day until the project is done.
I find when I have more than about 10 short-term items on my plate I have a hard time keeping up. The same goes for more than about 20 or 25 total items. This is mostly a problem for non-scheduled work – odds and ends that weren’t planned but need to be taken care of. This usually means it’s time to delegate, descope or try to reduce my workload if possible.
What is your current method, Sarah? Do you have a notebook or use a calendar or tasklist or what?
Jennifer says
I would also really like to know what Karen does these days, since she always seemed so organized when we were in school.
katie says
Is that your towel from growing up that Jose has? Like the one you took to Barclay Downs a million times. If it is, that is awesome.
Sarah says
It is. I’ve had that towel forever! Hahaha. And the blue and white striped one is from Nice, France — I got it on my first trip to Europe in 2001.