Discussion Forum > Going too slow through the list
I think that will help a lot :)
March 2, 2011 at 13:49 |
Erik
Erik
Count me interested in your experiment. I also would like to know how "blocking a few lines off C1" helps or not compared to (or used in conjunction with) this "solution".
Then maybe you could come up with a very useful unofficial rules addendum for "C2 abusers" and other "chronic overcommitters"?
Then maybe you could come up with a very useful unofficial rules addendum for "C2 abusers" and other "chronic overcommitters"?
March 2, 2011 at 17:42 |
Daouda
Daouda
Daouda -
<< Count me interested in your experiment. I also would like to know how "blocking a few lines off C1" helps or not compared to (or used in conjunction with) this "solution". >>
I'll definitely let you know how it goes!
<< Count me interested in your experiment. I also would like to know how "blocking a few lines off C1" helps or not compared to (or used in conjunction with) this "solution". >>
I'll definitely let you know how it goes!
March 2, 2011 at 19:14 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
3/2/11
Active Pages Today: 23
Total Active Tasks: 244
I probably won't track total active tasks -- takes too long to count them. :-) Counting active pages is more realistic.
I worked through 4 pages today -- much faster than my usual 1-2. And I added only 1 new page. So that feels like a bit of progress -- however, my total number of active pages increased (I didn't close out any pages altogether.)
My goal is to see if Total Active Pages will stabilize or decrease by entering urgent items into C2 of the next page (rather than C2 of the current page, as the official rules state).
Active Pages Today: 23
Total Active Tasks: 244
I probably won't track total active tasks -- takes too long to count them. :-) Counting active pages is more realistic.
I worked through 4 pages today -- much faster than my usual 1-2. And I added only 1 new page. So that feels like a bit of progress -- however, my total number of active pages increased (I didn't close out any pages altogether.)
My goal is to see if Total Active Pages will stabilize or decrease by entering urgent items into C2 of the next page (rather than C2 of the current page, as the official rules state).
March 3, 2011 at 5:32 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
After a spell spent in a time-consuming part of my list I became concerned that I had been so absorbed by one or two pages that several days had passed since I looked at the others. My fix was to put new C2 tasks not on the current page or the next one, but evenly through the future pages, so that any page only had one C2 task on it. Then each page could be processed by doing the C2 task and any one of the C1 tasks on it, and I at least got to look to see whether there were other C1 tasks that I should be thinking about.
I don't recommend this as a permanent modification to the system as it
- changes the balance between urgent, unfinished and older tasks
- imposes a sequence on the C2 tasks which might not be the one you would choose.
But as a temporary expendience to get you once round the notebook, I have found it works well.
I don't recommend this as a permanent modification to the system as it
- changes the balance between urgent, unfinished and older tasks
- imposes a sequence on the C2 tasks which might not be the one you would choose.
But as a temporary expendience to get you once round the notebook, I have found it works well.
March 3, 2011 at 8:48 |
DavidC
DavidC
Or you can recognise the reality that you're not going to get to them quickly and decommit them back to C1. This is a bit like declaring a backlog in that there is a new C2 action that goes with it, which is working out why the situation arose and making changes to prevent it occurring again.
March 3, 2011 at 9:11 |
Will
Will
Status Report: Total Active Pages
3/4/11 - 26
3/3/11 - 25
3/2/11 - 23
3/4/11 - 26
3/3/11 - 25
3/2/11 - 23
March 4, 2011 at 19:12 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Seraphim,
What is the relevance of the number of pages?
What is the relevance of the number of pages?
March 4, 2011 at 19:59 |
Will
Will
Seraphim,
Do you have all of your tasks in your task management list? Or, do you also have lists of tasks associated by project, with the project name listed in your task management list along with general tasks?
I'm assuming it's the former. If so, then you might see more throughput using the latter.
Matt
Do you have all of your tasks in your task management list? Or, do you also have lists of tasks associated by project, with the project name listed in your task management list along with general tasks?
I'm assuming it's the former. If so, then you might see more throughput using the latter.
Matt
March 4, 2011 at 20:49 |
2mc
2mc
Will - <<< What is the relevance of the number of pages? >>>
Whether it's growing or shrinking or staying steady.
Whether it's growing or shrinking or staying steady.
March 5, 2011 at 15:36 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
2mc - <<< Do you have all of your tasks in your task management list? Or, do you also have lists of tasks associated by project, with the project name listed in your task management list along with general tasks? >>>
I've done it both ways. It's a tradeoff: More tasks in SF = more awareness of the actual work that needs to be done, with a bit less awareness of how it's all tied to a project. More tasks in the project file = cleaner / leaner SF list, less awareness of my actual work that I can / must do now.
I've come to distinguish between a few kinds of project-related work:
(1) "Action Items" - These are the things I can (and should) do NOW ("sometime soon") -- with or without an actual deadline. I have started getting into the habit of ALWAYS writing these in my SF list.
(2) Project plan or schedule - This lists all the milestones, deliverables, due dates, and who is responsible for what. This stays outside SF, in my project files (mostly OneNote). I have several ways of handling this. For example, there can be a recurring "Project XXX" entry in SF that triggers me to review it all, and maybe enter some additional tasks (e.g., to make progress on one of the deliverable; or to arrange a meeting with a coworker; or to make sure our series of meetings is set up correctly on the Outlook calendar; or to think about the overall progress and direction; etc.).
(3) Weekly project team meetings, for which I prepare the agenda, capture the action items, send out the minutes. The meeting itself is on my calendar, outside of SF. I have a recurring reminder in Outlook that prompts me to enter "Prepare the agenda" into SF column 2 the day before the meeting. As soon as the meeting is done, I enter "Prepare the minutes" into SF Column 2 also. The meeting generates Action Items which I track in the project files -- but if they are assigned to ME, they also go into SF.
If I keep these different kinds of activities distinct in my mind, and have a very clear idea of what kinds of things really belong in SF -- such as my own action items, and a task for my overall management of the project -- it helps a lot.
I've done it both ways. It's a tradeoff: More tasks in SF = more awareness of the actual work that needs to be done, with a bit less awareness of how it's all tied to a project. More tasks in the project file = cleaner / leaner SF list, less awareness of my actual work that I can / must do now.
I've come to distinguish between a few kinds of project-related work:
(1) "Action Items" - These are the things I can (and should) do NOW ("sometime soon") -- with or without an actual deadline. I have started getting into the habit of ALWAYS writing these in my SF list.
(2) Project plan or schedule - This lists all the milestones, deliverables, due dates, and who is responsible for what. This stays outside SF, in my project files (mostly OneNote). I have several ways of handling this. For example, there can be a recurring "Project XXX" entry in SF that triggers me to review it all, and maybe enter some additional tasks (e.g., to make progress on one of the deliverable; or to arrange a meeting with a coworker; or to make sure our series of meetings is set up correctly on the Outlook calendar; or to think about the overall progress and direction; etc.).
(3) Weekly project team meetings, for which I prepare the agenda, capture the action items, send out the minutes. The meeting itself is on my calendar, outside of SF. I have a recurring reminder in Outlook that prompts me to enter "Prepare the agenda" into SF column 2 the day before the meeting. As soon as the meeting is done, I enter "Prepare the minutes" into SF Column 2 also. The meeting generates Action Items which I track in the project files -- but if they are assigned to ME, they also go into SF.
If I keep these different kinds of activities distinct in my mind, and have a very clear idea of what kinds of things really belong in SF -- such as my own action items, and a task for my overall management of the project -- it helps a lot.
March 5, 2011 at 15:51 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Status Report: Total Active Pages
3/5/11 - 1
3/4/11 - 26
3/3/11 - 25
3/2/11 - 23
Why only 1 active page?? I filled up my little pocket notebook that I was using for SF -- it started with only about 35 free pages. I decided to take Mark's old AF advice and start over with a new notebook, rather than trying to continue with two notebooks, or trying to copy forward all my tasks from my old notebook. I do have a c2 task to copy over any relevant tasks -- it will stay in c2 till it's done.
Also, following Bob Pankratz's reasoning, it seems like a notebook with longer pages (room for more tasks) might move faster. My little pocket notebook had only 21 lines per page, so I am trying a larger on with 32 lines. We'll see if the (expected) increase in speed is worth the inconvenience of a larger book.
3/5/11 - 1
3/4/11 - 26
3/3/11 - 25
3/2/11 - 23
Why only 1 active page?? I filled up my little pocket notebook that I was using for SF -- it started with only about 35 free pages. I decided to take Mark's old AF advice and start over with a new notebook, rather than trying to continue with two notebooks, or trying to copy forward all my tasks from my old notebook. I do have a c2 task to copy over any relevant tasks -- it will stay in c2 till it's done.
Also, following Bob Pankratz's reasoning, it seems like a notebook with longer pages (room for more tasks) might move faster. My little pocket notebook had only 21 lines per page, so I am trying a larger on with 32 lines. We'll see if the (expected) increase in speed is worth the inconvenience of a larger book.
March 5, 2011 at 21:03 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Status Report: Total Active Pages
3/7/11 - 3
3/6/11 - 2
3/5/11 - 1
Modifications currently in force to help add speed:
+ Use notebook with more lines per page
+ Add urgent items to NEXT page C2 whenever possible (RULE MOD)
Modifications to consider for later:
+ Make daily C2 tasks into daily habits so you do them as part of your daily routine instead of in SF (e.g., checklist at beginning of day)
+ Use notebook with FEWER lines per page (Erik)
+ Blocking off a few lines of C1 (Daouda)
+ De-commission C2 tasks back to C1, especially if priorities have changed (Will)
There were a few other ideas people had suggested, which I entered into my SF list but now I can't find them. Let me know if you think I should add anything to the "Modifications to consider for later".
3/7/11 - 3
3/6/11 - 2
3/5/11 - 1
Modifications currently in force to help add speed:
+ Use notebook with more lines per page
+ Add urgent items to NEXT page C2 whenever possible (RULE MOD)
Modifications to consider for later:
+ Make daily C2 tasks into daily habits so you do them as part of your daily routine instead of in SF (e.g., checklist at beginning of day)
+ Use notebook with FEWER lines per page (Erik)
+ Blocking off a few lines of C1 (Daouda)
+ De-commission C2 tasks back to C1, especially if priorities have changed (Will)
There were a few other ideas people had suggested, which I entered into my SF list but now I can't find them. Let me know if you think I should add anything to the "Modifications to consider for later".
March 7, 2011 at 23:53 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Amending one item:
Modifications to consider for later:
+ Make daily C2 tasks into daily habits so you do them as part of your daily routine instead of in SF (e.g., checklist at beginning of day)
+ Use notebook with FEWER lines per page, and act on no more than 1 item in C1 during each visit to the page (Erik)
+ Block off a few lines of C1 on every page (Daouda)
+ De-commission C2 tasks back to C1, especially if priorities have changed (Will)
Modifications to consider for later:
+ Make daily C2 tasks into daily habits so you do them as part of your daily routine instead of in SF (e.g., checklist at beginning of day)
+ Use notebook with FEWER lines per page, and act on no more than 1 item in C1 during each visit to the page (Erik)
+ Block off a few lines of C1 on every page (Daouda)
+ De-commission C2 tasks back to C1, especially if priorities have changed (Will)
March 8, 2011 at 0:44 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Status Report: Total Active Pages
3/8/11 - 3 (in meetings all day today)
3/7/11 - 3
3/6/11 - 2
3/5/11 - 1
Modifications currently in force to help add speed:
+ Use notebook with more lines per page
+ Add urgent items to NEXT page C2 whenever possible (RULE MOD)
Modifications to consider for later:
+ Make daily C2 tasks into daily habits so you do them as part of your daily routine instead of in SF (e.g., checklist at beginning of day)
+ Use notebook with FEWER lines per page, and act on no more than 1 item in C1 during each visit to the page (Erik)
+ Block off a few lines of C1 on every page (Daouda)
+ De-commission C2 tasks back to C1, especially if priorities have changed (Will)
3/8/11 - 3 (in meetings all day today)
3/7/11 - 3
3/6/11 - 2
3/5/11 - 1
Modifications currently in force to help add speed:
+ Use notebook with more lines per page
+ Add urgent items to NEXT page C2 whenever possible (RULE MOD)
Modifications to consider for later:
+ Make daily C2 tasks into daily habits so you do them as part of your daily routine instead of in SF (e.g., checklist at beginning of day)
+ Use notebook with FEWER lines per page, and act on no more than 1 item in C1 during each visit to the page (Erik)
+ Block off a few lines of C1 on every page (Daouda)
+ De-commission C2 tasks back to C1, especially if priorities have changed (Will)
March 9, 2011 at 5:02 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
I'm going to start logging this offline and report back if I ever have anything interesting to report.
March 9, 2011 at 19:15 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
But remember Mark's experiment, putting urgent things on the NEXT page's Column 2, rather than the current page's Column 2? After several days trial, he said it moved much too quickly, so he went back to the original rules as stated: urgent items go into Column 2 of the same page.
Well, I precisely need for the system to move more quickly! So I am going to try entering urgent things into next page's Column 2. Maybe this will cure the "chasing end of list" syndrome.
I will let you know how it goes.