Get Everything Done

Can't edit the title, sigh -- should be Chart by Week

Remember when Mark talked about urgent means start date, not finish date?

Life has once again reached the point when I need to take that seriously. I'm doing projects for several groups and my own goals have been slipping seriously.

I did up a chart of project vs week. Short weeks are marked, and any unusual upcoming events.

I started by putting the final deadline in for each project with outside commitments then major milestones, including milestones for projects best done little-and-often. Then the same for personal goals. Then I looked at the busy weeks and adjusted. Finally I looked at projects with no deadlines and set milestones on the light weeks, including several "catch-up" sessions in each non-deadline project. Those are the ones that will slide if more work arrives, but I don't want to fall behind.

The next two weeks have little time to work, and the two after that have several important deadlines. Knowing that, I'm able to keep focused and get work done early.

I tried software for a Gantt chart -- it even promised to do Resource and PERT charts from the same data -- but it was easier to use a table in Word. Weeks down the left. Projects across the top.

When evaluating the work load each week, I also looked at work type. Detail? Errands? Quiet? Evening? Some steps got split over two weeks to keep balance. I also looked at the kids' schedules. When they're home, I get little done, especially anything needing concentration.

These days, I use a combination of Agile Results (AR) (gettingresults.com), Getting Sh*t Done (GSD) (http://utilware.com/gsd3.html), AF1 and DIT.

Weekly and longer, AR gives me a good overview and keeps me moving on bigger projects. It also prevents me from expecting to do a full month's work in December. (I don't have to do it now, I have a two months left!) AR uses a different type of planning for each time-frame. There are similarities (Rule of 3) and differences.

Each day is more like GSD, heavily (but not heavily enough, sigh) influenced by AR. I also use both GSD and AR to plan my week. GSD helps me structure, AR helps me fine-tune -- aka focus! (plans of mice and men...) I start each day by reviewing all the old lists and old days and the project chart.

During the day, I add stuff DIT style -- if I can avoid the temptation to do it sooner. The plan is to review old pages AF1 style, but in all honesty it's more like a laundry-list of all the things I could do. If nothing on my day's list interests me, I go back and grab something, anything, from the old list. There's usually a 1-off that I can do. (Or I give up and play computer games. Anything off the old list is better than that.)

Currently, the columns are by project. It's easier to see the project's flow that way. There are 9 columns, including one for Little and Often projects with no set deadline and one for "other". All systems need room for "other", otherwise the system breaks when real life happens.

I tried doing columns by work type (which for me, and it sounds like for you) are tied to environment or energy-style. That lost the critical connection between project steps. Instead, I used key words such as "due" and "plan" and "write" so it's easy to look over each week and see if there's too much of any one type. Colour-coding is an option, but so far I haven't needed it. (Colour-coding is also one more thing to redo each time I edit and reprint it.)

It's all in a Word table. I like Word tables.

The project management program I tried (GanttProject) included resources. I tried (very briefly) to create resources for each type of work to get pretty charts, but it wasn't worth it. It's very worth it for a large project. If I managed other people and projects, I might invest the time in evaluating several project management programs, but most are over-kill.

Hope this helps. I'm off to do the only important thing on the day -- support my 11 year old while she gets 4 permanent teeth pulled so she can get braces.

Update: This method wins!

Monday was a holiday. Tuesday I couldn't focus. (Kids started school. Recover from long weekend at cottage and last week of summer and school prep.) The chart told me which projects I needed to focus on.

Wednesday morning I was convinced there was too much to do, especially after my morning walk turned into two hours of talking with neighbours. Wednesday evening, rather than pick something at random, I worked on a craft for a display due Monday.

As of Thursday morning I have 6 hours of work left on the chart, most for a meeting Monday night so it can be done on the weekend, another and another 4 of weekly cleaning. That's 10 hours in 2 days plus weekend. Fingers crossed. I played a video game before bed. I know from experience that it does something to my brain and I can't sleep for hours. Stupid. Must focus today!

(Blame the new system. After the craft, I was confident enough to start the game.)

The only thing that slipped is Dad's birthday card that should have been mailed yesterday. I'll blame the long weekend and school starting. It's hard to get everyone to sign the card when we're running off in all directions.

I'm seeing real progress in multi-step projects. I broke the big repetitive projects into specific steps, so each week lists a specific chapter, or "inch 2 of 10" (for the filing basket that started at 10 inches). Every few weeks those projects have a "catch-up" week. I know from experience that if things fall behind too much I get disheartened. So far, this is working better than "another 15 minutes on X" in my weekly list.

Most of my irregular tasks are associated with a project, so they're on the chart and my big list is now much shorter.

I'm not a slave to the chart. Sometimes I pulled a step forward, not because it had to be done earlier, but because I had to move something to prevent a busy week in the future. In that case, I focus on the goal -- get half the project done during this light week, rather than the blue or red sample.

So far, I'm restricting it to things that will either be finished (the filing backlog) or improve (singing practice) or with firm goals (aerobics 3x/week).

It's tempting to move my other lists on to this one, especially weekly cleaning. The big picture is nice, but it's getting crowded. Also, I want to ensure everything on this chart is finished on schedule. The weekly cleaning list usually slips. Not hugely, but enough that it would break the "this chart does not slip!" feel. We'll see how it goes.

I'm still using the other lists, and copy my daily goals from them to the daily list. I look at this chart first. In Covey's language, this chart has my big rocks. Once they're on the daily list, I have a better feel for how many little rocks can be squeezed in.

Update:

Still loving it! My personal projects are behind, but I look at all the other projects that are safely ahead of schedule and I'm happy.

One project is to prepare a learning session from a book I hadn't ordered. Buying is always tough for me to time. I'm uncomfortable buying early. Sill, I know. When planning, I counted back, including delivery time, and relaxed. Yesterday I ordered it electronically -- no shipping time, so I'm ahead of schedule. it's the most interesting thing on my reading pile, so I'm reading it early. Do I feel guilty that I'm not working on something else? No. There are no other milestones in sight that use that type of energy.

This grid also keeps me working when I'm under the weather. I used to take a day or week off at the drop of a hat. Appointment first thing in the day? No work gets done this morning. Short week? Especially if we went away for the long weekend, I didn't expect to catch up, let alone get ahead.

The long weekends are on the grid, so the milestones take them into account. Even if I know I can't catch up overall, I see that another 20 minutes will catch me up for that project, and another 20 for that one ,and now it's actually worth making good use of those little bits of time.

If I'm not feeling well, I know immediately which milestones I need to do anyways. I also see milestones in the next few weeks that I can do despite being sick, so might do them instead.

I rarely work directly off the grid. Instead, it's one of many lists which I review daily to create a list for the day. Sometimes, though, nothing on the daily list calls. The project grid usually gives me something I want to do.

A non-productive week. Burn-out. Not too bad, but not as stellar as earlier weeks. Prior to that was a productive week, provided you count a gazillion appointments and such as productive. Why do all the routine checkups happen in September?

My important projects are still on track -- or at least not worrying me. Again, spreading things out over several weeks saved me. Well, maybe one is behind. I need to switch to "adequate" rather than "awesome" prep for a course I teach Monday. Good instructions for the square the class will make is more important than examples of all the other things they can do with related techniques.

My feelings for one group project finally became clear. I'm more than willing to pull more than my fair share of the load. I'm a stay home mom. From each as they are able and all that. But when everyone else promises to show up, but I'm busy this month -- for years? No amount of appreciation can keep me going. I stuck it out for two years. My only regret is committing to stick it out until Christmas. I ended up breaking that one. Some good came of it, though. The members who finally stepped in are reinventing the group. Maybe it will grow and we'll get a new crop of dedicated members who can actually share the load. I'm still involved, but have a permanent conflict on the regular meeting night. (Honest. I'm in the audience for my son's new school's parents' council. He's at an age when it's hard for parents to connect with the school, so this is important.)

I added a rule to the project chart. When catching up in a project with weekly milestones, you can only do two weeks of work in one week, not three. I did too much catching up on one project and burned out on it. Knowing this rule in advance might help me keep all projects evenly caught-up (or behind). Or it will make clear which projects to give up on for now. If I fall so far behind that I can't catch up by the end of the season, that tells me something.

Unique milestones are more useful than "work more on". I know when I can cross it off, and eventually when I can cross off an entire week. I even measured the height of a paper pile. It's all low-priority filing, but getting on my nerves. Pile down to 8 inches, 7 inches, etc.

Also, one of my projects had milestones that are too large. It turns out a chapter takes 6 days. I need to break it down further.

Here it is:

http://wp.me/ptisN-ne

Normally, instead of DONE, I happily scribble out the line and put a big X when I finish an entire square and a dramatic wiggly line across when a week is finished.

It needs retyping every few weeks, to clear out old weeks and restructure the projects based on how I'm doing. Usually, when I'm behind I leave the milestone on the old week rather than shuffle the milestones. Shuffling can hide that I'm behind.

This chart feeds into the daily and/or weekly list. Some tasks and projects are on both this list and my repeating lists. I find this list gives more incentive, but don't want to throw every little-and-often project at it. I suspect that, if I do, it will it will lose its power.

The main benefit of this chart is that all my multi-week projects and milestones are in one place. I don't have to look through my lists or folders to know if I'm on schedule. I can tell at a glance if I'm behind and how hard it will be to catch up.

Some projects are easy to catch up, just work at it a second day in the week. Others are harder. If I rehearse more than once a day, I just go through the motions -- it's not as good.

Dear Self:

Preview does not equal Publish.

Fixed now.

Samples are here:
http://cricketb.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/more-samples-of-my-lack-of-planning/

List by project or a flat list of tasks?

My day list is flat. It's just a reminder of what I want to do today so I don't have to go to the longer lists. It's similar to GSD:
http://blog.utilware.com/gsd

I don't always do a daily list. Yesterday was "drive to each appointment, wait, repeat." No need for a list. Other days I know I have enough flexibility I don't need one -- but often end up wasting the day.

My week list has a bit of structure -- how much depends on how busy the week is. Busier = more structure.

I try to make groups of errands, quick things and daily things, so I can find them easily, but it's no big deal if they're not grouped. It's only one page. It often has a small chart for tasks I want to do more than once.

My big planning session is weekly. I start with appointments, then review the project list, then every other page in my book, including older week lists and day lists. It all goes onto one page for the week.

For the rest of the week, I don't have to go back to an older list. I usually look at all the other pages, several times, but I don't have to.

Well, sometimes a line on the week page will translate to "look at several other lists". I'm careful about it. I don't want to be surprised and find my week in tatters when I finally look at that those other lists!

I only make a day list if it will help me focus that day. Sometimes I copy stuff from other lists, sometimes I don't. It depends on the day. I only have to go back as far as the week list to make one.

How do I not put off everything until Friday? The list is only one page, and Friday is near enough that I can see what will happen if I put things off.

I add to the week list as needed. Near the end it might spill onto another page, but by then most of the earlier tasks are done. If they're not, it's a red flag. Sometimes I add to the day list rather than the week list. It doesn't matter.

If the first bit of planning shows that it's a very light week, the schedule will be vague.

If the first bit of planning shows that it's a killer week, I might schedule things to the half-hour. I might not follow it, but I'll know how much leeway I have.

I don't like the charts. I used to, but now they're one more thing to look at. I still like that they're a record, but really all I need is how long it's been since I last did the task, and a feel for how often I really do it.

I keep moving things I want to do weekly but in reality do much less often to the weekly chart, thinking it will keep the pressure on. In reality, I get so used to ignoring the line that I do it even less often. Know thyself!

As the lists get older, I try to work them in AF1 mode. Not always, but often enough.

And, the weakness is showing. Monday was a holiday so we were away. Tuesday was so obvious I didn't bother reviewing the other lists. Did okay on the daily tasks, but got sucked into something else that was important but probably not worth the hours I gave it. Wednesday was nothing but appointments. Thursday (today) I got sucked into unimportant things. I'm in an essay-writing mood. It's 1:15.

Still no plan for the week. Still no list of what I need to focus on. The only reason I put laundry in is I passed the machine on the way to get a soft drink.

I think the best bet is do a weekly plan. Even though I know what I need to do in the next day and a half, the act of going through all the possible tasks will help me focus.