Get Everything Done

Alan's system is similar to what I do, but more formal. My thinking and meeting notes are filled with circles (faster than check boxes) and red herrings that I cross out. Pages that start as todo lists don't have the circles, but reference and thinking has a box around it, and gets crossed out when it's no longer important.

I start most work sessions with a list of tasks, and expand them as I start the task.

I'm mixed about a journal of what I did. Most days I don't need one. I take the time to update the weekly, monthly and milestone checklists. For non-routine tasks, the checkmarks and new notes on the page are enough. However, sometimes I don't have the appropriate page handy, and right now I can't remember when I last cleaned the fish tank.

Dad used to do it all in one book. He always had the right book with him! He was a design engineer, so in theory the books were legal records in case of patent issues.

Most books I've read recently say 30 days or a month is best for a focus. Some say 6 weeks. That's long enough to get a good feel for that part, and encourages you to evaluate how it's going while there's plenty of time to correct. It's close enough to keep the pressure on, and give a reward without too much delay. The focus can be part of a much larger project.

Alan, I've seen Dad's books. His work projects are all in one, with an index page. He labeled the pages clearly, so there was no confusion.

No matter what came up at a meeting or during lunch, he has the right book. He bragged about it when I was organizing my binders for class. He includes everything: meeting notes, a calendar page, notes made while reading, experiment outlines, data, back-of-the-envelope calculations -- everything he might want to look at again or need for a patent. Paper and shelf space are cheap.

Also, given the state of his desk, it would be a miracle if he could find anything not in the book!

He uses legal pads to draft letters or articles. Those get a lot of changes and the final result is typed up fairly soon, but the original outline and points to cover are often in the main book. Same with calculations he'll need a few stabs at, again, with enough notes in the book to survive a patent dispute. Yes, several versions of the same full-page schematic, with notes of what might need changing. Any calculations made away from his desk are in the book.

He has folders and binders for printouts and notes from other people, including agendas and minutes, that aren't small enough to be taped into the main book, or that he doesn't consider important enough to keep. Useful letters from people testing his prototypes often get glued into the books.

Before retiring, he had separate books for home and work, but his home book was organized the same, combining notes on the electrical properties of the new antenna, and sketches for the new deck. The actual measurements for the deck might be made on a legal pad, where he has lots of room to scribble and calculate and re-draw when he realizes that rock is two inches too high to allow the stairs to go where he wants, but unless he intends to buy the lumber and build it in the next week, the final notes are copied into the book, with enough detail that he can redo the calculations if something changes.

He also has a separate book for the local cottage association, but meetings and the design for the mailbox shelter are all in the same book.

Leon, check out Zen to Done. You can get it for a reasonable price from the zenhabits website (or even free with a bit of looking). Also check out Agile Results. Both of them discuss breaking projects down into monthly and then weekly and then daily bits.

I just discovered www.productiveflourishing.com . (Thanks, Melanie. It's not like I needed more productivity porn.)

The free planners look useful for dividing things up. He also defines
Objectives relate to months.
Projects relate to weeks.
Tasks relate to days

I'm working on a revised form of my milestone chart, which has more long-term planning. Stay tuned.

I sometimes put circles (faster than checkboxes) on the left for things I need to do at home, and on the right for things I want to address before the meeting's over. Or a different shape. Some meetings, I need another category for things to discuss with individuals before we split up, or first thing the next morning. Most of my meetings cause the chair to pull out his/her hair. Storytellers and crafters never stick to topic.

Hi Alan,

I don't know if he numbers the pages. He dates the first page of each day, maybe every other page? He trusts the book binding.

Only things about his projects go in the books. Magazines and technical books obviously don't go in. Printouts of tax guidelines go loose on the desk, but he's careful with receipts. Emails he printed to read a second time or agendas, handouts and minutes, that he doesn't need for future reference, like comments on a draft. Prototypes. Samples. Catalogs. Drafts or calculations that he expects to work on in the next few days -- but he's equally likely to be creative in the book. His desk is very small, so it doesn't take much to look cluttered.

These days he uses 8-1/2x11 spiral bound, 80 to 100 pages. Thin enough they're comfortable to write on. I think he used hard-cover some years, when there wasn't always a desk handy. (He worked for several companies over his career.)

Still, given the state of his desk, the book is probably the most organized thing on it. If it's there, he can find it.

I don't know how long they take to fill, or how long he keeps them. He has a few on the shelf. I think he said something about the work ones belonging to work (another reason for having separate books for home and work), but my memory's fuzzy. For most knowledge workers, anything you do that's work-related, even if it's on your own time in your own basement, belongs to your employer.