Discussion Forum > Report: Cricket's Not Just Yet Shelf and 10% Email Rule
Cricket:
<< My schedule is erratic. Some weeks, there are few deadlines and not much comes in. Others, I have to focus on a single project. >>
Are you able to forecast when you are going to have the quieter times, or is this simply up to chance?
<< My schedule is erratic. Some weeks, there are few deadlines and not much comes in. Others, I have to focus on a single project. >>
Are you able to forecast when you are going to have the quieter times, or is this simply up to chance?
September 9, 2014 at 18:36 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Good question. First reaction: No. I'm often caught off-guard. I expect the weeks after vacation to be light, and they often aren't.
Second reaction: That's a pattern, isn't it? After vacation, there's all the things I put off while finishing the pre-vacation deadlines, and things I put off because the kids are stressed at the end of the year, and the little things I put off until the the house is quiet again, and the restart of routines around the kids' school (walking with her to school, then continuing around the neighbourhood works better than "sometime before the hot hours, or maybe after", and the big project I look forward to doing once the house is quiet. So, September is light in terms of deadlines (this year I have a deadline, but that's unusual, unless I'm missing a pattern), but heavy in terms of backlog. (The backlog is shrinking faster then ever this year, even though it started larger because I included many things that normally I would have forgotten about, and one that accumulated over years.)
It's the same in January. Not sure about March Break.
Appointments are predictable, but they make it difficult to know how much I'll accomplish each week without looking at the calendar.
Then there's the insomnia, which is coming back. Grrrrrr! Need to pull out the notes from the better sleep class and get back to basics. That can throw real wrench into a day I expected to accomplish a lot.
Regardless, I'm currently very happy with the results. I'm seeing good progress on both the little-and-often projects, and on deep-dive projects. I've added and dropped several little-and-often projects, so only the more-important ones remain. Next week voice lessons start. Not sure if I'll defer a project, or switch the less-important LAOs to a 2-day cycle.
Second reaction: That's a pattern, isn't it? After vacation, there's all the things I put off while finishing the pre-vacation deadlines, and things I put off because the kids are stressed at the end of the year, and the little things I put off until the the house is quiet again, and the restart of routines around the kids' school (walking with her to school, then continuing around the neighbourhood works better than "sometime before the hot hours, or maybe after", and the big project I look forward to doing once the house is quiet. So, September is light in terms of deadlines (this year I have a deadline, but that's unusual, unless I'm missing a pattern), but heavy in terms of backlog. (The backlog is shrinking faster then ever this year, even though it started larger because I included many things that normally I would have forgotten about, and one that accumulated over years.)
It's the same in January. Not sure about March Break.
Appointments are predictable, but they make it difficult to know how much I'll accomplish each week without looking at the calendar.
Then there's the insomnia, which is coming back. Grrrrrr! Need to pull out the notes from the better sleep class and get back to basics. That can throw real wrench into a day I expected to accomplish a lot.
Regardless, I'm currently very happy with the results. I'm seeing good progress on both the little-and-often projects, and on deep-dive projects. I've added and dropped several little-and-often projects, so only the more-important ones remain. Next week voice lessons start. Not sure if I'll defer a project, or switch the less-important LAOs to a 2-day cycle.
September 10, 2014 at 15:05 |
Cricket
Cricket
And...I'm very happy with the results for paper. Unsure about email.
Rationale:
My schedule is erratic. Some weeks, there are few deadlines and not much comes in. Others, I have to focus on a single project. Overall, I have enough time to get everything done (I think), but over the years have been less than successful at actually using the quiet weeks to catch up and pull ahead. If I put something aside, it got forgotten.
The goal is to smooth out my workload, not to avoid doing things. Also, to catch and deal with things I'm avoiding.
Not Just Yet Shelf: Very Happy.
I started the experiment by pulling things that couldn't wait several months. Everything else was declared backlog and put in the Old Papers pile.
New papers go on the New end, and every day I take at least one thing from the Old end and deal with it. No excuses. On light days, I do more.
Even though I was travelling and busy for most of August, the oldest thing on the shelf was 3 weeks. Well below my "several months" safety margin.
Tweaks:
Urgent papers can be put at the Old end, but if I don't get to an Old paper every day or two, then the Urgent papers are overwhelming the system, and need to be dealt with separately. So far, it looked like a problem one day, but then smoothed out again.
I can do something from the middle only after I've done the Oldest paper for the day.
Things best done in batches get folders. E.g., Basement filing. I add things to the folder without moving it. Every few weeks, the folder reaches Oldest, and I take it downstairs, regardless of batch size.
Old Papers: Very Happy
Oldest thing each day. No excuses. If it's in there, it's because I've put it off several times. It's time to deal with it. No reshuffling, no setting aside. Deal with it. Now.
I enjoy the daily surprise. I tried halving, only found one batch. Everything else is a few papers spread over the entire pile. Since I enjoy the daily surprise, and there's no benefit to batching what's in there, Oldest first is working very well.
Email, Weekly Folders, 10% Rule: Works, but unsure if I like it.
Similar to AF1, but using folders by week instead of pages, and 10% of each folder rather than just one item.
It does a good job of smoothing my workload. High resistance email aren't clogging the works, but aren't hiding, either. Many of them require time and concentration and make me nervous, like updating important software.
I like watching the folders shrink. It's more satisfying than seeing the total number of unfinished items go up and down, depending on how much arrives each day.
I don't like how the folders from vacation are still large for their age. However, they'll both be finished in another 6 work days, so the dislike is temporary, and this way is balancing the backlog with more recent emails. If I power through the backlog quickly, I tend to make mistakes.
New System: One Item, Every Room, Every Day, Hopeful
Rather than working hard on one room, and letting the others suffer, I'm going to do one item from each room, every day. A bit more is allowed, especially if there's a batch, but the goal is under 5 minutes, and get to every single room. This is in addition to things that need doing daily, like dishes and laundry. I've tried it a few times, and liked it when I stuck with it, but had trouble keeping it up, mostly due to kids being in the way.
New System: Basic and Stretch Goals, Happy
Most goals this season have two levels. Basic is enough to make slow progress, such as 1 item from the pile. Stretch is a bit more, such as more from the pile, or jogging rather than walking. Definitely liking it. The basic goals work on don't-break-the-chain and effective maintenance, something that didn't happen when I set harder goals. The stretch goals are what I'd like to do, but are no longer the only thing on my list.
New System: Word, Sentence, Paragraph, Happy
It's easy to review the Words at the end of the week, or month, and the extra details, often cathartic when writing rather than useful for the review, are there if needed.