Discussion Forum > AF4REVisited
I use it in academic work. Most of the work that matters in my situation is multi-week projects, although there is a mix of different kinds, too (writing, research, applications, teaching). Having the list of Unfinished tasks lets me see at a glance what I have in the air, while the New list is the place where I put in tasks up to 3 hours’ length. Time-based dismissal didn’t work for me because my work cycles vary over the year, and AF1 ended up a mess of tasks spread across a book and lacked the condensed overview of potential tasks I needed.
I don’t have a procrastination problem. Rather, I tend to get into the weeds and detail of a piece of work far too easily. So having an overview of what else I’m working on today reminds me to speed up and stick to the essentials of my tasks.
I use a pocket-size field-notes-style notebook where a two-page spread counts as one ‘page’.
I have one modification. Any project that needs it (complex or different kinds of task with different duration) gets its own index card, inserted in the notebook’s back cover. The index card’s size limits the number of tasks I can add for the project, which helps me avoid needless granularity in project planning.
For research and writing, however, I make as many cards as I like and store them in a plastic sleeve in a binder. I can usually get three or four items per card.
The writing cards list topics for paragraphs, which helps me keep the ‘execution’ part of writing rolling forward without having to constantly wonder what’s next or get bogged down in editing during the drafting stage.
The research cards are written in the following format: [question/topic]: [title of possible source].
Basically all this helps me keep planning and doing as separate processes. I’m less anxious and less confused about my work.
Anything I don’t need to work on this week, I stick in google tasks for a date a reasonable period before the deadline, or in an electronic text note where I have a queue for non-deadlined projects. I feed this queue into my AF notebook on a FIFO basis. If I find myself resisting the FIFO order of the project queue, that’s a clue I shouldn’t do the project at all. I have plenty of ideas, more and better project ideas will always come along.
I’ll always have more I could do than I can do. And that’s good. So the trick is to see the task list as a ‘menu’ not a set of commands to my future self.
I don’t have a procrastination problem. Rather, I tend to get into the weeds and detail of a piece of work far too easily. So having an overview of what else I’m working on today reminds me to speed up and stick to the essentials of my tasks.
I use a pocket-size field-notes-style notebook where a two-page spread counts as one ‘page’.
I have one modification. Any project that needs it (complex or different kinds of task with different duration) gets its own index card, inserted in the notebook’s back cover. The index card’s size limits the number of tasks I can add for the project, which helps me avoid needless granularity in project planning.
For research and writing, however, I make as many cards as I like and store them in a plastic sleeve in a binder. I can usually get three or four items per card.
The writing cards list topics for paragraphs, which helps me keep the ‘execution’ part of writing rolling forward without having to constantly wonder what’s next or get bogged down in editing during the drafting stage.
The research cards are written in the following format: [question/topic]: [title of possible source].
Basically all this helps me keep planning and doing as separate processes. I’m less anxious and less confused about my work.
Anything I don’t need to work on this week, I stick in google tasks for a date a reasonable period before the deadline, or in an electronic text note where I have a queue for non-deadlined projects. I feed this queue into my AF notebook on a FIFO basis. If I find myself resisting the FIFO order of the project queue, that’s a clue I shouldn’t do the project at all. I have plenty of ideas, more and better project ideas will always come along.
I’ll always have more I could do than I can do. And that’s good. So the trick is to see the task list as a ‘menu’ not a set of commands to my future self.
August 8, 2019 at 19:07 |
Michaelis
Michaelis
vegheadjones: in using AF4Rev I had good experiences processing each list (old/new/recurring/unfinished) with pure FV algorithm.
This way, it is not necessary to introduce the dismissal process in the "old" list.
This way, it is not necessary to introduce the dismissal process in the "old" list.
August 9, 2019 at 6:38 |
nick61
nick61
I have been revisiting AF4Rev these past few weeks and it is working really well. The instructions are on the TM systems tab (sorry links don't work for me) but basically you have three lists, old stuff, new stuff and in progress/recurring stuff. I go through each list in this order, working on whatever stands out and, if it is not completed, adding it to the in-progress list. When the old list gets too small, I move all the current new tasks onto the old list. (I dont' do any automatic deletion or dismissal)
My main reason for turning back to this system is I had work that was getting stuck, having it on a separate in progress list is providing the needed prompt to address it more often.
I use Outlook for my tasks, and using status to separate each list. I realized about a month ago that if I add tasks to outlook but then print the lists each day and work off them in an analog fashion (updating Outlook as I go a long) I get the best of both worlds, electronic collection and analog processing.
Anyone still using AF4REV or anyone who used it in the past want to share their experiences? And does anyone want to take a stab, or are you all still busy eating Seraphim's cereal? :)