Discussion Forum > DIT across 2 jobs?
Hi Jayne,
It sounds to me like you have too much at the outset. I think if DIT is going to work for you you really need to adapt it to your own circumstances.
First a couple of suggestions:
Are you doing too much? Or do you have the possibility of delegating some of the paperwork? Is there a possibility that someone could be hired to do some of the admin? Is there a chance of working at post 1 on mondays and tuesdays, then wednesday through friday at post 2?
I think this would probably help, but if not possible how about this.
You have your own current work list (which you try to limit - max 10 projects at a time or whatever suits you most, the rest can wait in a someday list for that particular post)for each work place, and you have an urgent list for each post. I suggest you then put anything that isn't urgent into your someday list and deal with the urgent stuff first. So your will do list could be something like:
current initiative
process inboxes (mail, post etc delegate if possible!)
Urgent list
this week list
I suggest a week rather than a day as with your post 1 you have so many days between each work day that it would seem to me that it would be easier to stay in control by having a longer time horizon. I would also suggest that you once a week go through the someday list just to check if anything has reached the status "urgent" or "this week". Another suggestion I have in order to maintain variety/sanity is to employ a limit to the urgent work in particular (maybe also for the this week work). I would work at the urgent stuff for a maximum amount of time at a time. 20 minutes followed by some this week work. One more suggestion: as you have so mmany days between work at post one perhaps you should do your inboxes at the beginning of the day, but also leave time to sort through before you go home on monday. Then you know if there is something urgent still to do today, or what you need to do first thing friday.
Hope this is of some help!
Simon
It sounds to me like you have too much at the outset. I think if DIT is going to work for you you really need to adapt it to your own circumstances.
First a couple of suggestions:
Are you doing too much? Or do you have the possibility of delegating some of the paperwork? Is there a possibility that someone could be hired to do some of the admin? Is there a chance of working at post 1 on mondays and tuesdays, then wednesday through friday at post 2?
I think this would probably help, but if not possible how about this.
You have your own current work list (which you try to limit - max 10 projects at a time or whatever suits you most, the rest can wait in a someday list for that particular post)for each work place, and you have an urgent list for each post. I suggest you then put anything that isn't urgent into your someday list and deal with the urgent stuff first. So your will do list could be something like:
current initiative
process inboxes (mail, post etc delegate if possible!)
Urgent list
this week list
I suggest a week rather than a day as with your post 1 you have so many days between each work day that it would seem to me that it would be easier to stay in control by having a longer time horizon. I would also suggest that you once a week go through the someday list just to check if anything has reached the status "urgent" or "this week". Another suggestion I have in order to maintain variety/sanity is to employ a limit to the urgent work in particular (maybe also for the this week work). I would work at the urgent stuff for a maximum amount of time at a time. 20 minutes followed by some this week work. One more suggestion: as you have so mmany days between work at post one perhaps you should do your inboxes at the beginning of the day, but also leave time to sort through before you go home on monday. Then you know if there is something urgent still to do today, or what you need to do first thing friday.
Hope this is of some help!
Simon
November 15, 2007 at 8:08 |
Simon
Simon
Jayne,
You might also try working on a half-day basis, i.e. having two "minidays", one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Remember the point of the "Manana principle" is that it allows you to batch up your work - the actual time period doesn't matter so much.
You might also try working on a half-day basis, i.e. having two "minidays", one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Remember the point of the "Manana principle" is that it allows you to batch up your work - the actual time period doesn't matter so much.
November 15, 2007 at 16:08 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Hi and thanks for your responses Simon and Mark. I think I'll try both suggestions individually over the next few weeks and see which works out best for me.
Simon, thank you for all your suggestions. Unfortunately I think you are right - I've got too much to do - also unfortunately I don't have anyone I can delegate it to :( Nor is changing days an option at the moment - I have to fit in with existing clinics. I really like your idea of having a weekly rather than daily list and I can't make up my mind whether that or Mark's suggestion of working on half days would be better for me. I guess I'll only know if I try out both systems.
Over the past week or two I've been experimenting with having 3 DIT lists going at once - one for each post - and also one for all the things I have to do that are not work related - household stuff! I must admit it sort of worked for a while - then I had one heavy day when I didn't get a chance to look at the list and everything seemed to go to pot. I never seemed to catch up after that :(
Mark, I really like the idea of looking at my day as 2 half days - that never occurred to me! I'll try it out and see how it goes. Even though I've been struggling with using the full DIT system in my situation - I have got rid of backlogs of emails from both work locations (treated as CIs :) and have made a start on the paperwork backlogs. I only check my emails 3 times a day now instead of whenever I was near the computer! And I am getting better (but nowhere near perfect) at not responding to other colleague's emergencies as though they were my own!! As a result I'm feeling much more in control :)
Thank you both so much for your responses - they are very much appreciated.
Regards
Jayne
Simon, thank you for all your suggestions. Unfortunately I think you are right - I've got too much to do - also unfortunately I don't have anyone I can delegate it to :( Nor is changing days an option at the moment - I have to fit in with existing clinics. I really like your idea of having a weekly rather than daily list and I can't make up my mind whether that or Mark's suggestion of working on half days would be better for me. I guess I'll only know if I try out both systems.
Over the past week or two I've been experimenting with having 3 DIT lists going at once - one for each post - and also one for all the things I have to do that are not work related - household stuff! I must admit it sort of worked for a while - then I had one heavy day when I didn't get a chance to look at the list and everything seemed to go to pot. I never seemed to catch up after that :(
Mark, I really like the idea of looking at my day as 2 half days - that never occurred to me! I'll try it out and see how it goes. Even though I've been struggling with using the full DIT system in my situation - I have got rid of backlogs of emails from both work locations (treated as CIs :) and have made a start on the paperwork backlogs. I only check my emails 3 times a day now instead of whenever I was near the computer! And I am getting better (but nowhere near perfect) at not responding to other colleague's emergencies as though they were my own!! As a result I'm feeling much more in control :)
Thank you both so much for your responses - they are very much appreciated.
Regards
Jayne
November 15, 2007 at 21:38 |
Jayne
Jayne
I can't figure out how to manage the will do list etc when "tomorrow" is actually 4 days away...it means that on the last day of the week in post 1, things I could put off to tomorrow have to be done today as they won't wait until 4 days time. And when do I do the list for my first day at post 2 etc etc. If it helps, I work Mon and Fri in one post and Tues, Wed and Thurs in the other.
I'm hoping someone will see a way forward - I'd love to use DIT properly as I feel like I'm drowning in paperwork and emails but I can't figure out how to make it work productively. Any responses would be most appreciated.
Thanks, Jayne.