I think I understand the concept of the Closed List and the illustration of the efficiency of a mechanic working from a Closed List made a lot of sense. But I have been thinking, when I create subordinate Closed Lists which are in essence checklists for particular jobs. There are on times events that occur which take you off in a different direction. I suppose in terms of the mechanic he could find during his checks that the car needs a new clutch or something. This for the most part is unplanned, but does require attention.
How would you handle something like this? I suppose you could treat it as same day urgent add it to the the list. Or you could draw up another Closed List/Checklist to address the issue.
I just really wondered what advice you would give when things don't go exactly to plan through no fault of your own!
When things don't go exactly to plan? When do things ever go exactly to plan? The whole point of DIT is to enable you to impose order on chaos.
Whenever a new task comes up you need to allocate it the right degree of urgency. The right way to do this is to write it in your Task Diary. You either write it down for tomorrow and forget it for the time being, or you write it "below the line" for today. Tomorrow is the default. The act of writing it down will in itself help you to make a rational decision as opposed to an impulsive one.
So in the example you give of the mechanic, with a major task like a new clutch he would need to take action that day. So he would enter Order Clutch, call customer, etc. into his Task Diary for today. This is assuming he's a one-man band of course.
I think I understand the concept of the Closed List and the illustration of the efficiency of a mechanic working from a Closed List made a lot of sense. But I have been thinking, when I create subordinate Closed Lists which are in essence checklists for particular jobs. There are on times events that occur which take you off in a different direction. I suppose in terms of the mechanic he could find during his checks that the car needs a new clutch or something. This for the most part is unplanned, but does require attention.
How would you handle something like this? I suppose you could treat it as same day urgent add it to the the list. Or you could draw up another Closed List/Checklist to address the issue.
I just really wondered what advice you would give when things don't go exactly to plan through no fault of your own!
All the best
Steve