Discussion Forum > Transitional arrangements
Hi David
That's a really interesting point you've raised!
I'm in a related situation to the one you describe and yes, it is difficult to fully implement DIT when your circumstances are some way away from where you unltimately want them to be. Trying to change completely from one situation to another just doesn't happen overnight. So your idea of some kind of intermediate auditing and list making could be very useful, especially the idea of identifying the main areas of your life - work and personal.
I'll be interested to hear what Mark has to say on this...
That's a really interesting point you've raised!
I'm in a related situation to the one you describe and yes, it is difficult to fully implement DIT when your circumstances are some way away from where you unltimately want them to be. Trying to change completely from one situation to another just doesn't happen overnight. So your idea of some kind of intermediate auditing and list making could be very useful, especially the idea of identifying the main areas of your life - work and personal.
I'll be interested to hear what Mark has to say on this...
June 11, 2008 at 8:28 |
Hannah
Hannah
Dear David
I understand the problem, though my experience with clients is that introducing DIT often brings such an increase of efficiency that in the first flush of enthusiasm the problem is not such much reducing the existing workload as preventing the client from taking more on!
I always ask people who say that they cannot realistically cut their workload in their present circumstances whether they are succeeding in doing all the work at the moment, and if not how they are deciding what gets done and what doesn't.
The point being that when DIT asks them to keep their workload in balance, they are not in fact being asked to do something that they aren't already doing. They are just being asked to do it rather more rationally than hitherto!
Best wishes,
Mark
I understand the problem, though my experience with clients is that introducing DIT often brings such an increase of efficiency that in the first flush of enthusiasm the problem is not such much reducing the existing workload as preventing the client from taking more on!
I always ask people who say that they cannot realistically cut their workload in their present circumstances whether they are succeeding in doing all the work at the moment, and if not how they are deciding what gets done and what doesn't.
The point being that when DIT asks them to keep their workload in balance, they are not in fact being asked to do something that they aren't already doing. They are just being asked to do it rather more rationally than hitherto!
Best wishes,
Mark
June 11, 2008 at 9:46 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Hi Mark & David
Yes, of course Mark is quite right when he says that if we have too much work then we're already deciding what gets done and what doesn't - it's just we're usually deciding through a method of neglect rather than choice! At least with DIT we finally get to choose what gets neglected in favour of what doesn't.
However, there are many people who, due to working for others, have too much to do yet are expected to somehow do it anyway. This is probably where the auditing procedure comes in handy as David has described he's already done. Then the choices are being made more logically. That of course is the beauty of working for yourself - at least you've only yourself to blame if you take on too much.
My situation is slightly different in that it isn't a case of having too much to do but that I am in a state of limbo in many areas due to changes that will be happening but not yet. So I will be taking on some tasks and dropping others but due to being dependent on others' decisions and needs, I have yet to find out what a lot of these will be. Makes for interesting times... and also only allows for fairly short term planning due to having so many unknowns. However, I am doing the best I can and trying not to drift too much while I'm unable to plan better.
I did find the semi closed "to do" lists that David mentioned an interesting way of keeping tabs on the various areas of our lives without letting them get out of hand or letting things slip through the net.
Thanks for raising this subject as it's always interesting to see how others are coping with the various challenges they face.
Yes, of course Mark is quite right when he says that if we have too much work then we're already deciding what gets done and what doesn't - it's just we're usually deciding through a method of neglect rather than choice! At least with DIT we finally get to choose what gets neglected in favour of what doesn't.
However, there are many people who, due to working for others, have too much to do yet are expected to somehow do it anyway. This is probably where the auditing procedure comes in handy as David has described he's already done. Then the choices are being made more logically. That of course is the beauty of working for yourself - at least you've only yourself to blame if you take on too much.
My situation is slightly different in that it isn't a case of having too much to do but that I am in a state of limbo in many areas due to changes that will be happening but not yet. So I will be taking on some tasks and dropping others but due to being dependent on others' decisions and needs, I have yet to find out what a lot of these will be. Makes for interesting times... and also only allows for fairly short term planning due to having so many unknowns. However, I am doing the best I can and trying not to drift too much while I'm unable to plan better.
I did find the semi closed "to do" lists that David mentioned an interesting way of keeping tabs on the various areas of our lives without letting them get out of hand or letting things slip through the net.
Thanks for raising this subject as it's always interesting to see how others are coping with the various challenges they face.
June 11, 2008 at 13:34 |
Hannah
Hannah
Hi Hannah
One of the advantages of DIT for those who are employees is that it does give you the evidence to go to your boss and say "Look this is what I am expected to get through every day".
With other methods all one can do is point to one's backlog of work, which of course then makes you appear inefficient.
Mark
One of the advantages of DIT for those who are employees is that it does give you the evidence to go to your boss and say "Look this is what I am expected to get through every day".
With other methods all one can do is point to one's backlog of work, which of course then makes you appear inefficient.
Mark
June 11, 2008 at 14:02 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Hi Mark
Yes, good point!
It's one of the reasons why I stopped being an employee. Some employers if you did that would have the attitude "tough, there's nothing I can do about it, work harder!" at least working for yourself you can choose how much to take on and adjust your level of commitments if you've taken on too much.
Yes, good point!
It's one of the reasons why I stopped being an employee. Some employers if you did that would have the attitude "tough, there's nothing I can do about it, work harder!" at least working for yourself you can choose how much to take on and adjust your level of commitments if you've taken on too much.
June 11, 2008 at 14:16 |
Hannah
Hannah
It's certainly led me to cut back on the number of projects I have on, and to be careful about taking on commitments. I've identified four themes in my work life, and four in my personal life, and if something doesn't fit into one of those, it gets politely declined.
However, it takes time to shed commitments, so one can't switch from overcommitted to a balanced workload overnight. I estimate I am about two thirds of the way there, and I've been following DIT for a year or two now.
I've therefore been giving thought to some intermediate position between the task diary that's never more than a day or so away from up to date, and the dreaded to do list.
One idea I have been experimenting with is to have a limited to do list. I allow eight pages at the back of my notebook, one for each of the the eight themes, and do operate a list for each of them. If the page fills, then one can't add new items to the list without removing something else. The most relevant tasks get transferred to the Task Diary in the usual DIT way.
In effect, I'm operating a task buffer of intentionally limited size ahead of my DIT system.
My purpose in writing this is not to suggest that I've fixed some shortcoming in the One True Way. I don't like what I'm proposing, and I'm hoping to attract suggestions of better approaches. But I do think that quite a lot of recent traffic on this message board, about how to handle projects and various additions to or extensions of the Task Diary, are actually manifestations of people being stuck in this intermediate state, having started to get commitments in line with capacity but not quite getting there yet.