Discussion Forum > Three types of work
David
You have two things to keep in balance here:
1) Avoiding swamping yourself with loads of actions which you hadn't thought of before.
2) Keeping the principle that one day's outgoing work must on average equal one day's incoming work.
The main factor to consider in maintaining this balance is how often these thinking/planning sessions take place.
At one extreme, if you schedule a session every day and generate around 15 new actions every day then obviously those actions will need to be put in the task diary for tomorrow, because another 15 or so actions will be coming up tomorrow. To spread them would undermine 2) above.
At the other extreme, if you only hold such a session once a month then there's no reason why you can't spread the actions out over a period, especially if there is no urgency factor. The reason is that there won't be another batch of actions like these along until next month. It would still be advisable though to group the actions towards the beginning of the month in case of unexpected factors (which can depended upon to happen!).
Mark
You have two things to keep in balance here:
1) Avoiding swamping yourself with loads of actions which you hadn't thought of before.
2) Keeping the principle that one day's outgoing work must on average equal one day's incoming work.
The main factor to consider in maintaining this balance is how often these thinking/planning sessions take place.
At one extreme, if you schedule a session every day and generate around 15 new actions every day then obviously those actions will need to be put in the task diary for tomorrow, because another 15 or so actions will be coming up tomorrow. To spread them would undermine 2) above.
At the other extreme, if you only hold such a session once a month then there's no reason why you can't spread the actions out over a period, especially if there is no urgency factor. The reason is that there won't be another batch of actions like these along until next month. It would still be advisable though to group the actions towards the beginning of the month in case of unexpected factors (which can depended upon to happen!).
Mark
July 12, 2008 at 15:48 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
David and Mark,
I see something from this statement that Mark made, that if commented upon, might solve David's problem:
"At one extreme, if you schedule a session every day and generate around 15 new actions every day then obviously those actions will need to be put in the task diary for tomorrow, because another 15 or so actions will be coming up tomorrow. To spread them would undermine 2) above."
I agree with this statement 100% only if I am generating work for myself. In other words, my thoughts only yield actions for myself.
If however I am a project/operations manager or researcher or someone with a team of people to delegate to, then my "actions generated" becomes STAFF and/or ASSOCIATES' actions..
How is generating those kinds of actions problematic? And this goes back to why i was trying to create a flowchart for myself and/or employees/associates who were interested. The reason is what good is it for me to manage my work if those around me are stuggling to manage theirs? A template would help.
Thanks,
Bob
I see something from this statement that Mark made, that if commented upon, might solve David's problem:
"At one extreme, if you schedule a session every day and generate around 15 new actions every day then obviously those actions will need to be put in the task diary for tomorrow, because another 15 or so actions will be coming up tomorrow. To spread them would undermine 2) above."
I agree with this statement 100% only if I am generating work for myself. In other words, my thoughts only yield actions for myself.
If however I am a project/operations manager or researcher or someone with a team of people to delegate to, then my "actions generated" becomes STAFF and/or ASSOCIATES' actions..
How is generating those kinds of actions problematic? And this goes back to why i was trying to create a flowchart for myself and/or employees/associates who were interested. The reason is what good is it for me to manage my work if those around me are stuggling to manage theirs? A template would help.
Thanks,
Bob
July 15, 2008 at 17:04 |
Bob
Bob
Bob
I'm not sure I understand what your question is here. I'll do my best to answer it but if I have misunderstood you please let me know.
If you generate a task which is going to be done by a member of your staff, then the initial task is yours, e.g. "Delegate X to Joe". When delegating always make it quite clear what you want done and by when.
You also need to put a follow up task in your Task Diary for an appropriate interval in the future, e.g. "Check Jo has done X"
For a more complicated piece of delegation, i.e. a project rather than a task, you would want to schedule sub-deadlines at regular interview - again with clear targets. As well as putting the task "Check Jo has done Stage 1 of X" in your Task Diary you might also want "Remind Jo Stage 1 of X due in two days".
All these can be managed through your Task Diary.
Finally, the most useful phrase when someone is late with a deadline:
"I'm not interested in why it hasn't been done. What I want to know is when it will be done."
I'm not sure I understand what your question is here. I'll do my best to answer it but if I have misunderstood you please let me know.
If you generate a task which is going to be done by a member of your staff, then the initial task is yours, e.g. "Delegate X to Joe". When delegating always make it quite clear what you want done and by when.
You also need to put a follow up task in your Task Diary for an appropriate interval in the future, e.g. "Check Jo has done X"
For a more complicated piece of delegation, i.e. a project rather than a task, you would want to schedule sub-deadlines at regular interview - again with clear targets. As well as putting the task "Check Jo has done Stage 1 of X" in your Task Diary you might also want "Remind Jo Stage 1 of X due in two days".
All these can be managed through your Task Diary.
Finally, the most useful phrase when someone is late with a deadline:
"I'm not interested in why it hasn't been done. What I want to know is when it will be done."
July 16, 2008 at 12:55 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
"Finally, the most useful phrase when someone is late with a deadline:
"I'm not interested in why it hasn't been done. What I want to know is when it will be done.""
What if the reason it hasn't been done is an important one you need to know about? By saying you are not interested in the reason you might miss something very useful and you also may give the impression you don't want to listen to your colleagues. Just a thought.
"I'm not interested in why it hasn't been done. What I want to know is when it will be done.""
What if the reason it hasn't been done is an important one you need to know about? By saying you are not interested in the reason you might miss something very useful and you also may give the impression you don't want to listen to your colleagues. Just a thought.
September 10, 2008 at 13:40 |
Nicky
Nicky
I would hope that, if an important factor arose which I needed to know about, my colleague would let me know about it at the time it arose - rather than use it as an excuse after he or she had failed to deliver on time.
Even then, I would want to focus on when the work would be completed.
Even then, I would want to focus on when the work would be completed.
September 10, 2008 at 16:56 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
There are three types of work that we do. The first is work we have already defined. This could be projects, with complete plans and all of the next actions that can be done in our task diary. We also get work that comes in every day through different forms -- email with attachments, discussions with colleagues, phone, etc. The second type is really at the heart of Do it Tomorrow as this allows one to focus on their closed list for the day, recognizing the three levels of urgency. The final type of work is the thinking part -- the sitting down and planning out projects. By doing so, one suddenly finds that he/she now has many more next actions that, if can be done now, need to be entered into the task diary. So let's say that I block off a 2-hour thinking/planning session this morning. At the end, I have 15 new next actions that can be done. It is my understanding that these should all be recorded in the task diary for tomorrow. Is this correct?
Thanks,
-David