Get Everything Done

Mark

Here is my feedback from the first 2 weeks of use:-

1.I found setting up the system straight-forwards enough. I did initially misinterpret the instructions regarding repeatedly scanning a page. A couple of posts on this forum clarified this for me.

2.In the first 3 days I found it slow going. A lot of things were standing out on my lists and, combined with a busy calendar, I only seemed to process 1 or 2 pages per day. Your blog article on “Speed of Movement” was a “aha” moment for me and helped me overcome this issue.

3.I perceived I would have issues with batching tasks. My instinct was to create separate sub-lists for shopping and agendas. I have now discovered this was unnecessary. As I scan the list frequently I am always aware when the option of batching items exists. I take this option based on intuition ;-)

4.I continue to struggle with days when I have a busy schedule and/or time-consuming urgent actions. The nature of my job (IT Support Manager) usually means I have at least one crisis per day. My concern on such days is that there might be something on the AF list that needs progressing. I have not solved this issue.

5.I am using an A5 notebook with 22 lines per page. I use this because I already had it and I want to use it up. It seems to work although I wonder, on a daily basis, whether I should be going for an A4 page with more lines as per your suggestion. There are still over 80 blank pages though so it will be several weeks before it will be full. Not sure what to do on this one.

6.I struggle to make AF work at all at home. With 3 young children the only discretionary time I have is from 8.30pm in the evenings and I often do not even feel like looking at my list. I do keep work and home lists separate as you recommended,

7.I have a tendency to cherry-pick tasks on a page following my initial quick scan. I know that this is because I am resisting some other task on the page. I need to watch out for this.

8.I have the found the book-mark to list urgent, same day tasks most helpful.

9.I love the ability to add anything to the list be it a high-level goal or a low level granular task. Speed of collection, review and decision-making is far better that GTD or DIT. You get to “do” effortlessly, or so it seems.

10.Overally, I feel very positive about the system at work at least and will continue to beta-test.

I would appreciate any advice about home implementation.

Kind regards,
Andy

Hi Andy,this is just a quick response to your point about the A5 notebook. I am using one of these too but after the first few days decided that I would consider a double page ie left hand and right hand page as one page so that I have about 44 lines. I think this is working better.
Home impementation I am struggling with too - it is working well at work.
Naomi Rose

Andy/Naomi

You may find the following posts helpful

What Items to Include

http://www.markforster.net/forum/post/625381
http://www.markforster.net/forum/post/625242

They relate partly to what were initially referenced as minor tasks but contain a number of comments regarding home tasks.

I think one tip is not to prejudge home tasks - it is somehow harder not to search out the tasks that we think we ought to do because they tend to be staring us in the face. The list is the key and if you can just sit down and start to focus on your list (preferably where you can't see the pile of dishes/ironing/DIY projects) then it will just click into place and you'll be off.

Mark

Thanks for that - I will give it a go.

FWIW - my job as an IT Manager entails responsibility for a team of 20. I consider myself a middle manager in a global corporation. Most of my peers frequently work 55+ hour weeks. I decided, a long time ago, that I would only work the standard 40 hours due to my family commitment being a higher priority for me.

Hence time management is extremely important to me as my performance is compared to these longer-working-week peers.

I was initially sceptical that a system like AF would help in my complex work enviornment. It does - I do feel even more effective and everything goes on the list included follow-up, agendas, calls, waiting fors (I have lots these sorts of tasks).

So I would say to anyone who feels that they are too "busy" or that their jobs are too complex, not to be put of by the apparent simplicity. In fact, the more complex your job, the simpler a system you require!