Get Everything Done

I'm not sure what to do with tasks I cross off when I took the next step and now I'm waiting for someone else's action. Do you just put them back at the bottom of the list? Somehow that feels like cluttering up my list with things I can't act on yet, although I guess if it's the last item on a page, that would be my cue to follow up?

Sorry if I missed a thread covering this--I did a search on "waiting" but is it possible that only pulls in thread titles & not the text of posts?

Hilary

Hi Hilary

The search engine does pick up post content but you have to know what words were used. I spent time today looking for a post but had to give up because I must have remembered it incorrectly.

I think the term which has fallen into usage on this forum for waiting items is "dependent" and you will find various posts if you use that as your search word. The following posts should give you some answers.

http://www.markforster.net/forum/post/627206
http://www.markforster.net/forum/post/622247

There are different suggestions for project type tasks but with items such as you describe the easiest way to deal with them is by means of a follow up task, so if you are waiting for someone to call you back for example you caould have a task "Jim called back?" If that has not happened by a reasonable time the task will inevitably jump out and can be actioned by another call or chase up or alternatively just crossed out if Jim has rung back.

Hope that helps

Hillary, I keep a Waiting On folder in my email and in my paper files. My AF task is "Work on Waiting On." You could drop a note in your folder (paper or email) and work on it when it comes up. Hope that helps.

I mentioned elsewhere that I draw a little checkbox in front of each task, and then use a code to tell me the status of that item. A diagonal line drawn from top left to bottom right is "Waiting on". Just add the other diagonal when you want to cross the task off.

Other symbols are a dot in the centre of the checkbox for "do today", crossed is done, crossed with an additional line horizontally through the middle is dismissed. Works for me. It takes a couple of seconds to look down the side of my 38-line pages and see what's what.

Never been good at left and right, to the alarm of anyone who is navigating me through traffic ... my "waiting on" symbol is a diagonal from top right to lower left.

Some suggest carrying forward. I use W to show an item I am waiting for like a report and I use LVM for left voice mail. I put these next to the original item. Since I date the pages, I know how long it is taking to get a response. This works better for me than carrying forward. While I dont carry forward the waiting, I will add the end of my list call Bob again or email Bob about the report when I have run out of time or patience waiting for something.

Hi Hilary, If I'm waiting for something to come back within a few days I will re-write the item at the bottom of my list, e.g. 'Glenn the builder called back'? I also delegate a lot of tasks that need chasing after 2 to 4 weeks so I write a prompt for these in my diary to chase up as scheduled.

Hi Hilary,

Personally I use the tag [W] in front of those items which I am either waiting for or are "tickler" items. I've been of two minds about thinking of them as different, but they are usually about the same thing to me ... a reminder that something is happening or I need to do. If they mean different things to you, then you could use two different tags, I suppose.

I have tried putting them on a separate list and that works as well. If you like them on a separate list to make them easier to find, I'd recommend turning the book over and starting from the back with special "lists" which you might want. Some useful ones are:

- Waiting for / Tickler
- Errands (Including shopping list)
- Agenda for/with

Those are a few that make sense. I think they make some sense because they are the kind of things that are usefully grouped and/or you want to be able to check quickly. (I also have other lists "archived" in storage because I seldom access them. Things such as:

- Packing List for Trips
- Books I plan to read
- Procedures for doing various complex and seldom performed tasks
- Personal information/dates/accounts/passwords, etc.)

But, as I said, those current items can also simply be tagged and if you keep things lined up properly (space in items where there is no tag) the tags will pop right out at you and you can find them with a quick scan of your list. Personally, I find that if I'm scanning for tags, I can do my whole list in under a minute or so. That is why I'm of two minds about special lists.

Hilary

I put a task at the end of the list. This can vary depending on what action I need to take on the "waiting for". For example:-

- has Amazon book arrived?
- f/u Mike re report
- check HR system, has travel expense been approved?
- call Anne re views on e-mail I sent
- w/f Clare re response to proposal

I then process these as normal, using intuition to decide when to act. For example:-

- Amazon book has arrived, cross off and add "Read book" to end of list
- Mike has still not delivered the report, I call him, negotiate a deadline and add "w/f Mike re report due 10am tomorrow! to end of list. Cross off original task.
- travel expense approved, I add "w/f bank statement, check travel expense paid" to end of list. Cross off original task
- Anne had already got back to me so I simply cross this off the list
- no response from Clare, so I call her to make sure she got my proposal and add the same task again to end of list abd cross off the original