Get Everything Done

Somewhere recently I ran across a mention of an alternative to Gantt charts -- something supposed to be simpler / easier to read and use / less overkill. I remember some comment about executives not being able to read Gantt Charts.

Anyone recall where to find that discussion? I've searched but can't find it.

Thanks!

Fergus O'Connell has written some great books about simplifying project management. In 'Simply Brilliant', he describes a 'strip board'. O'Connell says, 'The strip board is a simple, elegant and immensely powerful tool taken from the film-making industry. Its purpose is to show exactly who is doing what exactly when. You may argue that tools like Gantt charts (particularly if they are generated with fancy software packages such as Microsoft Project) do precisely this. I will argue in return that they do it with nothing like the accuracy, ease of use or visibility of a strip board.'

The strip board is a chart in which you list all the days from start to finish of a project in the left hand column (one row for each day), and then create a column for each project team member. You then fill in the cells, indicating (in very telegraphic language) what each person will be doing on each day. This goes along with some other good time management tools for project managers in his book.

I haven't tried the strip board yet, but the example he gives looks really clear and simple - much more so than a Gantt chart. I'll be experimenting with it in my next project...

Gabi

For some reason, O'Connell has this book online - I took a quick read through and it is super good:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11912491/The-Competitive-Advantage-of-Common-Sense-Fergus-O27Connel

Otherwise Seraphim, I'm not sure what you're looking for, was it something posted on this forum or on another - check out Ed Taubes, he's a major PM guru.

BTW, in reading the O'Connell book, I liked his take on email (p. 70-71). This guy rocks.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check out the strip board. I thought the Gantt discussion was on this forum but I could be wrong...

Thanks again!

Jacqueline:

"For some reason, O'Connell has this book online"

It's not O'Connell that has it online, one of his readers has put it there. The author might be unaware of this.

Laurence, I thought it might be the publisher's site. It made we want to buy a copy myself anyway. I also really liked his description of a "dance card" as well. If his other books are as good as this one, I'll have to read more of his stuff.

Hi Jacqueline, Do you think AutoFocus can do what a dance card does (as excess activities will be dropped)?

No Laurence, I don't think so. JMHO, but I feel that AF is reactionary.

Yes, at some point, you will see that you are overcommitted because your list grows to unwieldy proportions where you can't get to urgent things or you don't work enough on important things. I think a lot of us have experienced this but don't know how to work with the system to resolve it. I still feel this is a weakness of AF and the only way I know how to address it is to "stack" the list.

The essence of the dance card is ensuring that you're putting your time into the most important things and letting the other things go. With AF, I think this can be too variable based on the individual. Generally, I have always had a strong propensity for doing what I say I will do (except for projects I'm really resisting at home - note that this doesn't happen to me at work, I experience almost no resistance to anything when it comes to work.) Hence, I dismiss almost nothing at work, unless it's truly redundant. And 99% of my dismissal at home has been due to not planning things properly - which I thought I could get away with while using AF, very little has been to do with putting truly unimportant tasks on the list.

For another example, I have a consulting client where I can work as many hours as I like and make an obscene amount of money on an hourly basis. Yet since beginning AF, this consulting client has fallen by the wayside because my home renovation and even cleaning the house has *seemed* more important (it's more in my face), and occupies more items on my list. But I can pay for a heck of a lot of contractors and house cleaners, dog walkers etc. if I stop being reactionary and put my time in where it's most valuable. I think we all need to step back once in awhile and really ask "what's the most effective use of my time?"

So no, I really don't think that unless one deliberately puts thought into what goes on or doesn't go on the list, that they will address what's truly important. And that's something that the "dance card" - as another tool, can help with.

Hi Jacqueline

I was interested in your comments above regarding the consulting client. In my experience when items don't stand out it is for a reason. You say that the house reno project "seemed" more important which implies that rationally you don't think it "was" more important. The fact that you could pay to have the work done and haven't would seem to indicate that you have taken that route for a reason. Do you "enjoy" the work you do for your client?

I always find the fact that you have very similar approaches to me in some areas and very different approaches in others really fascinating and your comments above made me curious :-) I know you feel that having the number of active pages I have would send you running for the hills (well, perhaps skiing for the hills?) whereas I feel I would struggle with too few pages. Do you think that affects the way you handle your lists? I know when I got anxious about too many pages I tried to force the system and caused more problems for myself. I wouldn't choose to have the number of pages I do but it feels fine now ...........

Jacqueline,

As usual, you have opened a can of worms ;-) ;-)

One problem so many of us have is that we tend to "bore in" on these things when we really ought to be pulling back and taking the long view.

Firstly, it is crucial do do life planning. (Sorry for all of those who disagree, but there it is ;-) Some people claim to be happiest drifting along and deciding that the destination they reached is the one they really would have chosen all along. Anything could be true, but every think I know about life tells me this is simply not a reasonable way to live. Top level planning aligns everything in your life ... or at least gives you the framework and information to do so.

With this plan in hand, you have two things ... two outputs of the planning process, if you will .... Ultimate Life Goals ... things you really want to accomplish in your life ... what people often call a Vision; and you have Concrete Goals ... specific manifestations, if you will, of things which, if you accomplish them, will bring you the happiness you seek. An example of these two things would be:

Vision: "I want to lead a life full of adventure."
Goal: "I will climb Mt. Everest before I'm 50."

Argue about the terminology, but any system of life planning must put a list of those pairs before you. (Well, obviously there are not just a "pair", mostly you'll have on "Vision" and multiple "Goals" which will get you there.)

From the long view, the rest is all scheduling! Yeah, it is probably necessary to break big goals down into sub-goals, projects, milestones, etc. But that is all terminology. It is there to put bread on the table of those who write books on time management ;-) Taking the long view, it all comes down to thinking about how to get to your goals by doing things on a daily basis. That is really ALL that time management comes down to.

Now one of your goals is to not starve and keep the roof from leaking, so that is were we get all of those "things" that clutter up our schedules ... answer email, gas the car, do laundry, patch the leaking roof ;-) But if you look at this from the LONG view, they are just as much ways to reach goals which manifest a vision as anything else. You have a vision of yourself as a "responsible person" (perhaps) and to fulfill that vision you go to work, educate the kids, and generally enslave yourself to "the man". ;-) But realize that all of the "little things" on your list are there because, in one way or another, you WANT them there. Perhaps you don't quite see it that way, but either those things support a goal which manifests a vision ... or they SHOULD NOT be on your list at all. End of story.

There was an excellent writer, Harry Browne. In one of his better books he gave a simple formula for getting anything at all that you wanted out of life. Conjure up a vision of what your ideal life would be like, make a list (A) of everything you imagine is in it, make a list (B) of everything you own, possess, do, or are committed to doing, then CROSS OFF (eliminate from your life) anything that is on list B that is not on list A. That sounds too simple to work, but it is really how big life changes happen. His advice really was to sell everything you own, no matter how much of a loss it represents to you, unless you really want to have it in your "new life". Likewise, everything that is cluttering up your "to do" list needs to be evaluated in terms of its VALUE to you. Values always imply comparison to a standard and those standards are your goals and visions.

Don't like doing laundry? Why are you doing it? To be a good parent and send the kids off on their day properly dressed? O.K. There is noting in that which requires that YOU actually WASH clothes. You could, as you say, pay to have it done. Hell, you could do as the rockers do and throw things away after a single wearing because the amount of money you make is SO obscene that it is stupid to waste a moment thinking about clothes, let alone actually washing things. ;-)

If you think about it, things such as a dance card, or an unschedule, or whatever it is called this week, are simply a way of FILLING time. But filling it with what? You can not intelligently fill time that way unless you refer to your visions and goals. He put "Project Charlie" on his dance card. Fine, do a spreadsheet with rows and columns and fill it with estimates of hours against hours available. Super. Fandamntastic. But first ask the question: "Should I even be doing Project Charlie"? "In what way does Project Charlie get me closer to my goals?

I really recommend that people read Alan Lakien's book. It, like all of this kind of book, has nothing new, but it well organizes the entire process. And, even if you don't like prioritizing (and I would argue that, one way or another, we all continually prioritize ... the question is do we do it consciously and rationally or not) you will benefit by the simplest and most effective time management tool I've ever run across. He advises putting a note on the cover of your "book" or calendar: "What is the best use of my time -- Right Now?"

As to your specific observation that there is a lot of stuff on your list that gets in the way of what is important ... I think that having clear goals which are forefront in your mind helps there. I find that I am easily able to work with AF, where there are no priorities, because I have the priorities in my head and as I scan the list I can see what is important and what is not. It also helps that I scan the entire list the first thing each morning. During that scan I kind of filter things based on my priorities. So when items come up during the day I have already decided in my mind that they won't be addressed right now.

Anyhow, just a voice in the wilderness trying to point out that we can make time management a whole lot more complicated than it has to be. ;-)

Great post Mike

Whilst I personally struggle with the "scheduling" aspect and don't necessarily agree with everything from "my" perspective you have made some excellent points. (I'm not saying I disagree with you per se - just that some of the things that clearly work well for you are anathema to me :-) !!)

I struggle with the concept of discretionery time, not from the AF viewpoint, but from the fact that I believe that there is a sense in which "all" of our time is discretionery. Your comment "But realize that all of the "little things" on your list are there because, in one way or another, you WANT them there. Perhaps you don't quite see it that way, but either those things support a goal which manifests a vision ... or they SHOULD NOT be on your list at all." sums it up well. Most of the time viewed as non-discretionery from an AF perspective is time which is only non-discretionery BECAUSE of the choices we have made.

What I like about the AF environment is that it gives us the space to look at those things and see how they line up with our life vision (regardless of how formally we have defined that vision). If I am going to work in, say, a restaurant, I will have little discretionery time. The amount of discretionery is limited by my environment - my environment is as it is because of my choices. Is that job a dream fulfillment or is it a means to an end? If it is a means to an end do I enjoy it? Could I achieve the same result with more enjoyable employment? etc etc etc.

The idea of the A & B lists is very interesting - and could be quite challenging!!! I am certainly aware that, as AF gets me to a position of keeping my head above water, that extra breathing space will inevitably cause me to start questioning more - and I actually now find myself looking forward to that challenge :-)

Sorry for hijacking Seraphim!!

Christine, you're absolutely right. I don't like the work that I'm doing at the company that I'm consulting at - because I really hate working alone. There's nobody saying I *have to* do any of it, but by putting in that time right now while the work is still there makes the difference between whether I ever have to work again for "the man" (as Mike says) or not. Short term pain, long term gain.

My solution this weekend was to call a friend and offer her what to her is a significant amount of money to come work with me this weekend on the client. She has debts to pay, so is highly motivated. And this will work for me because I can get her to do some clerical things which I don't mind doing but aren't the best use of my time on that job - they aren't the things that only I can do. Basically I'm paying for a babysitter to put and keep my butt in the chair. Besides, I can bill her out too. I am also paying my oldest son to take both our kids out and entertain them for the weekend. All part of a way of tricking myself to make an ugly project more palatable and removing my resistance to the project.

Mike, I liked reading some of Harry Browne's stuff years ago, specifically "How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World." I like the concept of "Starting from Zero" that he described to the point that that's exactly what I'm going to do at the end of this year. As he says "freedom requires bold action."

I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm off to work... :-)

Christine, I wonder if you wouldn't really benefit from reading Browne's book now, rather than waiting until you feel ready for it - check out the reviews on Amazon - it really IS that good:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Found-Freedom-Unfree-World/dp/0965603679/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Here's the pdf ebook that you can order from Harry Browne's site:

http://www.trendsaction.com/product.php?product=How+I+Found+Freedom+in+an+Unfree+World&ulaCartSID=beSnOuMgxHvGJjavjkwHpyWvb1216603878

(Note that I think he went too far in not seeing his daughter until she was grown up, but otherwise, I really like his take on redefining relationships.)

Hi Jacqueline

That was exactly what I found about my consulting work - as a Myers Briggs E I need to draw my energy from people and working alone drains me. What I used to do was work at the home of a friend of mine who also worked from home - we both got a lot more done and had more enjoyable lunch and coffee breaks than when working alone. It sounds like you have a great solution with your friend, particularly as she can do some of the work as well!

Thank you for the link to the eBook - I'd already looked it up on Amazon but the price tag was somewhat prohibitive! The eBook looks a great option so thank you for that link. I'll take your advice and order :-)

Enjoy your work :-)

Christine,

It was a pretty popular book so it is probably on the shelves of used bookstores. (I have the paperback so I only paid a few dollars for it new.

(YIKES! I had no idea some copies were so expensive. I'd have guessed $6 or so and I wondered why you could not bankroll that ;-) But even on the Amazon site there are some for $30 or so. I'd check a used bookstore first.

Hi Mike

I've now downloaded the book so am looking forward to seeing why it has such good reviews.

On the UK Amazon site they have a copy (paperback) for ..... wait for it ...... £597.50 !!! Oh and then there is postage on top !!!

Mark, as you probably know - I'm on the fence about this and like to use both approaches.. My vision has been "freedom" - to work (or not) doing what I enjoy doing more than what pays the most, freedom of location, and the freedome to choose what I want to do every day - and one of my goals to get to that point of freedom has been to be able to retire before I'm 45. I'm going to meet this goal and I've deliberately engineered my life to work toward this goal for the last 7 or 8 years (longer without the explicit goal - not knowing it was possible), so yes, I do think this is possible to do.

Having said that, as I've said before, my 2010 and onward "vision/goal" is "be open to possibilities". Which is probably pretty namby-pamby by Mike's standards, but works for me at this point.

I do agree with you however, regarding following your basic nature. Accepting who you are and what rings your bells is key. Harry Browne talks alot about this in his book "How I Found Freedom" - because freedome can mean different things to different people and it's important to recognize what that represents to the individual.

Hi Christine,

Yikes again! I mean, the book is not THAT good ;-) Maybe it is because he is recently deceased or something. Who knows ;-) Let me know what you think about the book. I've been meaning to reread it but it keeps getting dismissed ... one day its importance for me will rise, I suppose.

This reminds me of when I did my MBTI, the subject of spontaneity came up. The lady who was typing me said that she found it incredibly hard to be spontaneous - she liked things to be ordered and planned. The way she managed that was to have days of "planned spontaneity", where on that day she and the family could do whatever came to mind but she had the security of knowing in advance when that was going to happen.

The more I think about these things the more I think that the "WHEN to do things" is a lot more important than perhaps we give it credit for. She needed to know "when". I hate to be told "when".

I love planning provided there is no element of "when" - if I can identify the "what" then I find that the "when" will follow naturally. The imposition of any element of "when" is what to me feels like restriction of my freedom. Others clearly have a need for the "when" in that that is what gives them structure, an element of security and the knowledge that they have "freedom" in all other timeslots.

Good Morning Jacqueline,

You very interestingly said: "I'm on the fence about this and like to use both approaches."

And then: "My vision has been "freedom"

And then: "Having said that, as I've said before, my 2010 and onward "vision/goal" is "be open to possibilities". Which is probably pretty namby-pamby by Mike's standards, but works for me at this point."

O.K. So now here is my puzzlement ;-) On the one hand you have a "vision" (gad how I so much hate that term, but be that as it may) and have apparently defined some goals to get you there. Something along the lines of:

Vision: "I want to be free to work or not." Etc.
Goals:
"Retire by 2010",
"Save up $X",
"Sell the house.",
"Buy an RV."
Etc.

All of that seems to be the kind of thing I'd do. All of that speaks to some pretty good planning.

You seem to indicate that for 2010 and beyond, you do not have a vision or plan other than to not have a vision or plan. (And here is where I love to go off on the obvious philosophical tangent of arguing that a plan to have no plan is more than a bit ironic ... but I won't ;-) But what you write here (and in other posts) seems to indicate otherwise.

Firstly, one can't have a "vision" which "expires" on a date certain ;-) IOW, a "vision" is how you see your life as a whole. (We could certainly argue until the cows came home, if that exercise could possibly interest anyone, about how to define these terms ... but the general idea of a vision is that it is broad enough to guide your life's goals and purpose and, whatever.)

Given that, I would guess that your vision post 2010 is STILL to be free to ... all of that stuff ;-)

The question then becomes what are your goals post 2010. It may really be that you have not defined them post 2010. Maybe you truly have not thought about why you are quitting your work life and going off in an RV. It is entirely possible that when you have your RV loaded, the kids packed up, the "For Sale" sign has been taken down from your property, and you put the key in the ignition of your shiny new life ... you will go entirely blank and stop like one of those Stepford Wife's robots who have lost power ... and just droop down over the steering wheel. "O.K. kids, we're finallyyyyyy ooooooofffffffffff" ;-) ;-)

I seriously (and from the clarity of your writing here and the obviously broad knowledge you display) SERIOUSLY doubt it ;-) I cannot imagine you have not thought of a list of at least tentative goals for your life post 2010. Maybe your first goal is to drive to various places and see things you've not seen. That is certainly a goal. Maybe you have not drawn a map just yet ... but planning does not require any specific level of detail in order to be called "planning". I can't imagine that you have not thought: "Cool, I'll retire at 45, then get in my RV and go toodling ... but for how long will I toodle? A year? Five years? Twenty years? With any luck I'll whiz by the age of 90 or so and then they'll probably pull my driver's license! Hmmm, so then I can imaging myself living on the French Riviera sipping umbrella drinks." ;-)

Finally you note: "I do agree with you however, regarding following your basic nature. Accepting who you are and what rings your bells is key. Harry Browne talks alot about this in his book "How I Found Freedom" - because freedome can mean different things to different people and it's important to recognize what that represents to the individual."

I'm not sure that is where Mark and I disagree. It has been well noted (by writers going back millennia) that freedom is not only defined in terms other than financial, but even that freedom can be archived by following lots of rules. (Monks in a monastery would argue that their rigid lifestyle is what gives them ultimate freedom.) Ironically, freedom seems best defined in terms of one's planning horizon. I.E. some define freedom as the ability to show up late to a dinner party while others define it as following a plan and accumulating sufficient resources in the first part of one's life to be able to make wider choices in the last part.

To bring it back to the topic here ... I would argue that I am more "free" because I have found a pretty effective system to get more done. IOW, now that I'm able to get more things done, I have less backlog, so I have fewer things holding me back from doing what I like to do. Clearly a case of freedom deriving from stricter rules.

Christine,

I have no idea why that struck me as so funny .... "planned spontaneity" ROTFLMAO ;-) But I do get your point.

As to the question of the two rebellious camps: the "whats" and the "whens", I can see that point as well. I've not thought of it in those terms but I suppose I'm a bit of both, maybe leaning more toward the "what" side. My motto has always been "if you ask me to do something, leave me alone to decide how to do it." Of course, there is always that procrastination thing where I know I'm going to do it but damn it all, I'll do it when I'm damn good and ready ;-)

Still thinking about the original: 'Gantt Chart Alternative' question

The 'strip board' is probably close to an 'UML activity diagram with partitions based on actors' as for example described in http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/activityDiagram.htm with vertically 'swim lanes' representing persons or groups and horizontally a time dimension. Even if it is used to describe processes more than a single occurence like in a Gantt chart

Mark (& Mike)

<<I've come to the conclusion that we don't actually disagree at all - we just express it a bit differently!>>

Extract from a previous post ........ "all that is happening is that there is a clear miscommunication - what you and Mark are saying is not so very different but what you are both hearing is probably not what the other is meaning to convey"

I think we all basically agree with eachother - just differently! :-)

Mike, I just used the word "vision" because that's the word that you used - Freedom is just my most important core value.

I do have a plan post-2010 - I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. :-)

It's pretty nebulous though, I'd like to renovate another house / cabin, but I have to find the right one, which can take some time to find the one to make a profit on the deal. I'd like to spend more time with my investments instead of relying on the very good luck that I've had thus far (who says you can't time the market! :-) ). I'd like to start writing fiction again. I used to be quite good and won a few prizes and what not, but I don't want to put my hopes on anything that won't work out. I'd like to do it more for enjoyment as I used to, but I don't know if the skill is still there. Beyond that, I'm naive to enough to think that an interesting business opportunity might show up. I seem to have an eerie knack for identifying industries that will take off before anyone else does.

In the meantime, I'm quite enjoying not knowing what I want to do next, knowing that when I get bored, interesting things usually happen. :-) And as long as I remember not to think small and to follow my gut, I think things will turn out just fine.

Seraphim, David Seah has something he uses called a Compact Calendar, here's a good write-up:

http://davidseah.com/blog/compact-calendar/

Here's his comment on the usability/readability which may be what you were referring to?:

"At client meetings I can use the calendar to note other dependencies, deliverables, and ask about company meetings and other potential conflicts like vacations. It's a lot easier to pass the sheet around than a laptop; people can contemplate paper more easily."

Here's his excel version of gantt charting which is pretty slick:

http://davidseah.com/blog/manual-gantt-charting-in-excel/

I hope this was what you were looking for, it's my apology for hijacking your thread! :-)

Hi Mark,

"I've come to the conclusion that we don't actually disagree at all - we just express it a bit differently! "

Yeah, I think that is about right. We probably make different choices about how much and what kind of planning we do when, but unless we were clones, that would have to be so.

Hi Jacqueline,

Oh, I just meant that I don't like that word used that way because it is over used and has become too much of a buzz word. I realized that I used it ... I hate it, but that is the word we all use. <sigh>

That all sounds as if you have done a lot of thinking. That is exactly how I plan things. Somethings are planned to a more detailed level, and others not so much.

Just over the last few days my wife has brought up her doctoral program again. We have been talking about it, on and off, for a few years now. Next year will be her 8th year teaching at her current school and I'm getting that she is ready to move on. I have already planned what we have to do ... but only at a higher level. With our new conversations about it, i'm becoming more detailed in my plans. She has to select a program and a university. There are financial considerations ... scholarships, stipends, work opportunities. We would have to sell our house and that would require some renovation. Timing is important as well. The housing market is tanked ... more and more houses are for sale in our neighborhood so we may be at the mercy of the market to some extent. We need to think about buying vs. renting while she is in school. That might be driven by our cats as well as financial things ... renting with cats is harder than buying ;-) Do we move the whole house or do we put a lot of things in storage for a couple of years until after she gets her doctorate and her next teaching job ... then do the majority of the move only once?

So a lot of my "plan" is now a list of questions ... but I did not even have those questions in mind before. Some of my plan is now a question of timing ... WHEN do I start the kitchen renovation project? ... it is no longer a distant idea. Do we still want to buy a hot tub? Will we break even on that on resale? Would the enjoyment for the year or two we'd have to use it be worth it?

As my plan firms up, tasks get dumped into AF. I need to refinish the deck ... if we stay a few more years we'll enjoy it more ... if we move soon, it needs to be done for that reason. So individual tasks related to that have now been dumped into AF. "Research and buy a belt sander." for example. The kitchen renovation is probably still a way off so I've got nothing in AF right now relating to that. Likewise, I'm still "chewing" on things like renting, buying, storing, etc. My "planning" in that area will be in that phase until I make a decision and then I'll fill in more details.

So I work in a similar way. I call what I do "planning". Someone here pointed out that planning is a process, not a deliverable ;-)

We have tried the strip board approach when we had a problem with one team that was being pulled in a lot of different directions on a large project. It worked well in keeping the team focused.

We did not try to use it to plan which tasks needed to be done, just who would do them and when.

On Amazon, I have seen a few cases where outrageous prices were charged for books which could be obtained much cheaper (typically at least a factor of ten). I don't know whether this is a seller deliberately looking for people who just don't care about price, or what.

Will,

I've puzzled over that for some time. At first I thought that some people just had trouble setting a price ... then I thought it might be a typo. But what is odd is that MANY of the copies of that book are being offered at prices all over the map ... but on the outrageously high side. Some indicate that they are signed ... O.K., silly, but I can see it. But some are just hard backs with nothing special about them.

I know some books are very popular and out of print and that drives the price up. "Tranceformations" by Richard Bandler was like that. (I thought of having my copy insured! ;-) But as soon as he had it reprinted, the price dropped right back down to where it should have been. My wife wanted to get a copy of John Philip Sousa's autobiography. Amazon offered it for prices over $100 or so. She eventually found a source of unlimited copies for $25, in hardback ... which is just about right for any hardback! Go figure.

Jacqueline -- thanks for the David Seah links! And these side discussions are always very interesting -- especially when you, Christine, Mike, and Mark all get involved! So no problem about hijacking my thread! :-)