Ken
3/20/2015 4:14 pm
Garland Coulson wrote:
I suspect that your first suggestion can be implemented in some environments easier than others, and as I work in a municipal government, I do not see it happening as software decisions are made in what seems like another solar system IMHO. By necessity, it is a bit of a top down structure, and Microsoft currently rules the day as we will be heading to Office365 in the near future.
I would totally agree about the "power hour", but for me it usually comes at the end of the day after hours. It can be useful, but for a variety of reasons, it is reserved for special occasions like this recent overload.
And speaking of which, I wanted to give a very short update before I create a separate thread about a piece of software that was not discussed in this thread, but which I wanted to discuss. I open a Workflowy account, and can totally see why folks like it. The hoisting is very nice, and being cross-platform is great in today's ever changing device environment. I used it to take notes rather than Asana, and it turned out that it helped me find a key mail message that somehow got deleted, but I mostly chalk that up to taking notes and not the program itself. But, Asana got neglected during that time, and I still find myself not comfortable using the most basic form of outline for containing a multitude of different projects, notes and tasks. I am primarily a folder kind of person, and am starting to warm up to judicious use of tags with them. Having said that, I suspect that Workflowy is not going to be an effective solution for me. But, I really do appreciate the wisdom and support that I received from everybody here. I am still in the midst of this mess, and it is probably going to last for some time longer, but a sanity check, a little support and some good work habit suggestions from everybody here are quite appreciated.
Thanks,
--Ken
I coach a lot of people on time management so here are a few thoughts.
If you could get a company wide project management system going that
everyone used, then no one would have to email, phone or walk into your
office and interrupt you for updates. Instead, each task and project is
just updated with comments and progress reports. Saves a lot of emails.
The one I use personally is Teamwork.com.
Also, try to set aside at least one "Power Hour" each day where you turn
off ALL notifications (phone, email, mobile), close your door and put a
sign out that you are not to be interrupted unless the building is on
fire. Then work on the most important priority task/project in that
hour.
Exceptional performance requires exceptional focus - multitasking has
been proven by science not to work.
I suspect that your first suggestion can be implemented in some environments easier than others, and as I work in a municipal government, I do not see it happening as software decisions are made in what seems like another solar system IMHO. By necessity, it is a bit of a top down structure, and Microsoft currently rules the day as we will be heading to Office365 in the near future.
I would totally agree about the "power hour", but for me it usually comes at the end of the day after hours. It can be useful, but for a variety of reasons, it is reserved for special occasions like this recent overload.
And speaking of which, I wanted to give a very short update before I create a separate thread about a piece of software that was not discussed in this thread, but which I wanted to discuss. I open a Workflowy account, and can totally see why folks like it. The hoisting is very nice, and being cross-platform is great in today's ever changing device environment. I used it to take notes rather than Asana, and it turned out that it helped me find a key mail message that somehow got deleted, but I mostly chalk that up to taking notes and not the program itself. But, Asana got neglected during that time, and I still find myself not comfortable using the most basic form of outline for containing a multitude of different projects, notes and tasks. I am primarily a folder kind of person, and am starting to warm up to judicious use of tags with them. Having said that, I suspect that Workflowy is not going to be an effective solution for me. But, I really do appreciate the wisdom and support that I received from everybody here. I am still in the midst of this mess, and it is probably going to last for some time longer, but a sanity check, a little support and some good work habit suggestions from everybody here are quite appreciated.
Thanks,
--Ken