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Managing Tasks
Managing Tasks with DateBk
Time Management for SysAdmins introduces us to the cycle system. In the cycle system, you prioritise your tasks with 3 levels A, B and C and you finish all your A tasks for the day, then Bs and then Cs. The next day you start the cycle again, and prioritise your tasks, moving some Bs to become A priority tasks and so on. Unfortunately this is not that easy if you don't have all your information organised.
I remember, when I first joined a busy project that when I tried organising and creating a tasks list, my co-worker laughed at me for trying. It quickly became huge and there seemed to be too many tasks for me to handle, and after some time the tasks list was scrapped and I basically became disorganised and every day seemed to be long with one emergency after another. I was continuously stressed, because I couldn't actually grasp and keep track of anything beyond the next day.
The reality is that if you're good at what you're doing, it will always be like this. You're either the grunt that just bangs in the bolts in the right places, or you're the project engineer who needs to keep track of all the grunts, and all the bolts to make sure the bridge doesn't collapse. On top of that you probably have to deal with budgets, track parts shipments and be the person that has to write the progress report. Maybe you have to check the bolts too, because sometimes people don't put them in right.
There is no way around it, no matter what industry you're in. You have to deal with it and manage your tasks.
So here's a ToDo List of Doom.
If this is all you have, then the picture in your mind is that, there is no way you can do this in a day, or two, or maybe even a week. There are more tasks if you scroll down too, and each new day introduces new ones.
So let's see how we can not freak out, and instead be Zen like when we start our day to prioritise our tasks.
First lets set our todo list to sort like this (Preferences - ToDo Sort)
We're going to have it Ascending (so Priority 1 is first, 2 is second and so on). So instead of ABC as in the book, in DateBk we will do it numerically to show priority. Then we're going to sort by Past Due, Due Soon and Not Due Yet.
Why do we set it up this way? For a few reasons.
- We assign and do things by priority first.
- Realistically tasks will be overdue, but they need not be highest priority for the day.
- Overdue items and due soon, help us to prioritise and give us that scheduling awareness of which tasks are slipping.
Setting Priorities
- Priority 1 items are those you have to deal with by today.
- Priority 2 items are those need to deal with soon, and are done after Priority 1 tasks are completed.
- Priority 3 are usually times that are done if you have spare time.
Do not use any more priority levels. In reality, it's hard enough to get to the priority 2 items.
Project/Milestone Tasks
Previously on managing projects, I showed how we could get an overview of different projects and the milestones and key dates for each one. This gives you that awareness that you need in order to prioritise tasks. By using the advance option for key milestone events, at the top of your daily schedule you will see advance floats showing how many days left before key dates. The all items linked to this project/event list option (Shorcut i) will quickly show you related tasks and dates to also assist you in prioritising what needs to be done today and what can be put off until tomorrow.
Key personal events are also similar to these.
Imagine a scene in a horror movie, where you're yelling to the hapless victim.. damn it just take the rope, swing to the other side and climb out of there! If you're the hapless victim, you're probably thinking, if only I had more time to be calm and figure out the best way out of this. So instead of a monster, you have a few emails with "URGENT", the server is down, the phones are ringing and the boss is walking in your direction.
When you're aware of key dates, given advance notice of upcoming events and can get a quick overview of tasks related to them, it makes it much easier to prioritise. You're also less stressed, because you're aware that of what's coming. You know which emails are really urgent, how important the server is, what to explain to the client calling you up and what you have to explain to the boss, as clear and calm as if you're in the audience watching the horror movie.
None-Project Tasks and Undated Tasks
Not all tasks are attached to key events or milestones. These are the tasks that you have to be wary off when prioritising. They're like little none-critical bugs in a programme, which slowly start to build up in number. These tasks usually look like the following:
- Follow up to a discussion for which no date was set
- Delegated task which you are tracking but not doing
- Favours
- Writing up a backup script, automated script etc.
- Servicing hardware
- Replying to none-critical enquiries
The best way to deal with these is to date them. DateBk's default shortcuts are perfect, "Next Monday", "This Friday", "Start of Next Month" etc. As shown in the above list, you will get a count down of days, and more importantly it turns to red as it increases in days overdue and after 9 it becomes an ! mark. These give you a very good hint that you need to move it to a priority 2 or even 1 item for the day.
But my boss gives interrupts my day with all sorts of requests!
I have experienced this, and have heard many people throw there hands feeling helpless when it happens to them. This is where being organised helps. How? You have a list of key dates in your PDA, and priority tasks that you have to do today. When you get a stop what you're doing, and do this request, you need to show your boss your priority 1 tasks for the day and you can explain why they need to be done today. Then you should ask your boss for advice, on how to deal with it. Usually the consequences of priority 1 tasks not being done will result in you having to explain to somebody either a client not getting results, team members held up or the server going up in smoke. Don't be afraid to let the boss prioritise for you, and also advise on possible ways for example to deal with for example a client whose deliverable will be delayed. They may know something you don't, such as the "do it now task" is for a critical new client for a multimillion dollar project.
By the way, don't forget to write down the new task, date it and put it as priority one, even though it's a new task during the day. You're likely have to refer back to it when other tasks got delayed.
You should now be less stressed and have a much easier time of getting the things done on time, or at least cut down delays due to be better prioritising of tasks.
Tips and Notes
Organise diligently, it may seem to take time, but it's time well worth spending.
- Get into a habit of spending each morning organising tasks, sometimes I don't start until 10am, but what gets done for the rest of the day is far more productive then if I started it out disorganised.
- Get into a habit of writing all your tasks down, this bears repeating. If somebody calls you up, and you say you'll do something, write it down, don't forget about it. If you did something that only took a minute, still take time to write it down and then mark it as done. Something that crops up later unexpectedly because you forgot about it, is one source of stress. The less things are unexpected, the easier it is for you to manage your time.
Undated Tasks and priority 2 and 3 tasks build up quickly. They're not any less important because they're still tasks that need to get done. Sometimes these tasks are long term goals, including self improvement tasks. It's natural after you've done your priority 1 tasks for the day, to take a deep breath, grab a nice mug of coffee and read up on Slashdot. After a hectic Monday, where you've finished all your priority 1 tasks, do you really want to do things that can wait until tomorrow? In IT these kind of bugs and issues steadily build up over time, and a lot of FOSS projects deal with it through "sprints" which are times dedicated to dealing with as many of them as possible. This is also a good strategy for clearing up these tasks. Set aside a time, say some idle Tuesday afternoon, make sure others are aware you're not to be interrupted and focus with the aim to clear as many on the list as you can.
It's time to look for another job, or seek help from higher management when:
- Bosses continuously tells you to work overtime, to deal with random tasks that crop throughout the day in order for you to finish all your tasks.
- Bosses blame you for the delays, even if it was their advice you were following when you have explained your situation.
- Multiple bosses, or senior staff giving you conflicting priorities and tasks.
None of the above are normal working conditions, and are signs of bad management. If you are just starting out, keep a look out for these problems if you know you are organised and doing the best you can. When in doubt discuss it with your more senior peers outside of your company such as a professional association to find out what are the best practices other people follow. People working in Free/Open Source Software can easily approach senior and experienced peers in local user group meetings. None of the good managers with happy employees in the IT industry that I know of, expect long working hours out of their employees.
