Time managing and work flow

PROJECT B

MODULE 3: MANAGING TIME AND THE WORK

FLOW

Part 2

GRADO EN INGENIERÍA DE SISTEMAS DE TELECOMUNICACIÓN,

SONIDO E IMAGEN

Most of the material for this lecture has been extracted from:

[1] “Getting things done. The art of stress-free productivity”, David Allen, 2001

[2] “Ready for anything: 52 productivity principles for work and life”, David Allen, 2003

The image in the front page is taken from

http://bloggingwithsuccess.net/priority-list/

“There is usually an inverse proportion between how much something is on your

mind and how much it's getting done”

“Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax”

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything”

“This constant, unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do is the single

largest consumer of time and energy”

MODULE 3: MANAGING TIME AND THE WORK FLOW

PART 2

Styles of work-flow management

Managing the work flow the GTD style: the foundations

The five steps of GTD in a nutshell

Horizontal focus and vertical focus

Natural planning model applied to projects

3

STYLES OF WORK FLOW MANAGEMENT

4

Which one suits you best?(source: http://shazzmojo.hubpages.com/hub/Time-Management-How-to-Manage-Your-Workflow-Effectively)

THE LIST MANAGER THE FIRE FIGHTER THE INBOX WORKER

Some people create lists,

starting each day with a list of

"to-do" items to check off.

The advantage is that you can

always be counted on to get

something done, if it’s on the

list. It creates the sense of

progress as each item is

crossed out, and a sense of

accomplishment to review the

list at the end of the day.

The disadvantage is that this

kind of worker tends to be

inflexible for the ever-changing

needs of the day and you may

feel your day is consumed with

simply grinding through the list

Some people take the opposite

approach, flying by the seat of

their pants throughout the day

and knocking off things as they

come up.

The advantage is that your

flexibility is unparalleled, and

you may find that your day goes

quickly as you’re faced with one

thing after another.

The disadvantage is that this

leads to a "fire fighters"

mentality - it doesn't put things

in their proper place and you

may lose sight of priorities when

everything seems urgent.

Particularly for managers, the

tendency to say is to say at the

end of the day “I was so busy

today, but I don’t really know

what I spent my time on!”

Some people use their inbox (or

smart phone/personal digital

device) as their workflow

manager. Its not to say that they

don’t remember conversations

or take notes during meetings,

but they will often be found

telling others “Email me to

remind me” because they know

if they don’t have a digital

reminder, it won’t get done!

The advantage is that you

combine the strengths of a list

with the ability to be timely and

prioritize tasks.

The disadvantage is that if the

person doesn’t email you

quickly, you may assume it’s not

important to them. Additionally,

it’s easy to get overwhelmed

with email, and you find that

after a couple of days of an item

sitting in your inbox, you

develop an itch to complete it

STYLES OF WORK FLOW MANAGEMENT

5

The main difference between the 3 styles is in how you prioritize(source: http://shazzmojo.hubpages.com/hub/Time-Management-How-to-Manage-Your-Workflow-Effectively)

A SIMPLE TOOL: THE URGENT/IMPORTANT MATRIX

Place all your tasks inside this matrix to prioritize

them effectively and give you focus:

• If something is both Important and Urgent, it

must take top priority. Example: Payroll has

made a mistake and half the staff haven’t

received pay checks this week. If you are

effectively placing tasks into the Important

and Urgent box, you will find that this box is

frequently empty.

• If something is Urgent but not Important, it

should be slotted in around your top priorities.

Example: As head of the IT team, the

marketing team wants you to give them

feedback on their new branding plan, which is

set to launch in 2 days.

• If something is Important but not Urgent, it

can be delayed for later in the day. Example:

Your performance review is next week and

you need to develop a compelling script to

pitch to your CEO for a raise.

Important

Non important

UrgentNon urgent

• Here’s the hardest part – if something is Not

Important and Not Urgent, don’t do it until all

other work is complete!! Example: Reading free

white papers that you receive in your inbox,

taking a phone call from a vendor, planning the

company picnic next year, etc.

Try it for one week, and you will find that time

wasters simply melt away. Your productivity

improves, and you are less stressed because

you know the important things are getting done


PART 2






6

MANAGING THE WORK FLOW THE GTD STYLE

7

We’ll follow the GTD (Getting Things

Done) methodology by David Allen [1,2]

A methodology in 5 steps:

1. Collect all your “incompletes”

2. Process the “incompletes”

3. Organize

4. Review

5. Decide what to do and do it

Steps 2 and 3 are summarized in the

flowchart


8

The GTD method is based on a few assumptions about the way

your brain handles complexity

An “incomplete” is any task or Project you have to do

Incompletes are stored in your short-term memory (“psychical RAM”),

which is rather limited

Your conscious mind is a focusing tool, not a memory: you can think

about only 2-3 things at once

If your psychical RAM is full, you lose focus, are distracted. Your

efficiency drops in all your activities, you get stressed and

subsequently become unhappy


9



For example, in the last few minutes, has your mind wandered off into

some area that doesn't have anything to do with this lecture?

There’s a trick to satisfy your mind and avoid the negative

consequences: if your write down all your “incompletes” and your

mind believes that archive will not be lost and that you’ll review it

frequently, you won’t worry about the “incompletes” and will be able to

focus

So, the idea is to free your mind from all the “incompletes” and move

them into a reliable external storage. This has a correspondence with

step 1 in slide 7 (collect all your incompletes)


10



Then, you can go through the list of “incompletes” and decide for each

one if you have to do something (and what), drop it to the bin or

archive it for reference. This is step 2 (process the incompletes)

Once you have processed the “incompletes”, you must create an

organized archive of to-do lists which you’ll review frequently. This is

step 3 (organize)

Step 2, which is critical and really makes a difference, requires but a bit

of thinking for each “incomplete” –here’s where most people fail, as only

a few people spends time in thinking!


11

Exercise 1: the power of a bit of thinking

1. Write down the “incomplete” that is most on your mind right now

2. Write down a single sentence describing the successful outcome you wish for that “incomplete”. I mean, what would need to happen for you to think the problem is solved?

3. Write down the next action you need to take to progress towards the successful outcome. If you had nothing else to do right now, what would you do or where would you go to solve the problem?

4. This has taken us a couple of minutes. Do you think it was worth it? Did you feel a bit more of control, relaxation and focus? What has changed to allow this? –the answer is a bit of thinking

“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought”

This exercise can be found in [1], chapter 1


12



To sum up: in order to process an “incomplete” you need to:

1. Define the successful outcome you wish for it

1. Decide the next action to take

2. Place both the wished outcome and the action in an external

and reliable archive you’ll review frequently


PART 2






13

THE FIVE STEPS OF GTD IN A NUTSHELL

14

STEP 1: COLLECT ALL YOUR “INCOMPLETES”

How many “buckets” do you need?

E-mail

A small writing pad

A to-do list in your mobile phone?

Your short-term memory

Your desk

…others?...

Try to have as few collection “buckets” as you can

You have to empty your buckets regularly. You can do this once a week or more

often if you need it, but this activity must be part of your schedule!


15

STEP 2: PROCESS YOUR “INCOMPLETES”

When you empty your collecting “buckets”, you need to think a bit about each

item. This is the processing step. You must ask yourself the following questions

for each item:

1. Do you actually need to do something about it?

a. If not, you can trash it, keep it for future action (incubate) or store it for

reference

b. If the answer is yes, you have to ask yourself:

2. What’s the successful outcome? What’s the next action required?

In case this is a project-related task, you must capture the next action (not the item in the

bucket) in the appropriate Project folder. You’ll review the project folders regularly (more on

this later)


16

STEP 2: PROCESS YOUR “INCOMPLETES”

Once you’ve determined the next action, you have three options:

If the action takes < 2 minutes DO IT immediately

If the action takes > 2minutes…

Are you the right person to do it?

If not, DELEGATE IT

If yes, DEFER IT


17

STEP 3: ORGANIZE

You need to create folders for the

following categories:

Trash

Incubate

Reference storage

(someday/maybe)

List of projects

Storage of Project materials

and plans

Calendar

Next actions

On wait (for delegated tasks)


18

STEP 3: ORGANIZE

All this folders, lists and storages

can be in a notebook, a computer

program, PDA or any physical

format you feel comfortable with

Avoid daily to-do list in your

calendar!!!!! There are only 3 things

that are written in a calendar:

Time-specific actions (meetings,

appointments)

Day-specific actions (actions that

need to be done on a specific day

but not on a specific time)

Day-specific info (like directions

for appointments)


19

STEP 3: ORGANIZE

You can scan your

someday/maybe list in your

weekly review!


20

STEP 3: ORGANIZE

Can be paper-based or electronic

material, but must be easily

referrer to when you need it

Can be a single list or, if it

contains >100 items, divide it

into categories (phone calls,

emails to send, etc.)

Project: “any desired result that

needs two or more actions”


21

STEP 4: REVIEW

The fact that you’ve organized actions and lists doesn’t mean that

you’ll remember them: you have to review from time to time, as often

as you need to

The weekly review is critical. You’ll process the “incompletes”, update

the lists (projects, next actions, calendars, “someday/maybe” and

“waiting for”), re-assign priorities and end up with a fresher mind

“Most people feel best about their work the week before their vacation, but it's

not because of the vacation itself. What do you do the last week before you

leave on a big trip? You clean up, close up, clarify, and renegotiate all your

agreements with yourself and others. I just suggest that you do this weekly

instead of yearly” From [1], chapter 2


22

STEP 5: DECIDE WHAT TO DO AND DO IT

You have worked hard to keep your lists and folders updated. But, ¿how

do you decide what actions to take right now, today or tomorrow?

“The answer is, by trusting your intuition. If you have collected,

processed, organized, and reviewed all your current commitments,

you can galvanize your intuitive judgment with some intelligent and

practical thinking about your work and values”

You have more to do than you can possibly do. You just need to feel

good about your choices

We’ll review one model described in [1] in the next slide…


23

STEP 5: DECIDE WHAT TO DO AND DO IT

The 4-criteria model of choosing actions

Apply in order the following criteria:

1. Context: A few actions can be done anywhere (like drafting ideas about a

project with pen and paper), but most require a specific location (at home, at

your office) or having some productivity tool at hand

2. Time available: How much time do you have? Having a meeting in five

minutes would prevent doing many actions that require more time

3. Energy available: How much energy do you have? Some actions you have

to do require a reservoir of fresh, creative mental energy

4. Priority: Given your context, time, and energy available, what action will give

you the highest payoff? This is where you need to access your intuition and

begin to rely on your judgment


PART 2






24

HORIZONTAL FOCUS AND VERTICAL FOCUS

25

HORIZONTAL FOCUS (Task-orientes focus)

“THE KEY INGREDIENTS of relaxed control are:

(1) Clearly defined outcomes and the next actions required to move

them toward closure

(2) Reminders placed in a trusted system that is reviewed regularly

This is what I call horizontal focus. Although it may seem simple, the

actual application of the process can create profound results”

From [1] CHAPTER 3

Horizontal focus is all you'll need in most situations, most of the time.

Sometimes, however, you may need greater rigor and focus to get a

project under control, to identify a solution, or to ensure that all the right

steps have been determined. This is where vertical focus comes in.

Knowing how to think productively in this more ‘vertical’ way and how to

integrate the results into your personal system is the second powerful

behavior set needed for knowledge work

VERTICAL FOCUS (Project focus)


PART 2






26

NATURAL PLANNING MODEL APPLIED TO PROJECTS

27

Your brain is a planning machine which often follows these 5 steps:

1. Define purposes and principles

2. Outcome visioning

3. Brainstorming

4. Organizing

5. Identifying next actions

An example: planning dinner out ([1] chapter 3)

Purpose

Principles


28


Outcome visioning

Brainstorming


29


Organize


30


Next action

Summary


31

Exercise 2: Read the following text - Doing things the wrong way ([1]

chapter 3)

The unnatural planning model is what most people consciously think of as "planning," and

because it's so often artificial and irrelevant to real work, people just don't plan. At least

not on the front end: they resist planning meetings, presentations, and strategic operations

until the last minute. But what happens if you don't plan ahead of time?

In many cases, crisis! ("Didn't you get the tickets? I thought you were going to do that?!")

Then, when the urgency of the last minute is upon you, the reactive planning model

ensues. What's the first level of focus when the stuff hits the fan? Action! Work harder!

Overtime! More people! Get busier! And a lot of stressed-out people are thrown at the

situation. Then, when having a lot of busy people banging into each other doesn't resolve

the situation, someone gets more sophisticated and says, "We need to get organized!".

Then people draw boxes around the problem and label them. At some point they realize

that just redrawing boxes isn't really doing much to solve the problem.

Now someone (much more sophisticated) suggests that more creativity is needed. "Let's

brainstorm!“ With everyone in the room, the boss asks, "So, who's got a good idea here?“

When not much happens, the boss may surmise that his staff has used up most of its

internal creativity. Time to hire a consultant! Of course, if the consultant is worth his salt,

at some point he is probably going to ask the big question: "So, what are you really trying

to do here, anyway?" (vision, purpose). This style is the reverse of the natural model.


32

Now, you can use the natural planning model in GTD’s second step (process the “incompletes”) and fourth step (review) when you’re dealing with projects

The outcome will be the next actions to take

You often need to make it up in your mind

before you can make it happen in your life

If you want to learn more:

• Read chapters 1, 2 and 3 in [1]

• Read Part 1 in [2]

Time managing and work flow

Documents

work flowpart

list manager

list of todo items

inbox workersome people

david allen

doneyour ability

person doesnt email

steps of gtd