Saturday, January 31, 2004
PIECE OF CAKE
Let's start with "I have heavy deadlines for Monday".
OK. In the past week, what method did you use to get ready to meet those deadlines. Did that work?
That leaves the question, What Works?
How do you take a complex field clustered with thousands, hundreds, dozens of to-dos and reduce it to a "cone of focus". What single task represents "the optimal use of your time right now".
The MasterList's job is to put the possibilities through the shredder of a relational database and spit out queues for you that provide focus by category, by project, by date range, by type of task, and by color priority. The result is an exponential resolution of focus on the total task inventory, whereby you can stride peaceably through your total inventory load with a clear mind focused on "one" task and empty it out, then study what's left.
If the goal is to be ready for Monday, The MasterList shreds EVERYTHING by a reductio, that inventories it and earmarks it in any of several ways so that it can never be lost and you will always be ready for anything. Piece of Cake.
Of course, there is always the problem of the runaway to-do agenda. Even with The MasterList, yes sometimes you have to run along side the agenda cluster like a sprinter next to a freight train and just hop on. The MasterList provides no cushion there. It just helps you get the damn thing under control.
Does that take discipline? Yes! But, compare losing weight, building muscle structure, preparing for a final exam. I suppose that I must add that The MasterList is a little brick by brick in its structure of how we handle complexity. At our core, we have rejected the philosophy that if you guide yourself by a modality such as a goal, a moral, an over-riding insight, or a slogan, all deeds will be done on time as obligated. I write those programs off as "good-intention", make-you-feel-good programs. I don't want to feel good. I want to get things done. Then, I can think about feeling good.
There's no getting around work. The MasterList "works" because it has a core function that is unique: To reduce the quanta of work in the total inventory of one individual by spreading it and sequencing it over time, such that at any one moment on review, only a segment of tasks appears for review, thus cutting the mental transactional time associated with repetitive review of larger, dis-organized sections of the to-do inventory which have not been systematically organized in a similar fashion.
The MasterList is a machine that accomplishes everything we say it can do. Easily. But, with a necessary discipline. Success requires practice, focus, application.
Oddly enough, our primary goal is not profit-driven, but to make this tool available because it works.
Clear desk. Clear inbox. Clear mind. Prepared for everything. Ready for anything. Piece of Cake.
Let's start with "I have heavy deadlines for Monday".
OK. In the past week, what method did you use to get ready to meet those deadlines. Did that work?
That leaves the question, What Works?
How do you take a complex field clustered with thousands, hundreds, dozens of to-dos and reduce it to a "cone of focus". What single task represents "the optimal use of your time right now".
The MasterList's job is to put the possibilities through the shredder of a relational database and spit out queues for you that provide focus by category, by project, by date range, by type of task, and by color priority. The result is an exponential resolution of focus on the total task inventory, whereby you can stride peaceably through your total inventory load with a clear mind focused on "one" task and empty it out, then study what's left.
If the goal is to be ready for Monday, The MasterList shreds EVERYTHING by a reductio, that inventories it and earmarks it in any of several ways so that it can never be lost and you will always be ready for anything. Piece of Cake.
Of course, there is always the problem of the runaway to-do agenda. Even with The MasterList, yes sometimes you have to run along side the agenda cluster like a sprinter next to a freight train and just hop on. The MasterList provides no cushion there. It just helps you get the damn thing under control.
Does that take discipline? Yes! But, compare losing weight, building muscle structure, preparing for a final exam. I suppose that I must add that The MasterList is a little brick by brick in its structure of how we handle complexity. At our core, we have rejected the philosophy that if you guide yourself by a modality such as a goal, a moral, an over-riding insight, or a slogan, all deeds will be done on time as obligated. I write those programs off as "good-intention", make-you-feel-good programs. I don't want to feel good. I want to get things done. Then, I can think about feeling good.
There's no getting around work. The MasterList "works" because it has a core function that is unique: To reduce the quanta of work in the total inventory of one individual by spreading it and sequencing it over time, such that at any one moment on review, only a segment of tasks appears for review, thus cutting the mental transactional time associated with repetitive review of larger, dis-organized sections of the to-do inventory which have not been systematically organized in a similar fashion.
The MasterList is a machine that accomplishes everything we say it can do. Easily. But, with a necessary discipline. Success requires practice, focus, application.
Oddly enough, our primary goal is not profit-driven, but to make this tool available because it works.
Clear desk. Clear inbox. Clear mind. Prepared for everything. Ready for anything. Piece of Cake.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
STRATEGIC VISION
Jo and I got to talking the other day about the vision of The MasterList in response to an inquiry from a consultant who runs numerous mega projects helping manufacturers of a certain highly crafted, vertically integrated product that is varietal from state to state and region to region.
My point was that in dealing with management reality there are at least 3 spheres, phases, or aspects. There's the tangible and tactile. That would include anything that's near at hand that you are working with, like picking up your phone, or handling paper on your desk, or hitting keys on the keyboard to write emails. Then, there is what I would call the visual. That would include surveying your desk, your email inbox list, your calendar entries, the participants in a room where you are meeting. Most importantly in terms of MasterList usage, there is the mental transactional aspect. I sometimes calls this mens, mind, or "rev" for reverie, meaning putting the mind to use to see what lies ahead from what you are handling. Jo calls it "planning". No matter what you call it, it's what happens in the arena of complex work, such as consulting. Here's what Jo wrote to the customer:
"My partner and I were discussing last night why someone would need the MasterList when they already use paper or Outlook or file drawers. Our conclusion is that it depends on how you define the problem you are trying to solve.
If your job is monolithic in nature you know exactly what to do and when to do it, then almost anything will work. You can put five simple tasks into Outlook and do them in order.
If however, you need strategic vision in order to do your job, if you are planning and reacting and thinking well into the future, you need a tool that conforms to that chaotic world and brings some structure to it. The MasterList does this well.
You put your plans and ideas and tasks into individual projects. As you start to do these things, the pieces that eventually lead to the success of the project, things WILL change. More problems may be uncovered, more solutions may present themselves, the project may move forward unevenly if it depends on outside contractors or help. You may have to push, pull and prod more than you thought.
And yet, everyday, you still have to make the best possible use of your time ON ALL FRONTS. (If all of us had only one project to do, life would be easy.) So the MasterList brings back together all the projects and gives you a slice of what you thought it was best to do in all of them or some of them "today." And as you look over that mix, and the human brainpower is best at this, deciding what REALLY needs to be done and what can be put off to a better day.
The human brain races through thousands of decisions with great precision and through what feels like instinct knows what should be done today and what can wait. Highlight important things with color. Bounce forward things that can be done safely in the future. When they become urgent, they'll be back.
The MasterList facilitates that process. It holds your ideas in software, mapping out timelines of separate projects and allows you to see how what you are doing affects this project and all the others. (In other words, you can weigh the task against its own entire project in the project list and you can weigh the task against all other important tasks for today in My Day.)
Oh, my gosh, have I gotten carried away."
No, you haven't Jo. Just stated the case for The MasterList beautifully.
Jo and I got to talking the other day about the vision of The MasterList in response to an inquiry from a consultant who runs numerous mega projects helping manufacturers of a certain highly crafted, vertically integrated product that is varietal from state to state and region to region.
My point was that in dealing with management reality there are at least 3 spheres, phases, or aspects. There's the tangible and tactile. That would include anything that's near at hand that you are working with, like picking up your phone, or handling paper on your desk, or hitting keys on the keyboard to write emails. Then, there is what I would call the visual. That would include surveying your desk, your email inbox list, your calendar entries, the participants in a room where you are meeting. Most importantly in terms of MasterList usage, there is the mental transactional aspect. I sometimes calls this mens, mind, or "rev" for reverie, meaning putting the mind to use to see what lies ahead from what you are handling. Jo calls it "planning". No matter what you call it, it's what happens in the arena of complex work, such as consulting. Here's what Jo wrote to the customer:
"My partner and I were discussing last night why someone would need the MasterList when they already use paper or Outlook or file drawers. Our conclusion is that it depends on how you define the problem you are trying to solve.
If your job is monolithic in nature you know exactly what to do and when to do it, then almost anything will work. You can put five simple tasks into Outlook and do them in order.
If however, you need strategic vision in order to do your job, if you are planning and reacting and thinking well into the future, you need a tool that conforms to that chaotic world and brings some structure to it. The MasterList does this well.
You put your plans and ideas and tasks into individual projects. As you start to do these things, the pieces that eventually lead to the success of the project, things WILL change. More problems may be uncovered, more solutions may present themselves, the project may move forward unevenly if it depends on outside contractors or help. You may have to push, pull and prod more than you thought.
And yet, everyday, you still have to make the best possible use of your time ON ALL FRONTS. (If all of us had only one project to do, life would be easy.) So the MasterList brings back together all the projects and gives you a slice of what you thought it was best to do in all of them or some of them "today." And as you look over that mix, and the human brainpower is best at this, deciding what REALLY needs to be done and what can be put off to a better day.
The human brain races through thousands of decisions with great precision and through what feels like instinct knows what should be done today and what can wait. Highlight important things with color. Bounce forward things that can be done safely in the future. When they become urgent, they'll be back.
The MasterList facilitates that process. It holds your ideas in software, mapping out timelines of separate projects and allows you to see how what you are doing affects this project and all the others. (In other words, you can weigh the task against its own entire project in the project list and you can weigh the task against all other important tasks for today in My Day.)
Oh, my gosh, have I gotten carried away."
No, you haven't Jo. Just stated the case for The MasterList beautifully.
