Sunday, June 20, 2004
A PRESCRIPTION FOR GETTING CONTROL OF YOUR WORKING SPACE
The MasterList is a computerized to-do management system. It works in tandem with other disciplines to help you clear up the work aspect of your personal and professional space. Here are some practical strategies for co-ordinating the concept of triage with the to-do management techniques embodied in The MasterList:
SOME FACTS OF LIFE ABOUT TIME MANAGEMENT
There are only 480 minutes in the average work day, not counting after hours, weekends, and skipping breaks and lunch. You are probably going to have 4 emerging or obvious priorities per day that will eat up about 180 minutes of your stock in time. That leaves 300 minutes for your back-logged paperwork, email, and to-dos. You also have to consider that there is a mysterious black hole where about 100 minutes a day go, which I call "Administrative". That leaves 200 minutes for your work back-log.
The average handling of each paper, email, follow-up or to-do is AT LEAST 6 to 15 minutes. Lets be generous and call it 10 minutes average per task. If I have my math right, after you handle your screaming priorities and get free of the tangle of necessary administrative work, you only have time to handle about 20 back-logged tasks per day.
Now, let's count your backlog. This is probably going to be an Aha Moment. BECAUSE, if we ADD: A Paperwork Count Of What's Piled On Desk PLUS: B Email Count Of What's Sitting In The Email Inbox, this EQUALS: C Way More than 20 tasks in our Backlog Inventory.
So, we all have this problem. Right? Not necessarily. Here's a prescription. Apply one dose of Binary Triage daily for a week and combine that with managing to-do follow-up and integrative linking with The MasterList.
GOAL: Get Control of that unruly backlog.
RESOURCES: Binary Triaging and The MasterList.
"Binary Triaging"? Another first on my blog. That term has never been used before on the internet. But, it's real and it works. Here's how.
STEP 1. A ONE-DAY EXPERIMENT WITH THE PAPER ON YOUR DESK
Divide whatever stuff is piled or scattered on your desk into a High Priority pile and a Low Priority pile. (Hint. That's why we call it Binary Triage, because it's a High-Low system with no third pile, except that there is a third no-action outlet. See below.)
Dividing all the paperwork currently on your desk into a High and Low Priority pile should take you no more than 10 minutes even if there are dozens of items piled up. With Binary Triage, the "third pile" is really a no-action option in which you either chuck the item directly into the waste-basket, OR you walk it right over to the proper hard folder in the file cabinet without any further ado. Get it outa there!
Trust your judgment. You will see that you invariably pick Highs and Lows with close to 100% accuracy. Wouldn't you agree that you have an instinctive knack for knowing what your priorities are? You just need a system for sorting them out and re-enforcing focus on high priorities and "letting go" of low priorities. It's really that simple.
STEP 2: THE SAME EXPERIMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL INBOX
Try this. Create 2 email folders to completely clear your Inbox in the next 10 minutes. Email-High, Email-Low. OK. I know you don't want to delete some very inconsequential stuff, so create 2 more folders. Email Zero-ish (It's so low in priority you can't believe you can't bring yourself to hit the delete button) and Email Reading (are all those newsletters and ezines really high priorities?).
Next. Clear your inbox Right Now to those 4 folders. Zap! Your inbox is empty. NOW, treat your Email-High folder as your surrogate Inbox and work it down throughout the day applying FIFO (first in first out) techniques unless one of them is screaming louder than the rest. As emails come into your Inbox throughout the day, INSTEAD of STOPPING EVERYTHING?! to work on them, just slide them into the appropriate binary triage folder and get back to them later. High Priorities, first.
Alright! I think we are about to break the cycle of reactivity, but there's one more problem. What to-do about to-dos and follow-up to make sure that we are not spending our whole day slinging incoming paperwork and email responses.
THE PROPER HANDLING OF TO-DOS.
As with everything, there is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to handling to-dos.
RIGHT: Project-centered to do list.
WRONG: Global to-do list that jumbles everything like spaghetti.
WRONG: No to do list.
WRONG: To-do list that has 10 things on it when we really are responsible for about 722 follow-ups in the next several months.
WRONG: Using our computer or paper calendar as a to-do list and having to constantly cut and paste the entries forward in time and watch as they accumulate with more text than those little squares for each day can hold.
RIGHT: To-do list that can display just those to-dos for today.
WRONG: To-do list that shows items already done.
WRONG: To-do list that shows all future to-dos "before their time".
WRONG: To-do list that is too long.
WRONG: To-do list that doesn't allow fast drill down to priorities.
OK. Get the picture. It takes a computer system to do all this. Is Outlook that system? Outlook is not an Integrative Desktop Application (IDA). An IDA, such as The MasterList, can do this. Try this with Outlook:
1. Jump from the to-do list directly to the associated project.
2. See the to-do at the associated project with related to-dos.
3. See the to-do at the project with the related email folder.
4. See the to-do at the project with the related calendar entries.
5. See the to-do at the project with the related contact cards.
6. See the to-do at the project with the related internet links.
7. See the to-do at the project with the related PC/LAN file links.
8. See the to-do at the project with a hodge-podge of related notes and ideas.
Outlook cannot handle that Integrative assignment. Nor can it do the following time-management work.
1. Zap a completed item from the to-do list to a History archive within the project.
2. Blast an item you can't do today right off your to-do list to appear later when due.
3. Color prioritize plus organize by task codes for fast assessment.
CONNECTING THE DOTS. BINARY TRIAGE WITH THE MASTERLIST.
OK. Here's the best part. Until The MasterList, there was no project-centered to-do list that gave you triaging tools to manage your follow-up.
It's true that you don't need an Integrative Desktop Application (IDA) like The MasterList to triage your mail, or your email. Without an integrative system, your natural gifts may very well qualify you as the best reactive person on the planet. There's no debate there. If you're dedicated, knowledgeable, quick and have great instincts you can get a lot done.
But how about the rest of us? At present, The MasterList is the only IDA on the planet. It's a system that brings all your tools and resources together by recognizing the primacy of the simple to-do (which is usually a pre-step in sequence to a goal, or a follow-up flowing out of something already done) as being most effective when organized with to-dos of like mind by the centering-linkage of a project. The bonus is that once you center to-dos around a project you can center everything else in your computer environment through linkage right on that same project. Hence a "masterlist". Hence, The MasterList.
Why be reactive when you can simply flow. Why keep going,and going, and going, running up that personal-energizer battery bill, when you can get control of your Paper overflow, your Email overflow, and your to-do list problems.
Do you need an Integrative Desktop Application that works in co-ordination with good back-log control techniques such as Binary Triage to keep you firing in flow mode vs. ceasless reactive stress mode? With The MasterList you will find that you have discovered the Great Regulator for to-dos and follow-ups that brings everthing else into flow mode. It's a system. It doesn't do it for you. But it's easy. Almost game-like. And, it allows YOU to get it done and to maintain a healthy balance of new work and backlogged work at a level of control you would never before have believed was possible. The MasterList is more than helpful. It's downright revolutionary.
The MasterList is a computerized to-do management system. It works in tandem with other disciplines to help you clear up the work aspect of your personal and professional space. Here are some practical strategies for co-ordinating the concept of triage with the to-do management techniques embodied in The MasterList:
SOME FACTS OF LIFE ABOUT TIME MANAGEMENT
There are only 480 minutes in the average work day, not counting after hours, weekends, and skipping breaks and lunch. You are probably going to have 4 emerging or obvious priorities per day that will eat up about 180 minutes of your stock in time. That leaves 300 minutes for your back-logged paperwork, email, and to-dos. You also have to consider that there is a mysterious black hole where about 100 minutes a day go, which I call "Administrative". That leaves 200 minutes for your work back-log.
The average handling of each paper, email, follow-up or to-do is AT LEAST 6 to 15 minutes. Lets be generous and call it 10 minutes average per task. If I have my math right, after you handle your screaming priorities and get free of the tangle of necessary administrative work, you only have time to handle about 20 back-logged tasks per day.
Now, let's count your backlog. This is probably going to be an Aha Moment. BECAUSE, if we ADD: A Paperwork Count Of What's Piled On Desk PLUS: B Email Count Of What's Sitting In The Email Inbox, this EQUALS: C Way More than 20 tasks in our Backlog Inventory.
So, we all have this problem. Right? Not necessarily. Here's a prescription. Apply one dose of Binary Triage daily for a week and combine that with managing to-do follow-up and integrative linking with The MasterList.
GOAL: Get Control of that unruly backlog.
RESOURCES: Binary Triaging and The MasterList.
"Binary Triaging"? Another first on my blog. That term has never been used before on the internet. But, it's real and it works. Here's how.
STEP 1. A ONE-DAY EXPERIMENT WITH THE PAPER ON YOUR DESK
Divide whatever stuff is piled or scattered on your desk into a High Priority pile and a Low Priority pile. (Hint. That's why we call it Binary Triage, because it's a High-Low system with no third pile, except that there is a third no-action outlet. See below.)
Dividing all the paperwork currently on your desk into a High and Low Priority pile should take you no more than 10 minutes even if there are dozens of items piled up. With Binary Triage, the "third pile" is really a no-action option in which you either chuck the item directly into the waste-basket, OR you walk it right over to the proper hard folder in the file cabinet without any further ado. Get it outa there!
Trust your judgment. You will see that you invariably pick Highs and Lows with close to 100% accuracy. Wouldn't you agree that you have an instinctive knack for knowing what your priorities are? You just need a system for sorting them out and re-enforcing focus on high priorities and "letting go" of low priorities. It's really that simple.
STEP 2: THE SAME EXPERIMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL INBOX
Try this. Create 2 email folders to completely clear your Inbox in the next 10 minutes. Email-High, Email-Low. OK. I know you don't want to delete some very inconsequential stuff, so create 2 more folders. Email Zero-ish (It's so low in priority you can't believe you can't bring yourself to hit the delete button) and Email Reading (are all those newsletters and ezines really high priorities?).
Next. Clear your inbox Right Now to those 4 folders. Zap! Your inbox is empty. NOW, treat your Email-High folder as your surrogate Inbox and work it down throughout the day applying FIFO (first in first out) techniques unless one of them is screaming louder than the rest. As emails come into your Inbox throughout the day, INSTEAD of STOPPING EVERYTHING?! to work on them, just slide them into the appropriate binary triage folder and get back to them later. High Priorities, first.
Alright! I think we are about to break the cycle of reactivity, but there's one more problem. What to-do about to-dos and follow-up to make sure that we are not spending our whole day slinging incoming paperwork and email responses.
THE PROPER HANDLING OF TO-DOS.
As with everything, there is a right way and a wrong way when it comes to handling to-dos.
RIGHT: Project-centered to do list.
WRONG: Global to-do list that jumbles everything like spaghetti.
WRONG: No to do list.
WRONG: To-do list that has 10 things on it when we really are responsible for about 722 follow-ups in the next several months.
WRONG: Using our computer or paper calendar as a to-do list and having to constantly cut and paste the entries forward in time and watch as they accumulate with more text than those little squares for each day can hold.
RIGHT: To-do list that can display just those to-dos for today.
WRONG: To-do list that shows items already done.
WRONG: To-do list that shows all future to-dos "before their time".
WRONG: To-do list that is too long.
WRONG: To-do list that doesn't allow fast drill down to priorities.
OK. Get the picture. It takes a computer system to do all this. Is Outlook that system? Outlook is not an Integrative Desktop Application (IDA). An IDA, such as The MasterList, can do this. Try this with Outlook:
1. Jump from the to-do list directly to the associated project.
2. See the to-do at the associated project with related to-dos.
3. See the to-do at the project with the related email folder.
4. See the to-do at the project with the related calendar entries.
5. See the to-do at the project with the related contact cards.
6. See the to-do at the project with the related internet links.
7. See the to-do at the project with the related PC/LAN file links.
8. See the to-do at the project with a hodge-podge of related notes and ideas.
Outlook cannot handle that Integrative assignment. Nor can it do the following time-management work.
1. Zap a completed item from the to-do list to a History archive within the project.
2. Blast an item you can't do today right off your to-do list to appear later when due.
3. Color prioritize plus organize by task codes for fast assessment.
CONNECTING THE DOTS. BINARY TRIAGE WITH THE MASTERLIST.
OK. Here's the best part. Until The MasterList, there was no project-centered to-do list that gave you triaging tools to manage your follow-up.
It's true that you don't need an Integrative Desktop Application (IDA) like The MasterList to triage your mail, or your email. Without an integrative system, your natural gifts may very well qualify you as the best reactive person on the planet. There's no debate there. If you're dedicated, knowledgeable, quick and have great instincts you can get a lot done.
But how about the rest of us? At present, The MasterList is the only IDA on the planet. It's a system that brings all your tools and resources together by recognizing the primacy of the simple to-do (which is usually a pre-step in sequence to a goal, or a follow-up flowing out of something already done) as being most effective when organized with to-dos of like mind by the centering-linkage of a project. The bonus is that once you center to-dos around a project you can center everything else in your computer environment through linkage right on that same project. Hence a "masterlist". Hence, The MasterList.
Why be reactive when you can simply flow. Why keep going,and going, and going, running up that personal-energizer battery bill, when you can get control of your Paper overflow, your Email overflow, and your to-do list problems.
Do you need an Integrative Desktop Application that works in co-ordination with good back-log control techniques such as Binary Triage to keep you firing in flow mode vs. ceasless reactive stress mode? With The MasterList you will find that you have discovered the Great Regulator for to-dos and follow-ups that brings everthing else into flow mode. It's a system. It doesn't do it for you. But it's easy. Almost game-like. And, it allows YOU to get it done and to maintain a healthy balance of new work and backlogged work at a level of control you would never before have believed was possible. The MasterList is more than helpful. It's downright revolutionary.
Sunday, June 06, 2004
THE CENTERED TO-DO LIST. AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO COMPUTER DATA ORGANIZATION.
In a recent Blog, I wrote how the to-do list is the centering mechanism for the 6 realms of computer organization. With an organizing principle you have consistency, connection, and an inter-weaving of theme. The reason we organize is to take action. And, action requires vision and focus.
So, just as an athlete must stay balanced, and a musical composition must stay harmonious, purposeful action embodies a theme. That theme is discovered by recognizing in all the parts of the action a common focus. If the action has one focus, why then are the calendar, to-do list, email, contacts, internet links, and PC-LAN (hard-drive) links not brought together thematically in one integrative program?
Centering involves choosing a descriptive terminology for what we are focusing on in action. Every action has a name and a purpose. Name the purpose and you have probably found the center.
Most of us in handling purposeful action, do not think of the purpose, we think only of a "handle", an easy name, like our client "Smith". So, we have a Smith hard folder, a Smith Word folder in Windows, Smith internet research in Favorites, Smith contact card, Smith email, Smith entries in the calendar, and Smith entries in a to-do list.
This is reflective of the reality that most of us handle purposeful action reactively and not purposefully. Thus, we accept disparate organizational realms,without blinking. Not realizing that the fragmentation of our tools is reflective of the fragmentation of our projects, our purposes, and even ourselves. The result is that we handle things disparately, ad hoc, and on-the-run, always playing catch-up, never appreciating the value of weaving everything together through the loom of an overview.
Because we do not have an integrative system embodied in an integrative set of tools, we do not see the value of an integrative approach to organizing the Smith data.
The MasterList is the first and still only integrative computer application on the planet. Some programs integrate by "welding" components together, as Outlook and some other suites, such as GroupWise, have welded together the logical combination of calendar, contact, to-do list, and email.
Unfortunately, this method of combining components in a single program is no different than combining salt and pepper in a salt and pepper set. It's integrated, but it's not integrative.
An integrated approach such as Outlook only binds tools together into the same toolkit.
But, calendar, contact, email, and to-do lists are not just tools. They are data repositories loaded with project specific information related to multiple purposes.
Since all save-able data has a purpose related to action agendas which are project-specific, why shouldn't purposeful data be saved and retrieved on a purpose- or project-centric basis? If only certain specialized salt goes with Project A and certain specialized pepper goes with Project A, why should it be jumbled up with all the salt and pepper in the same shakers for all the other projects? Why shouldn't we be able to see just the Salt and just the Pepper for Project A, along with the calendar entries, the contacts, the emails, the to-dos, the internet links, and the PC or LAN file links for JUST THAT PROJECT?
The MasterList is an Integrative Desktop Application (IDA) that adds value by bringing together the 6 realms of computer organization on a purpose-centric (project-centric) basis. Since the to-do list is the only realm of the six in which purposes are specified as organized elements of action, it is the logical organizing principle for all the elements of the 6 realms.
Hence, The MasterList is the first and only IDA which recognizes the purpose-centric nature of the to-do list as the most valid organizing principle for weaving the computer knowledge base together.
In a recent Blog, I wrote how the to-do list is the centering mechanism for the 6 realms of computer organization. With an organizing principle you have consistency, connection, and an inter-weaving of theme. The reason we organize is to take action. And, action requires vision and focus.
So, just as an athlete must stay balanced, and a musical composition must stay harmonious, purposeful action embodies a theme. That theme is discovered by recognizing in all the parts of the action a common focus. If the action has one focus, why then are the calendar, to-do list, email, contacts, internet links, and PC-LAN (hard-drive) links not brought together thematically in one integrative program?
Centering involves choosing a descriptive terminology for what we are focusing on in action. Every action has a name and a purpose. Name the purpose and you have probably found the center.
Most of us in handling purposeful action, do not think of the purpose, we think only of a "handle", an easy name, like our client "Smith". So, we have a Smith hard folder, a Smith Word folder in Windows, Smith internet research in Favorites, Smith contact card, Smith email, Smith entries in the calendar, and Smith entries in a to-do list.
This is reflective of the reality that most of us handle purposeful action reactively and not purposefully. Thus, we accept disparate organizational realms,without blinking. Not realizing that the fragmentation of our tools is reflective of the fragmentation of our projects, our purposes, and even ourselves. The result is that we handle things disparately, ad hoc, and on-the-run, always playing catch-up, never appreciating the value of weaving everything together through the loom of an overview.
Because we do not have an integrative system embodied in an integrative set of tools, we do not see the value of an integrative approach to organizing the Smith data.
The MasterList is the first and still only integrative computer application on the planet. Some programs integrate by "welding" components together, as Outlook and some other suites, such as GroupWise, have welded together the logical combination of calendar, contact, to-do list, and email.
Unfortunately, this method of combining components in a single program is no different than combining salt and pepper in a salt and pepper set. It's integrated, but it's not integrative.
An integrated approach such as Outlook only binds tools together into the same toolkit.
But, calendar, contact, email, and to-do lists are not just tools. They are data repositories loaded with project specific information related to multiple purposes.
Since all save-able data has a purpose related to action agendas which are project-specific, why shouldn't purposeful data be saved and retrieved on a purpose- or project-centric basis? If only certain specialized salt goes with Project A and certain specialized pepper goes with Project A, why should it be jumbled up with all the salt and pepper in the same shakers for all the other projects? Why shouldn't we be able to see just the Salt and just the Pepper for Project A, along with the calendar entries, the contacts, the emails, the to-dos, the internet links, and the PC or LAN file links for JUST THAT PROJECT?
The MasterList is an Integrative Desktop Application (IDA) that adds value by bringing together the 6 realms of computer organization on a purpose-centric (project-centric) basis. Since the to-do list is the only realm of the six in which purposes are specified as organized elements of action, it is the logical organizing principle for all the elements of the 6 realms.
Hence, The MasterList is the first and only IDA which recognizes the purpose-centric nature of the to-do list as the most valid organizing principle for weaving the computer knowledge base together.
