Need some organization suggestions...

[Brian Austin]

I have a dilemma.

As most of you know, I'm the "IT dude" (unofficial title) at my company. I have three offices (actually, four now counting the owner's house, which is connected to our Escondido office via T-1) with about 80 workstations/users between them. About 1/3 of those are mobile laptops.

I have several big projects going on at once, in addition to my normal "I can't print to the color printer" issues that pop up daily. My initial planned schedule for the day is usually shot by 8:30am (I'm usually in by 7:00am) with various 'pop up' stuff.

Up until now, I've pretty much been on my own, informally reporting back to my boss, the CFO. We've just organized a Vital Factor team, however. Now I have to bring certain "Vital Factor" numbers/measurements to the meeting once a month. The numbers are supposed to reflect performance of each department under the CFO. It's not a 'job critical' performance measurement but more of a "where can we improve or add/subtract systems to make an improvement" type of measurement. In addition to the numbers, each meeting participant is given specific projects to complete before the next month's meeting.

The problem is that I'm dropping the ball on my organization. Normally, I'd keep a list of tasks on my PDA, review it each day and work on what I determined was most critical (or whoever was yelling the loudest ). The big projects are starting to drop by the wayside, however. Not necessarily because of time but because I'm literally not REMEMBERING the stupid things until late in the day. I get so caught up in trying to solve issues that I keep going on to other problems as they arrive, usually via e-mail or phone calls.

I've tried the Franklin Planner route. I'm just not diligent enough to keep it up-to-date. I'm a computer geek and, despite my preference for designing things on paper, I'm not drawn to paper-based organization system. I use Pocket Informant on my PDA but that just brings me back to my original issue. I can't seem to keep reaching for my PDA when things change.

So how do YOU organize your day? Is it fairly static (ie doesn't change much once you start it in the morning) or dynamic? Do you have a system? Do I just strap the PDA to my wrist and not make a move without it?

 

[wsuffa]

Get up, turn on computer, download email, fix breakfast, read paper, make some phone calls, answer email, eat lunch, make phone calls, answer email, surf net, rinse, lather, repeat....

Right now, pretty static... When I was going into office daily, I had my assistant keep track of stuff....

 

[Richard]

Brian, what you've described sounds like you're understaffed. Plus, maybe you're going through a personal crunch right now.

To answer your question directly; you need to get disciplined. If that means strapping the PDA to your wrist then yes, do that. I gave up on Franklin a long time ago. Believe it or not, I use a paper notebook with blank sheets. Why it works is because I feel naked if I do not have it with me at all times. It's an appendage of myself. It also allows me to easily review the evolution/progression of how my schedule go shot to hell. Trends do emerge. You cannot effectively resolve the big picture if you can't see it. Stand back from the pixel to see the big picture.

My schedule changes hour by hour. In fact, week by week is the best I can do as far as writing a schedule.

My gosh, I feel like I should ask you about your fascha. I mean, it hasn't always been this way, right? What changed? My door is open.

 

[SkyHog]

Well Brian, take it for what its worth, but when I did a similar job, I made them email the stuff to me. That way, they couldn't bug me - if they tried to do it in person, I'd tell them to email me the issue.

I wrote a program that let me triage the stuff. I always did the biggest thing first, followed by a few small things, then the next biggest thing, and then some small things. Kept me from losing my mind, and kept people from thinking I was ignoring them.

 

[Carol]

.....
Up until now, I've pretty much been on my own, informally reporting back to my boss, the CFO. We've just organized a Vital Factor team, however. .....:

Managing people for optimum output is tough. I think part of the problem is your organization's idea that the output of all its employees will be enhanced by the institution of a system, in your case that Vital Factor team concept. People just don't fit always fit molds. A good manager will recognize that. A good manager will use all the tools in his/her kit to maximize performance. In your case it sounds like things were just fine until the new concept came along. If I were your boss I'd toss any tool that frustrated my team or its members.

I have no specific suggestion for you, Brian. And I know you are aware of what follows. I can say only that different types of people require different types of management. Some require daily beatings and some requires only the transmission of a thought to get the job done.

If I were you I'd ask my boss how important it was to him/her that I change my works processes/routines in order to fit the mold of this Vital Factor team concept. Maybe s/he is smart enough to see the potential for decreased productivity if you (or any of the other employees) have to conform to a different set of criteria.

 

[judypilot]

What Carol said. Richard's post also had a nugget that resonated with me--making the PDA/tablet/to do list, whatever works for you, indispensible. But definitely talk to the CFO and tell him the effect it's had on your ability to do your job. Unfortunately, this is one of those converations that's better held face-to-face unless you know your CFO really, really well. Otherwise, it might come across as whining, and you don't want that.

I have a similar problem. Most days go according to plan (i.e., what's in my PDA), and that's mostly because, as a boss, people have to make appointments with me, so most of my days are planned out. But there are a lot of days that blow up in my face. Are you familiar with the quadrant system of identifying priorities and the dangers of distraction? I raise it because it helps keep me focused. Basically, it divides tasks into quadrants, with urgency on one axis and importance on the other. The non-urgent, non-important tasks are pretty easy to ignore. Then there are the urgent and important. Those are usually easy to get through, but the problem is that they tend to get crowded by the urgent, non-important ones, especially when the urgent, non-important ones are urgent to others, and most especially when they are urgent to your bosses. You have to be really careful about these, because a lot of times, what's urgent for someone else (even your boss) shouldn't necessarily be urgent for you. It sounds from your description, you're getting sucked away by these kinds of tasks. The ones in most danger are the non-urgent but important tasks, and from your description, it sounds like this is where this new assessment exercise fits.

The solution is the discipline to ignore the urgent, non-important tasks and do the non-urgent but important ones, and this is really hard, though I found it to be a lot easier once I could categorize them. If there really aren't any of those urgent, non-important tasks (which I doubt), then you really need to talk to your boss, because then you've got grounds to ask for a reevaluation of the task structure. The way I handle this is I ask myself, "is this really important to MY job, or only to someone else's; do they really need ME to do this, or can they find someone else; basically, is their urgency mine? If the answer is no, then I stay focused on the non-urgent but important stuff. I also schedule time for the non-urgent, important stuff, and treat that time as inviolate (like, sometimes I'll close the door, turn off email, and ask my assisant to hold all calls). You should not feel guilty doing this. The worst plague on productivity is feeling like you have to be seen outwardly to be busy.

Incidentally, I'm considered to be one of the most efficient people around, and I work about 10% or more fewer hours than my peers and accomplish at least as much, so this really works. But it does take some discipline until it becomes second nature.

Now, closing the door, so to speak, might not work for you depending on where you are in the organization. But even if you are relatively low, the trigger for asking for a reevaluation of your task structure is the same.

One more thing: Don't be afraid to say "no". You will be amazed at how many problems go away on their own. If people get used to asking you for help when they don't really need it, that just feeds on itself and gets out of control. The other thing that's amazing is that, by saying "no", you force others to reevaluate the urgency of their own requests, and very, very often, perhaps in the majority of cases, they find out that they're not nearly as urgent as they thought.

If this doesn't resonate with you, then I apologize for going on so long. Just tryin' to help.

Judy

 

[Ed Guthrie]

Brian, in short, you are letting other people's emergencies control your schedule. If you want to control your schedule you must schedule your participation in the emergency resolutions. "I can't print to the color printer." "Just a minute, let me look at my schedule. Okay, give me your extension, I'll be able to work on the problem at 13:30, after I finish Mr. X's project."

 

[James_Dean]

I've learned to rely heavily on the organizational features of Outlook and MS Project. I use outlook tasks to track personnel or management goals and Project to track cap-ex projects. I carry a PDA with me throughout the day and make notes. These notes get consolidated and entered as tasks or dates at noon and 4:30 every day. I also use this time to add items to my outlook calendar, some are marked as critical. The only thing that overrides "critical" is crisis. I review my schedule first thing in the morning and be sure to identify critical tasks and appointments. I've had to learn to prioritize and to say "no". I use a sync'd PDA to alert me of appointments from my calendar. This also allows me to delegate effectively.

I also strongly encourage my contacts to use e-mail for most communication. Cell phone is for urgent needs only. Phone communication does me little good, things get forgotten and there is no record.

I'm the project manager for a $45 million construction project. I also am the divisional manager for the processing side of our business.


James Dean

 

[Brian Austin]

Brian, in short, you are letting other people's emergencies control your schedule. If you want to control your schedule you must schedule your participation in the emergency resolutions. "I can't print to the color printer." "Just a minute, let me look at my schedule. Okay, give me your extension, I'll be able to work on the problem at 13:30, after I finish Mr. X's project."

I recognize that but it's not going to change. One of my duties is fast reaction time to fix those types of problems. If I don't fix the problem, their workflow stops and revenue generation suffers.

This is the first job I've had where I'm considered indirect overhead instead revenue generating. It's definitely a different perspective.

 

[Brian Austin]

Brian, what you've described sounds like you're understaffed. Plus, maybe you're going through a personal crunch right now.

No personal crunch, really. Possibly understaffed but once the list is completed, I don't think I'll have enough work to keep someone busy.

To answer your question directly; you need to get disciplined. If that means strapping the PDA to your wrist then yes, do that. I gave up on Franklin a long time ago. Believe it or not, I use a paper notebook with blank sheets. Why it works is because I feel naked if I do not have it with me at all times. It's an appendage of myself. It also allows me to easily review the evolution/progression of how my schedule go shot to hell. Trends do emerge. You cannot effectively resolve the big picture if you can't see it. Stand back from the pixel to see the big picture.

The notebook won't work for me, although I see your points. I recognize the discipline thing, though.

My gosh, I feel like I should ask you about your fascha. I mean, it hasn't always been this way, right? What changed? My door is open.

Not sure what "fascha" means and Webster's doesn't recognize it either.

What changed? Mostly increased strategic stuff. A couple of new server rollouts that will change the way we do stuff considerably (MS Sharepoint). Several new employees requirining new equipment...but the senior folks get the new equipment first due to some medieval serf loyalty thing so I have to actually trade out two or three workstations for every one installed. That's changing soon. Never mind the fact that most folks here rarely get beyond a 1Ghz, 256Mb level of processing.

 

[Brian Austin]

What Carol said. Richard's post also had a nugget that resonated with me--making the PDA/tablet/to do list, whatever works for you, indispensible. But definitely talk to the CFO and tell him the effect it's had on your ability to do your job. Unfortunately, this is one of those converations that's better held face-to-face unless you know your CFO really, really well. Otherwise, it might come across as whining, and you don't want that.

Nah, my CFO and I are pretty relaxed. I do my thing, he does his thing. He's the kind of guy that really won't bug me about something unless he needs it or recognizes that a project is falling behind. Otherwise, we'll have coffee and catch up every few weeks. A very relaxed management style.

I'm going to let him know what's going on, only so he can help fix it. We've re-prioritized things before when the workload increased.

Are you familiar with the quadrant system of identifying priorities and the dangers of distraction? I raise it because it helps keep me focused. Basically, it divides tasks into quadrants, with urgency on one axis and importance on the other. The non-urgent, non-important tasks are pretty easy to ignore. Then there are the urgent and important. Those are usually easy to get through, but the problem is that they tend to get crowded by the urgent, non-important ones, especially when the urgent, non-important ones are urgent to others, and most especially when they are urgent to your bosses. You have to be really careful about these, because a lot of times, what's urgent for someone else (even your boss) shouldn't necessarily be urgent for you. It sounds from your description, you're getting sucked away by these kinds of tasks. The ones in most danger are the non-urgent but important tasks, and from your description, it sounds like this is where this new assessment exercise fits.

This is interesting. Normally I label tasks based on 1-5 as far as importance, but don't really cover "urgent". I guess I've always lumped them together. I'm going to look closer at this. Thanks.

One more thing: Don't be afraid to say "no". You will be amazed at how many problems go away on their own. If people get used to asking you for help when they don't really need it, that just feeds on itself and gets out of control. The other thing that's amazing is that, by saying "no", you force others to reevaluate the urgency of their own requests, and very, very often, perhaps in the majority of cases, they find out that they're not nearly as urgent as they thought.

I'm not afraid to say 'no' or even go so far as to tell someone "we did this a week ago. Take notes this time because I'm not babysitting you through this process again." All too often, though, it's stuff that isn't covered in any type of training. My boss doesn't want me giving training classes here until some basics are done by the users on their own. Their supervisors see it differently, so nothing is done. I'm putting a new training system in place that will be required of everyone but...that's another project!

If this doesn't resonate with you, then I apologize for going on so long. Just tryin' to help.

Judy

Good advice. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Ed Guthrie]

I recognize that but it's not going to change. One of my duties is fast reaction time to fix those types of problems. If I don't fix the problem, their workflow stops and revenue generation suffers.

I think perhaps you missed my point. Okay, so you give priority scheduling to the emergency and adjust the other schedule items accordingly. Fine. But you still control your schedule/plan, and you still have a schedule/plan you can consult so that you don't forget the other items (I believe this was your original concern).

 

[Bill]

Believe it or not, I use the simple task pad on Outlook. Every morning, I print calander with the tasks along the side. I goes with me everywhere, along with my engineering notebook. As tasks are completed, they're crossed off. New ones hand written in the notes section. Last task before going home is to get on outlook, check off the completed tasks, and type in the new uncompleted ones.

(edit) Oh, and after printing the task list in the morning, I take a quick look at the list, and prioritize. Top four tasks get a red pen box next to them. Next four get a black box next to them. The rest stay blank. Gives quick at a glance check on high priority items without having to look at the whole list and think. (edit)

Next morning, rinse, lather, repeat.

As an ex-Navy Nuke, and now pilot, I like lists and checklists. They're there for a reason. PDA's are cool, but add workload docking and undocking, etc. Paper lists, managed on outlook, for me.

 

[corjulo]

First and foremost. This jumped out at me..."unofficial title". Being an IT anything, especially if your a Windows Shop, front and back office, is a full time Job. Now, I'm a Unix and Mac guy so my world is a bit different but I spend more time fixing Windows 2000 and XP servers then I care to. So I have an idea what it take to run a smooth network. YOU NEED HELP. 80 PC's with servers, remote access and email is a full time job.

Next. What kind of email server do you run? If its an Exchange server then I am a huge fan of the Blackberry server integration. I don't know how I survived before I got a blackberry. Appointment, Email, Web access all tightly integrated with my Exchange account. With version 4 of the server you never need to sync at the desktop level.

Contact me offline if you want to talk shop. Our email admin is a great gal who owes me no favors at all but will offer up advice just because she's a mother of two who loves to make working parents life easier.

 

[Brian Austin]

I think perhaps you missed my point. Okay, so you give priority scheduling to the emergency and adjust the other schedule items accordingly. Fine. But you still control your schedule/plan, and you still have a schedule/plan you can consult so that you don't forget the other items (I believe this was your original concern).

I think part of the problem is that I don't "officially" block time for certain projects during the day. I look at my Task list, figure out what the flavor of the day is going to be and proceed from there. That needs to change.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

The solution is the discipline to ignore the urgent, non-important tasks and do the non-urgent but important ones, and this is really hard, though I found it to be a lot easier once I could categorize them. If there really aren't any of those urgent, non-important tasks (which I doubt), then you really need to talk to your boss, because then you've got grounds to ask for a reevaluation of the task structure. The way I handle this is I ask myself, "is this really important to MY job, or only to someone else's; do they really need ME to do this, or can they find someone else; basically, is their urgency mine? If the answer is no, then I stay focused on the non-urgent but important stuff. I also schedule time for the non-urgent, important stuff, and treat that time as inviolate (like, sometimes I'll close the door, turn off email, and ask my assisant to hold all calls). You should not feel guilty doing this. The worst plague on productivity is feeling like you have to be seen outwardly to be busy.

Judy's methods describe exactly how I do things. My prioritizing system always comes down to having internal and external clients. The external clients (the folks who ultimately pay the bills) will always have my highest priority. If the president of the company asks me to do something that I feel is less of a priority that servicing an external client first, the external client will usually be served first. For "my" internal clients (generally coworkers & subcontractors), if they need something done that directly affects an external client, that is my next priority after servicing the clients closest to me. Then it spreads out from there. The reality is I've learned 9 times out of 10 I have a better sense of what is important or not than my coworkers and many of my managers. Another method of time-management I use is to blow off (usually "beg-out" of) internal meetings. They are sometimes needed, but often the same can be done in a few emails or a quick conference call. Most meetings are a waste of time that I don't usually have to spare.

Also like Judy, I tend to be very efficient when I'm working, and often find that I don't have to work the long hours to be the most productive in the office. My organization method for the 10-20-some major and minor projects/tasks that cross my desk each week is small yellow post-its in front of or on my computer. If I'm on the road, I use the to-do task list on my Palm.

Jeff

 

[Henning]

Managing people for optimum output is tough. I think part of the problem is your organization's idea that the output of all its employees will be enhanced by the institution of a system, in your case that Vital Factor team concept. People just don't fit always fit molds. A good manager will recognize that. A good manager will use all the tools in his/her kit to maximize performance.

A GOOD manager is as rare as a frog that turns into a prince.

 

[capta]

It seems you are mired at the bits and bytes level.

What do the big boys and girls do - EDS, IBM, Computer Services Corp? They start by gaining agreement with the key stakeholders what are the critical business processes that are needed to keep the project (or company) running. Then they understand what tools are being used to support those processes, and finally, they plan their time around supporting those tools. Anything else that pops up is change management. "Yes, I can change out your network card but please have Harry send me a note saying his server can wait another day".

Besides, a salesman better not have you as a critical link to getting his/her proposal out. If the color printer goes down while you are out sick or on vacation he's toast.

 

[Brian Austin]

Besides, a salesman better not have you as a critical link to getting his/her proposal out. If the color printer goes down while you are out sick or on vacation he's toast.

*snort*

Guess who's cellphone doesn't go on vacation?

 

[drhunt]

Brian,

There are several key elements and good organization is essential to each:

1. Knowing what must be done, i.e. consistently capturing all requests.
2. Prioitizing the work. You seem to be stretched between daily, break/fix work and longer term project work. Do you and your CFO know what the balance between the two needs to be? Usually, it is hard to have the same resource do project work (steady focus for the longer term) and break/fix work (short, urgent, unscheduled).
3. Measuring the work. Can you report stats on the number of break/fix requests each week, time to service, backlog, etc? Similarly for projects, how many are active and queued?

If you can consistently capture requests, email, PDA, Outlook or other means, then you can better prioritize using a method like Judy suggested as a start point. If you have captured well, then you can better measure & report at your meetings such things as # requests/week/month, avg time to fix and be better positioned to see what you may need to do strategically to provide the level of service your organization expects. Are you in a short term bind or are there trends that suggest something else?

I last worked at a large organization with 14,000 users and a couple thousand IT guys. Same problems, just more time to evlolve solutions. Nothing got done without tracking. Help desks had software to log each call, break/fix teams got tickets from a system and project requests had to be approved by dept heads, submitted and prioritized. I know you are at a much smaller shop but conceptually, the problems are similar. You may need more resources in the picture to effectively do the job & separate roles. Good stats can only help support the case.

Good luck.

 

[Henning]

No personal crunch, really. Possibly understaffed but once the list is completed, I don't think I'll have enough work to keep someone busy.

"Hey boss, I'm runnin into a crunch here. I've got these projects that you've got me working on, problem is with all the day to day "fix it" calls I'm getting, I'm starting to fall behind the schedule. Before this becomes unrecoverable, I suggest you let me bring in a temp to cover some of these day to day fixes while I concentrate on these projects you have me working on so I can get them done and out of the way."

Either that or "Hey boss, I'm running into a time crunch here between these major projects and day to day operations. I have a guy/gal I can sub this project out to. My budget for the sub will need to be $XXXX and I'll still supervise that persons project to make sure it meets the parameters you set" and then you take a piece of that as well.

 

[CFIse]

Have you tried categorizing things into:
URGENT and IMPORTANT
URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT
NOT-URGENT and IMPORTANT
NOT-URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT

This can sometimes help you figure out if your job is possible. For example, if 10 hours a day of your work falls into URGENT and IMPORTANT then you're not going to get to much else, and frankly you shouldn't be getting to much else, because everything you do is URGENT and IMPORTANT.

However - if you can whittle things out then you can decide if the job can be done with the hours/resources you have. You may be treating as URGENT and IMPORTANT jobs that are not, which may help you handle the workload.

This has sometimes be useful to me and others.

One other tack is to decide which jobs are tactical and which jobs are strategic. Many times strategic work, that is important, isn't getting done because the tactical work, which is also important gets in the way. This then is sometimes a good point to use contract help. You can either use high-end help, let them deal with the strategic stuff (with some oversight of course) or you can use "low-end" help and have them chasing the tactical while you're doing the strategic (resist the urge to jump in and help with the tactics though).

Most organizations aren't doing the strategic thinking they should be because the day to day living is killing them. You have to break the mold somehow. They'd rather spend 1 hour a day fixing something every day than spend the 16 hours it would take to fix it so it never breaks. However - sometimes just fixing it is the right answer - the world's not perfect

 

[gibbons]

What do the big boys and girls do - EDS, IBM, Computer Services Corp? They start by gaining agreement with the key stakeholders what are the critical business processes that are needed to keep the project (or company) running. Then they understand what tools are being used to support those processes, and finally, they plan their time around supporting those tools. Anything else that pops up is change management. "Yes, I can change out your network card but please have Harry send me a note saying his server can wait another day".

Unless it's changed a great deal in the last 5 years (since I got out of IS) they have lots of meetings, blame other people, then go to the bar. Which, in retrospect, sounds like a good plan.

Brian, you've had some good suggestions. Here are a couple of additional things to consider.

I used to take some time every day (in my case it was before everyone else showed up at work) and knock out some minor, easy to accomplish tasks on the list. I felt better starting the day accomplishing two or three tasks, no matter how small. Working all day without crossing off any tasks left me feeling like I hadn't accomplished anything - which wasn't usually the case, but it messed with my head after a while.

In your line of work crisis management is a way of life. I found that compartmentalizing that aspect of the job helped bring order to the more strategic parts of my life. I set up a team - one or two people - who didn't work on projects. Their job was to run from fire to fire and change priorities 10 times a day. It takes a special personality to enjoy the work, but it helps when they know it's their job and they don't get frustrated at being moved around during the day. They got all of the one to two hour "right now" tasks and the rest of the staff had more heads down time.

One additional experiment I ran was to close down the department to outside interruptions (except emergencies) for one hour each day. No phone calls or meetings allowed. I always liked the concept but I didn't implement it very well it came off really poorly with our user base. They thought we were slacking. But I agreed with an analyst who had a sign in his cube, "Just because you don't see me working doesn't mean I'm not doing anything. Sitting and thinking IS NOT time wasted."

If none of the advice you get from PoA helps then let me suggest you get out of IS and start drinking. It worked for me

 

[Brian Austin]

Unless it's changed a great deal in the last 5 years (since I got out of IS) they have lots of meetings, blame other people, then go to the bar. Which, in retrospect, sounds like a good plan.

It HAS changed a great deal, Chip. Now we meet online and blame other people while we're sitting in the bar. Ain't wireless grand?

I used to take some time every day (in my case it was before everyone else showed up at work) and knock out some minor, easy to accomplish tasks on the list. I felt better starting the day accomplishing two or three tasks, no matter how small. Working all day without crossing off any tasks left me feeling like I hadn't accomplished anything - which wasn't usually the case, but it messed with my head after a while.

You know, come to think of it, I always seem to start out the day with the BIG stuff that never gets done. This is a good idea, if only to cross something off my list.

But I agreed with an analyst who had a sign in his cube, "Just because you don't see me working doesn't mean I'm not doing anything. Sitting and thinking IS NOT time wasted."

I like that. My personal response when leaving at 4:30pm and getting a snide remark for "leaving early": "Why is it that if I leave at 4:30, I'm leaving early but if you're not here at 6:30am when I get here, you're not late at 8:00am? Oh, and the next time you call about your personal computer at home at 8:00pm, consider that YOU'RE on personal time but the second I pick up that phone, I'm not. Or I'll just ignore it." People started shutting up after that.

If none of the advice you get from PoA helps then let me suggest you get out of IS and start drinking. It worked for me

Ah, there's my mistake. I started drinking while I'm still in IS. Hmmm.

 

[Richard]

Brian, "fascha" = father. As in, tell me about your father. I had done some heavy editing before posting but that line got left in inadvertently. It means nothing by itself, I was being a SA, forget about it. What prompted the line was you asked about orgainzation methods but you included some pretty heavy stuff. That made me think of several things, primarily that you are being reactive, ie, not in control, to a runamuck situation.

Basically, whether it's paper or electronic, an organizer won't help you unless you use it. I know you know that. You also know you need to develop the habit of using it continuously, perhaps to the point that you do not make a move until after consulting your organizer. It's hard to develop that habit when you're running around putting out fires.

Yet, in your 1st post it looked like you were asking about organizers when what you really needed was priority stuff.

I can appreciate Judy's suggestion for the quad system of prioritization but the problem I have had with that and I think you'll have is that you will be working only one quadrant because of your hetic daily schedule. That means a thing won't get your attention until it makes it into the quadrant. Then you're really behind the 8 ball and being shat upon I might add. The best way to control a fire is to ensure it doesn't start. Platitudes, yes, but it points to the benifit of deleting the reactive stance and becoming more proactive. I don't know how much you can anticipate how a problem will develop into a larger problem but there are other ways you can be more proactive.

The system I use is pretty basic: a numbering system with float. 1 is drop everything else, get it done. The float is two parts; does this thing need something else accomplished before it can itself be completed? Two, is this thing really time critical? If so, is it critical to other items? Continually asking those three questions helps to keep most things from every becoming item 1. There is an efficiency realized when I don't backtrack on items which at first glance appear unrelated.

One other thing, think about inserting a 'float' day into your schedule. It could be 1/wk or 1/biweek. Lots of benefits but the biggest is it helps you get in control of your time.

It's all about establishing and sticking to a set of priorities.

What you said about the upper echelon getting the newest equipment, thereby increasing your workload, it sounds like a company culture thing. You can enlist your bud the CFO to aid you in identifying those things which are the most common sources of increased workload for your dept. I know it's hard to take on another project when there is a fire burning but I think there are some things you can ident which if managed will result in a decreased workload.

So, prioritize, organize and parallel to that is you ident those constant irritations and reduce or eliminate them. You need the honest support of your higher ups.

Sorry for being long and I do hope you follow what I think I just said.

 

[John J]

Brian, "fascha" = father. As in, tell me about your father. I had done some heavy editing before posting but that line got left in inadvertently. It means nothing by itself, I was being a SA, forget about it. What prompted the line was you asked about orgainzation methods but you included some pretty heavy stuff. That made me think of several things, primarily that you are being reactive, ie, not in control, to a runamuck situation.

Basically, whether it's paper or electronic, an organizer won't help you unless you use it. I know you know that. You also know you need to develop the habit of using it continuously, perhaps to the point that you do not make a move until after consulting your organizer. It's hard to develop that habit when you're running around putting out fires.

Yet, in your 1st post it looked like you were asking about organizers when what you really needed was priority stuff.

I can appreciate Judy's suggestion for the quad system of prioritization but the problem I have had with that and I think you'll have is that you will be working only one quadrant because of your hetic daily schedule. That means a thing won't get your attention until it makes it into the quadrant. Then you're really behind the 8 ball and being shat upon I might add. The best way to control a fire is to ensure it doesn't start. Platitudes, yes, but it points to the benifit of deleting the reactive stance and becoming more proactive. I don't know how much you can anticipate how a problem will develop into a larger problem but there are other ways you can be more proactive.

The system I use is pretty basic: a numbering system with float. 1 is drop everything else, get it done. The float is two parts; does this thing need something else accomplished before it can itself be completed? Two, is this thing really time critical? If so, is it critical to other items? Continually asking those three questions helps to keep most things from every becoming item 1. There is an efficiency realized when I don't backtrack on items which at first glance appear unrelated.

One other thing, think about inserting a 'float' day into your schedule. It could be 1/wk or 1/biweek. Lots of benefits but the biggest is it helps you get in control of your time.

It's all about establishing and sticking to a set of priorities.

What you said about the upper echelon getting the newest equipment, thereby increasing your workload, it sounds like a company culture thing. You can enlist your bud the CFO to aid you in identifying those things which are the most common sources of increased workload for your dept. I know it's hard to take on another project when there is a fire burning but I think there are some things you can ident which if managed will result in a decreased workload.

So, prioritize, organize and parallel to that is you ident those constant irritations and reduce or eliminate them. You need the honest support of your higher ups.

Sorry for being long and I do hope you follow what I think I just said.

Richard you say it so well and your post is not long.

I have been "working for myself" for just over 30 years and I have learned

1. Prioritize, determine what really is a "here and now" and what needs can be met in a here and now mode.

2. go home at night and be with family or friends and get a brain drain.

3. Start with a clean slate the next morning

I have worked with a spiral bound note books for 30 years for notes with clients and nothing is electronic. I never check e-mail at night for that is family time or social time. Yes I do check it in the morning at 0430 when I wake. I check it only to see were the "pain is" and then respond.

My consulting specialty is in Personnel and Employee Relations.

This has worked so well and yes I do get time to fly and enjoy so much that I could never enjoy if I worked for a organization.

John J

 

[gismo]

I think part of the problem is that I don't "officially" block time for certain projects during the day. I look at my Task list, figure out what the flavor of the day is going to be and proceed from there. That needs to change.

Here's a few things that work for me (not IT, but I also work a mix of tactical and strategic priorities).

When anything unscheduled comes up, force yourself to rate the urgency on the spot. It's all to easy to respond right away to someone's on the spot when it's something the could be deferred without any real consequence. Obviously some issues do require immediate attention, but I'll bet you treat most of them the same (fix it now so I don't have to worry about it later).

Use something (watch alarm, PDA etc) to remind you periodically to reconsider the rest of your day's itineary. This will help to keep you from forgetting to spend time on the strategic stuff.

Try establishing an hour in the AM and one in the PM that everyone knows they shouldn't bother you with anything that's not that time critical. Try to be religious about working on the projects during those hours whenever possible.

I'd also start keeping track of the time you spend on the interruptions. A couple weeks worth ought to be enough to show how much time you really have for the projects. Then budget the project schedules based on the remaining time not your guess as to how much time you really have.

 

[gismo]

You know, come to think of it, I always seem to start out the day with the BIG stuff that never gets done. This is a good idea, if only to cross something off my list.

You might also make a specific effort to break the BIG stuff into the smallest chunks possible. Then make it a priority to complete one or two of those chunks at the start of the day. That way you'll feel good and make progress on the big stuff. Heck, you could even break up the process of breaking up the big stuff.

 

[Brian Austin]

Yet, in your 1st post it looked like you were asking about organizers when what you really needed was priority stuff.

I think I'm looking more for "systems" compared to organizers. Yes, I understand about prioritizing but often either lack the discipline or get too distracted. Obviously that has to stop for me to maintain any level of sanity.

Basically, many folks (including yourself, Richard) have responded well to my question: how do you organize your day?

 

[Brian Austin]

Here's a few things that work for me (not IT, but I also work a mix of tactical and strategic priorities).

When anything unscheduled comes up, force yourself to rate the urgency on the spot. It's all to easy to respond right away to someone's on the spot when it's something the could be deferred without any real consequence. Obviously some issues do require immediate attention, but I'll bet you treat most of them the same (fix it now so I don't have to worry about it later).

Use something (watch alarm, PDA etc) to remind you periodically to reconsider the rest of your day's itineary. This will help to keep you from forgetting to spend time on the strategic stuff.

Try establishing an hour in the AM and one in the PM that everyone knows they shouldn't bother you with anything that's not that time critical. Try to be religious about working on the projects during those hours whenever possible.

I'd also start keeping track of the time you spend on the interruptions. A couple weeks worth ought to be enough to show how much time you really have for the projects. Then budget the project schedules based on the remaining time not your guess as to how much time you really have.

Lance, I was hoping you'd respond. You strike me as someone in a similar situation, just a different industry.

I like the "reserved hour" idea. I think I might make it two complete hours together, though, or maybe one in the AM and two in the PM. At least until things are caught up.

I also like the tracking of time on interruptions. If nothing else, I can go back to my boss and ask for some assistance, either a "leave Brian alone during these periods" request or some outside assistance with some stuff. I have yet to hear the word "no" from him on any reasonable requests (the company plane thing didn't fly though...pun intended ).

 

[Bonanza]

You are an american worker and therefore lazy.
The solution is simple, work longer hours !!!

 

[PoAdeleted5]

The rule of 7.

The human mind can grasp about 7 things at a time. Bell Labs did research on this many years ago. That's why they chose to limit telephone numbers to 7 digits. A local US phone number is 7 digits, which most people can remember. An interstate phone call is made up of two objects: an area code and a phone number. Digit-wise, it is ten. But we conceptually see it as two objects. Dial home internationally and you conceptually deal with 3 objects, a country code, an area code and a phone number; not the string of digits.

This rule is well applied to presentations. Never present more than 7 items. The threshold is often lower than that, depending on the audience. But never more than 7.

As a personal limit, if the task list is longer than 7, then conceptually reorganize what is to be done. Group related subtasks together until you can look at a list of 7 or fewer "macro objectives."

Organization is about conceptual reduction, so that in your own mind, you can keep a handle on things.

 

[RogerT]

Brian ..

I run the I.T. Dept for our supermarket chain. We have 20 stores
on our WAN and we support all the systems in the stores (point
of sale systems, scales, credit/debit, EBT, merchandising/ordering,
etc). I and 2 others do all the programming for the company.
I report to the company president and sit on the Executive
Committee. I have ten people in my dept counting me.

Managing all the requests I get is the single biggest challenge. In addition
to planned projects I also get lots of the "my printer won't print .. I can't
sign on" ... etc.

The fact that I sit on the Exec Comm gives me some insight into setting
priorities that coordinate with corporate goals we've set. I prioritize
projects accordingly.

I've never used a PDA. I use a Franklin Planner. In one section I have
quick notes in order on plain paper of requests I get. Then I move those
to specific days as I plan them into my schedule and those of my staff. At
some point I have the users that made the requests fill out a project
request form clarifying exactly what they want, what the benefits of
doing it will be, who else it will affect, etc. This is important because otherwise you end up playing cat and mouse with the requestor as to
just when the project is complete. I guess at some point I could check
out a PDA .. but I'm old and the Planner has worked for me forever.

I establish a priority on these projects as follows:

A- Has to be done .. time critical
B - Has to be done .. not time critical
C - Would be helpful .. not time critical.

"Hallway requests" from other executives and the users is always
a challenge. I or my staff sit down with them and fill out the request form
so we have it documented.

I have 3 technicians that rotate carrying a beeper so one of them is
available 24 x 7 for critical issues. Their after hours priority is when
we can't check out groceries at a store.

If I can be of any assistance on what works for us I'd be happy to.

RT

 

[RogerT]

Try establishing an hour in the AM and one in the PM that everyone knows they shouldn't bother you with anything that's not that time critical. Try to be religious about working on the projects during those hours whenever possible.

I have a similar approach. I'm at my desk usually from 6am to 5:30pm or
so. No one else arrives until the 7 to 8 time frame. My day starts when
I get up around 4:30. I get on our system remotely and check if any
jobs didn't run or have issues and try to get that out of the way while
the coffee is brewing. Then I get in a 1/2 hour or so of exersize during
which I can think about what's up for that day. It's good thinking time.
This all helps me to setup that first hour to be quiet productive time to
start off the day.

RT

 

[judypilot]

I can appreciate Judy's suggestion for the quad system of prioritization but the problem I have had with that and I think you'll have is that you will be working only one quadrant because of your hetic daily schedule. That means a thing won't get your attention until it makes it into the quadrant.

Richard,

Of course you are right. One cannot possibly be rigidly formulaic about these things. If you try to be, you make a lot of people angry and frustrated, which is NOT the sign of a good manager.

Your system works as well. There are lots of equally valid systems around. The quadrant one happened to resonate with me after I went through trying to use a system different from yours. That's why these forums are so great--99% of the suggestions might just not sounds workable, but that 1% can be invaluable.

I also like John Jopling's suggestions: 1. prioritize, 2. go home and forget about it, 3. start the next day with a clean slate. I think that's why I'm able to be so efficient. Of course, a lot of projects stretch over more than 1 day, but I have YET, in more than 30 years in the workforce, to encounter one that can't be broken up into day-sized pieces. Going home and forgetting about it is crucial.

Best,
Judy

 

[judypilot]

Then I get in a 1/2 hour or so of exersize during
which I can think about what's up for that day. It's good thinking time.

This reminds me of something I found out in my last position. I had an easy (key), but hour-long commute. I used that time to gear up for the day. I used to complain about the commute (a little bit--it was my choice, so I didn't complain too much), but when I took this position, my commute time was reduced to about 5 minutes. I missed that hour thinking time! I really didn't realize how important that was to me until I didn't have it!

Fortunately, the 5-minute commute was a rental, and now I've bought a house in the country, so my commute is 20 minutes. That's just about right. But it did highlight for me the importance of gearing up for the day.

I use visualization a lot in my life. Visualization helped me learn to fly, it helps me lose weight when my weight has crept up a bit, and it helps me plan my workday. I visualize the day and what I'm going to accomplish before the day starts. If the day starts deviating too much, I get a slightly uneasy feeling that reminds me of what I intended to accomplish. That helps keep me on track without having to actually write things in to quadrants or make lists.

Judy