Managing Your Task Lists
How To Set Up Your Task Lists
Managing the tasks hierarchy (objectives-projects-tasks) we described in last section can be applied in many ways. In its easiest form it can be done using three different paper lists:
The three essential lists for successful time management
The practical solution of how you achieve this is not the most important thing in this case. The most important thing here is the principle and of course spending time actually doing something useful.
At the moment I am myself using a system based on Microsoft Outlook and its task feature. The tasks are also synchronized to my mobile phone using Mail for Exchange.
Don’t Be a Slave to Your Task Lists
As stated several times already on these pages doing actual work is the most important part of time management. Julie Morgenstern has estimated that 30% of people who use task lists spend more time working and tweaking on the lists than on actually doing the work. So beware. Lists are supposed to help you. They are not the purpose.
I myself have used a period of several weeks in trying different configurations and working on the technical issues of task management. I once used several days only in order to try to get my Outlook and mobile phone to synchronize task categories. I later realized was a total waste of time, because: a) real work was left undone b) it is technically impossible.
Having said that let’s move forward. Task lists are great if you just don’t overdo them.
Updating Your System
Let’s start by discussing how many items you should have on each list. I have about 3-5 objectives. On my projects list I have about 20-30 active projects. The task list tends to have about as many tasks as the project list.
The process of keeping your task lists up-to-date goes somewhat like this:
- Objectives. Define your objectives once a year. Repeat them for yourself regularly. A suitable period could be once a month but you should review your objectives always that you feel like it. Having a quick glance at the few items in your objectives list is a great way to “ambush yourself”, as you answer the question “Am I doing something important now, or not?”. The question is answered by determining if you at that very moment are working towards one of your objectives.
- Projects. You should review your projects list once a week. As you go through your projects list, you should ensure that all your active projects have current active tasks. If there are projects without active tasks items (i.e. nothing is moving forward) think about the next action needed for that project and write it down on your task list. This is why tasks tend to end up at the same level as the number of projects.
- Tasks. The tasks list is the most essential list for helping you at your everyday work. It is also very common to just jot down items directly on the tasks list. “Call Joe” and “Take the bills to accounting” would be examples of such item. Even if we take great effort in explaining the objective-project-task hierarchy the tasks list is the one where you spend 80% of your time on the list. And yes, being able to cross over finished tasks is mostly rewarding.
Even if I have a quite sophisticated method with these three types of task lists at work for managing tasks, this does not apply at home. At home I just have a white plastic board and an ink pen. There are also only one type of items: to-do.
As said, have the right time management tool for the right place…
Manage Tasks. For optimal time management, you have to be able to manage tasks. Definition of objective, project and task.
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