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Keeping Track of All of Your Tasks?
An anonymous reader asks: "I work for a Fortune 500 Company as a Unix sysadmin and at any given time I may be working with 10 different project teams, each with their own milestones, tasks/to-dos, notes and reportable status. I'm constantly losing track of tasks that I need to do, notes I've taken and status reports that I've written. I've tried paper solutions, PDAs, Microsoft Project and groupware type stuff and nothing really seems designed to allow me to track mulitple project with mulitple tasks and to-dos as well as keep up with the status and notes that I generate from each of these tasks. How do you keep it all straight?"
We use a web CMS called Xoops for the IT departement intranet. We use a "bug tracker" called xHelp that is integrated with the CMS. Xoops also offers basic project management. It's a no brainer setup, real easy to get started with. For documentation, we use PukiWiki which does the job of organizing useful information. You may also want to look in "tracking" software (refered to as "trackers") which may be of use in your situation. Hope it helped.
Freedom is strength, Ignorance is peace, War is slavery.
I just personaly use e-mail as my To-Do list/Project list/Notebook
I just made subfolders for each project and to-do list. then if someone wants me to do something and they're yelling it at me i just say "Send me and e-mail with it" that way i sit down, can organize it. or if i need to put something on a to-do list. i e-mail it to myself.
Might not work for you depending on your spam count but for me it works perfect. And if spams an issue how bout just making an internal e-mail account to handel just that.... call me lowtech but it works for what i need.
I've just finished reading David Allen's "Getting Things Done" http://www.davidco.com/ and it's remarkably tech-agnostic. You can achieve all of your requirements with paper and pen. I'd recommend getting a good solid view of WHAT you want to record, and how to arrange it before deciding on any kind of tech solution.
(Then jump straight to ShadowPlan... heh heh..)
SYS 64738 NO CARRIER
Hey there. I'm also a UNIX Admin for a Fortune 500 company. Recently I was promoted to "lead" and I just got slammed with tasks to track.
I went out and bought a Sharp Zaurus SL-C3100. Google it. They're a great PDA, clamshell design with a real keyboard you can actually use. You can get one cheaper if you look at the SL-C3000 or SL-C1000 models.
I'm using the K/OPI package todo function to do all my task tracking. It includes start dates, percent completed, etc. I blieve you can sync it with KDE and if you want to fuss with it even Outlook.
Every week I look at my list of completed tasks and copy that information down as my weekly status report.
Putting the PDA on WIFI gives me ssh access and I can actually get into boxes and look at things to answer question during meetings.
It's a great solution for a UNIX admin.
--Chris
-William Brendel
Mike
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
Also eat healthy when you are dealing with a lot of stress. Diet can be as important as any new shiny peice of software in helping with memory.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
A single GTD might be enough to manage all the projects, using Tiddlers for notes and such. It's a single file that can be carried around on a stick, and needs a browser to be edited, so it might be simpler to set up than a more complex server-side tool like Trac (which you might look into, although I don't know how good it is for non-software projects).
Biggest drawback of GTD TiddlyWiki seems to be the lack of timelines. These might be implementable via macros if/when GTD will use the most recent version of Jeremy's TiddlyWiki.
"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart" (Linus van Pelt)
> I usually just use my mom. I have so many projects going on here at the house it is crazy. When ever she starts yelling I know I missed something and I get told what it is.
When you grow up and become an adult you no longer need your mom to yell at you to manage your projects.
You'll have a wife doing it.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
I'm in a similar situation, but perhaps the key difference is that my company requires me to maintain paper records of everything that I do. If I change the contents of a script, I have to print and file paperwork stating that I checked out the script from my configuration management tool, estimated how long it would make the change and what impact it will have, got management approval, made the change, tested the code, recorded actuals, and checked everything back in. Anal, yes, but...
Everyone in my company is aware that I need to do this paperwork and it gets factored into the time I can spend on doing a task. In other words, if the PHB pops into my cubicle and asks me to change the font on a web page, he knows it's going to take at least an hour.
I suspect your problem isn't so much that you can't find one solution, it's that you can't find enough time to fully utilize any of the solutions you do have. Even a plain old notebook works wonders if you have only one task to do each day and can devote several hours to managing your records for that task, each day.
My suggestion is... and I admit it's paradoxial; jot down on a piece of paper the "title" of each and every meeting minute, form, document, record, spreadsheet, calendar entry, whathaveyou that you create or access during the day, for a week.
Then go to your boss and say "I have to create, modify or review this many artifacts in a typical week, and it takes X hours of my time (where X is a rough number). Either reduce my workload so that I can complete all of the necessary paperwork, or consider dropping some of these artifacts."
The important thing is that you're describing the cost of doing business. It's up to your management to decide if the value of the paperwork you produce outweighs the cost. I would imagine there's considerable value in a change log, especially if you apply patches every day, but in contrast, a status report that no one reads is a waste of company resources.
http://www.xplanner.org/
You don't have to be eXtreme to use it. We're not.
First off, for me, I find it very, very easy to get caught up in the "how" and "why" of technology, often foresaking the actual use. In order to actually get things done, you need to USE the technology, not just be enamored with it.
OK, that said, I'm currently using a customized TiddlyWiki at work to track tasks, notes, and other useful information tidbits that I run into on a daily basis.
TiddlyWiki is a single, self-contained, self-updating, HTML file that contains HTML, JavaScript code, CSS data, and the content data all wrapped up in one file.
The content presentation is Wiki-like, but differs in that the linked content (called Tiddlers) opens right on the same page, in context with the calling text instead of one page at a time. This makes working with and navigating the content very useful and easy.
Its new Tag features let you organize the data, and it has a built-in Search feature that's quite quick. In addition, a new Macro feature has been developed to allow for feature extension by simply creating additional Tiddlers containing the appropriate extension code. Lots of new Plugins have been and are meing developed. Its community of users and developers is rapidly growing.
TiddlyWiki just has a real coolness and elegance about it that's hard to match. But most importantly, it's useful!
[self-serving plug]
I set up a TiddlyWiki Tips site with some Tips on using and customizing it.
[/self-serving plug]
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
I, for one, disagree with your sig. :)
"The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network
It sounds as if your problem isn't with technology - honestly, some to-do lists in Excel would be adequate - but with self discipline.
Any of these systems will help you, but it is imperative that you get into the habit of writing or entering details and logged items immediately when they happen or are brought to you.
I suspect that only half of what you need is being entered into MS Project or whatever system you have tried, with you relying on memory to fill in the gaps.
That seldom works well, especially when handling multiple complex projects.
Three Squirrels
Watch out. I just read the same book after my sister recommended it but when I posted my comments in response to a recent article some anonymous coward flamed me - apparently said coward seemed to think I was a shill.
As someone else commented, learning to organize takes practice and I do have a way to go but I have already seen a significant jump in my organization and productivity since I read the book a few months ago and started using some of its ideas.
As you say, it's "tech agnostic" - it's a book about concepts which can work well with your tool of choice (KOrganizer, Palm, Outlook, pencil and paper - whatever).
I found that I appreciated a book that didn't try to indoctrinate me into, say, the "Cult of Franklin" with planners, refills, tote-bags, Palm plugins, Outlook add-ons, binder-charms (whatever the hell they are) etc. It was upfront about saying, hey, if you aren't ready to change everything but just try an idea or two and find them helpful, that's great.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
Personally, I've just started using KDE Kontact. It's simple and intuitive and has most of the features of outlook. There are some things it's missing for me (tasks blocking tasks and task delegation) but for those things I plan on rolling up my sleeves, implementing them and submitting a patch. I've never found a system that does everything I want, so my plan from this point on is to adopt an OSS tool and make it do what I want, that way I get what I need and everyone else benefits.
There's something about seeing all your info at once instead of scrolling around all the damn time.
If you're really busy, get 2 big freaking whiteboards.
MS Project?! Man, you are sick! I suggest some time going cold turkey to make your hair un-pointy...
:) (And then be able to update it on the fly as they try to come up with creative solutions).
Heh, all well and good until your next project that has several thousand(!) discrete tasks spread out over several dozen people and at least another dozen or so checkpoints/milestones for integration with other projects that you, by the way, have no control over.
It's very nice to be able to print out a Gant chart that's about 10' by 10' so you can visually demonstrate to the powers that be why the promises they made cannot be fulfilled without changing the laws of physics.
But yeah, like the parent poster said, I wouldn't mind an OSX-compatible alternative to MS-Project myself!
You can't be on 10 teams, you can't report to 10 managers.
Unfortunately the OP could be reporting to 10 managers (or more). In a matrix organization (I work in one) you have a "line" manager, who owns you, and project managers who have money and hire you to do work. When the project is done, they "go out of business" and your line manager helps make sure there's more work in the pipeline. If I work on 2 projects, I have at least 3 bosses-- one line, and two project. If I worked on 10 projects I'd have 11 bosses.
In management classes they often teach that 10 (or even fewer, 5-7) is the maximum number of direct reports that even a good manager can handle effectively. And management is about getting other people to do the work.
If you're working on 10 projects at a time it means you may be reporting to multiple people (even if you're doing multiple projects for a couple different people), they may all want different reporting formats, they'll want to be meeting with you to get status of things, etc. The overhead of dealing with your customers can eat more a 40 hour work week before you've actually produced a single thing. You need to offload some of the work to other people (and then maybe manage them to make sure the work gets done).
All that said, I use a combination of simple things that work for me.
- each project (or major element of a project) gets its own folder/directory. I leave these on sort by date.
- every time I change a file (I don't write software-- I do system engineering for space things, and sometimes tech development)) I give it a new filename that includes the date (sort by date makes this redundant, but when sending files out it makes it clear to people which is most recent)
- each project gets its own mailbox directory, with a filter to a general box, and specific filters for key people to put them into their own named boxes (people I report to get their own mailbox)
- If I'm actually responsible for a lot of organization, I give a project a single excel notebook with a lot of sheets. Each meeting that happens regularly gets its own sheet for notes, there's a sheet for project requirements, sheet for contact information, sheet for schedule, sheets for trades, etc. excel isn't perfect, but it's flexible enough that it works.
- I keep track of action items and things like that with electronic stickies (on my mac), and group them by project. Anal people freak when they see my desktop, but it works for me. My paper desktop is similar (but being phased out), and I can always find things quickly.
- any request/issue/anything that I can resolve right when I see it (unless it's clearly worthy of ignoring) I respond to and pop it off the stack. One less thing to think about.
My company has actually been gradually developing some simple but useful (and useful primarily because they're so simple) web based tools for things like status reporting and action item tracking. It's not universal, but many project people have someone (the same someone) set up a web page that lets various people put in their status (and sends them email reminders), and then it emails it out.
I think that "try and stay organized" is a rather unhelpful answer. It's precisely that which the original question was about.
My guess is that donniejones belongs to a group of creative problem solvers who simply are less capable of staying organized in a systematic way - perhaps that "disability" is precisely what makes them (us) good problem solvers.
In the good old days I suspect such people would have had a personal secretary assigned to deal with all the paperwork, deadlines, schedules, mail, etc so they could focus on the problems within their expertise.
But today, everybody has to be a touch-typing super-organized secretary and planner *in addition* to what they are supposed to do.
I see no solution to this at the moment, in fact it would seem that this very problem gets far too little attention.
In this situation, even a partial solution in software would be better than nothing. However given that you often can't even choose which e-mail and calendar software you want to use, the problem remains strong.
If you are lucky to chose the software yourself, the next problem is, that you will most likely need a custom application that suits precisely *your* way of working. And I am certain none of the existing software allows sufficient customization to achieve this. If at least there were some small building blocks you could use, instead of the current bunch of huge, difficult-to-learn, impossible-to-master monolithic software.
Anybody want to start an OSS project for making those building blocks?
-Lasse
Go read "Getting Things Done" by David Allen and make yourself a Hipster PDA. No joke, this system is magically effective. It keeps popping up on slashdot.
Simple people talk of people, better people talk of events, great people talk of ideas.