Enabling productivity - a selection of tips and tricks

I recently posted about a daily self management strategy I would be trialing. One of the critical aspects was identifying the Most Important Tasks for the day. Recently I lead a collaborative discussion on the challenges faced by HPE Leaders in Leading a department. One of the ideas I shared in the discussion on time management was the concept of the number of most important tasks being equal to or less than the number of spare lessons I had on that day. (Both of these posts are linked below for your reference).

This post will explore more specifically how I decide which tasks become the most important tasks for the day.

Ultimately, I use Evernote to manage two separate task lists, and all the relevant information for the tasks on these lists. I selected Evernote (premium subscription) due to its cross platform capabilities and limitations within my corporate network. Inside my Evernote, I have a notebook entitled "!Actions" that holds the "job list" and "!Today" notes. "Job List" holds every task that is currently required of me. I only access this note to add new tasks or at the end of the day when I complete a daily reflection. "!Actions" holds a checklist of the most important tasks for the day.

To get from "Job List" to "!Actions" is a specific process. I would not be alone in admitting the difficulty that can arise by attempting to prioritise an extensive list into the most important tasks. To achieve this I follow the following processes;

1. Begin with the end in mind
   
   This is habit 2 of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Within this habit Covey encourages the development of a personal mission statement (or philosophy or creed). An important step in this is the recognition of the various roles we hold within our lives. My "Job List" categorises tasks into these roles that I hold. For reference I use three roles to categorise my professional life, two roles to categorise community or voluntary contributions, family, and a "special interest" that can hold items that don't fit these categories.


2. Build a detailed calendar
   
   Decisions on how many tasks make the most important tasks are easier when all commitments are outlined. These commitments include the commitments of other family members. We each have a shared Google calendar so our commitments are seen by all, however my work calendar is private as the other family members don't need to see my commitments during work hours. As an example a snapshot of Mondays is below. (red = my work, blue = my other, yellow = oldest son)
   
   
   I will lose at least 90 minutes to travelling to and from work each day, leaving approximately 4 hours on a Monday to complete tasks off the "Job List" (assuming I get to work at 8am and don't have lunch).


3. Schedule planning / strategic time
   
   Too often we prioritise other duties over our own preparation and planning. Have dedicated sessions in your weekly calendar. Personally I don't include any on Mondays as I have found generally I need to proactive in setting faculty processes and procedures in place at the beginning of the week.


4. Use the "Prioritizer"
   
   http://www.idea-sandbox.com/innovation-tools/prioritizer/
   
   This web tool asks you to enter all the tasks you see as important, then essentially plays them off against each other. It is much easier to determine the more important task out of two options, than a number of options. What results is a list in order of priority. I use this to determine the most important tasks for each day.

What results for me is a succint list that becomes the most important tasks on the "!Today" note. At the end of each day, the "!Today" note becomes a note titled with the date in my "!Completed" notebook. Keeping a scoreboard (acknowledging what you have completed) is just as important as managing the task list focus.

Blog post: Daily self management strategy
Blog post: Leading a department

Trialling a daily self management strategy

I need focus, daily. The constant flow of information from a range of sources has the tendency to pull my focus away from what I determine important. This term I need a process to manage this. Reflective thinking towards the end of the mid-year break drew on;

1) Stephen Covey's concept of "True North"

My interpretation of the true north is about character and ethics. Making decisions that are true to your character and ethically correct for you. Discovering what your true north is can be difficult. To enable this I had to think of my life as compartmentalised. In relation to work (including roles as a teacher, head of department and state review panel chair) my true north is about helping others be successful. A significant aspect of this is building relationships - so I can understand in what aspects of their role they wish to be successful.

2) David Allen's "Getting Things Done"

One of the key principles is to have a single collection of all the tasks flowing in. In a perfect work world it means a single place to record all the tasks that result from phone calls, emails, conversations and others. In my workspace this is best achieved through a restricted task list. I store this task list in Evernote as a checklist.

3) Zen Habits concept of "Most Important Tasks"

Identifying the tasks which contribute to "True North" and achieve work goals enables this process to be engaging. Important tasks are not necessarily what others see as urgent, and in my case I foresee disagreement with my supervisor regarding this. My challenge will be to show how my "True North" aligns to organisational strategy.

4) David Allen's concept of context

I have refined this particular concept to suit me. Essentially building a list (that is constantly added to) of quick jobs that can be completed in short spaces of time. For example, if I finish work on a most important task and have 5 minutes until class, I refer to this list and complete a couple of quick jobs.

5) Mise en place

A recent blogpost by Ron Friedman discussed the use of this process popular for chefs as a preparation for a day's work. An intellectual preparation for the day. As my workspace moves across my desk, computer desktop, phone and iPad this intellectual preparation means ensuring I have all the resources I need with me when I need them. This also means finishing each day with a clear idea of what the next set of most important tasks are.

To enable this all for success, I have decided that;

1) a maximum of 1 most important task for each spare lesson I have in a day

2) checking emails only at the start of the day and at second break

3) leaving the office by 4:30pm at the latest, not arriving before 8:00am.

The hope - a calmer mind at the end of the day, end of the week and end of the term.