Productivity in the Workplace (and at home): Task Management

I was recently interviewed by the Juice on ways that I stay productive at work. I thought that I would write a short series on my particular methods of productivity. This is more of a description of how my system works, there will be very little technology mentioned. If there is interest, I could write a followup for the specific techniques that I use, however, I suspect that such information would be less useful to others than the general overview that follows in this series.

[flickr]photo:1867095482(small)[/flickr]And people saw the tasks, that they were good: and someone divided the emergency work from that which was not.

Until this point, I had prioritized my tasks by what needed to be done when. The concept of urgency and energy levels had never even occurred to me. GTD looks at tasks according to their “actionability”. If it doesn’t need to be done, don’t do it. If it is to be done, either do it or don’t, depending on several factors.Generally, the process you are supposed to-do is as follows:

1. Do I need to-do it?
   1. If No, do I need it at all?
      1. If No, get rid of it (trash, delete, burn, etc)
      2. If Yes, store it.
   2. If Yes, what is the next action?
      • If you need to-do it now, and you can, do it now.
      • If you need to delegate it, delegate it to someone else.
      • If you need to-do it, but not now, put it in your futures system
2. Track it in your tracking system

The ultimate goal is to achieve a state of flow. By processing the work as it comes, not doing it, you don’t have a disordered pile of work that sits there and taunts you. Instead, you have an organized and (more or less) self-prioritizing list of tasks. You pick one and work on it until you’re done, then you pick the next one. There are numerous little things to consider such as your general energy level and the fact that some tasks require you to complete other tasks first. However, it is important to remember that every little bit helps.

If you currently have no task management system, even implementing an imperfect one will generate results. All you have to do is get started and you’ll start working more effectively. Even better, if you can get others to use a similar system, the organization as a whole will operate more tightly.

Work will get done more quickly, and work will not get lost, and best of all, everyone will enjoy it more.

That’s what flow is all about.

• Are your employees changing tasks often?
• Does this impact their work flow?
• How often is work lost?