3 Secrets to Moving Personal Task Management to the Business Level
You’ve got managing your tasks down to a science. Your dry cleaning is always picked up on time, your ‘honey-do’ list at home has nothing left on it, and you’ve even gotten through all the assignments your supervisor has handed off to you. You are a to-do list rock star.
But then something changes: maybe you’ve started your own business. Perhaps you’ve been bumped up into management. Suddenly you have to manage tasks for more than just yourself: you have employees or contractors you’re responsible for keeping on track, as well as a need to complete your own projects. How do you take your personal task management skills to the next level? How do you manage tasks when you’re responsible for other workers’ accomplishments?
Making The Change
I’ve been struggling with adapting my approach to managing tasks to the fact that I’m in charge of more than just my own work these days. Somehow, assorted to-do lists on RememberTheMilk just stopped being enough when I needed to remember to handle invoicing, checking in with writers and still handle my own projects. I had to step up my task management skills and make some changes.
As I was finding a new balance for managing deadlines and tasks, I learned a few things. In particular, I learned that I didn’t like most of the project management options out there — many were actually more hardcore solutions than I needed — but a lot of the basic task management options didn’t meet my needs either. Just as I had to find a system that worked for me when I started getting my to-do list under control, I had to find a balance in handling projects that involved multiple people. Along the way, I learned a few things.
Secret #1: Technology is a Choke Point
I think just about everyone I know relies on technology in some way to help them manage their to-do lists. There are a few paper-and-pen holdouts, admittedly, but that sort of approach does place certain limitations on task management. A lot of people have moved at least as far as using a text file to manage their tasks, if not moving on to at least a basic application. The technology available can be extraordinarily helpful in not only organizing tasks, but also helping us complete them. However, it’s also the choke point for taking on bigger projects and responsibilities.
The big problem is that we commit to a certain application or approach to managing our tasks. While there are a few exceptions that flit between RememberTheMilk, Toodledo and whatever they find like to-do list butterflies, the general approach is to find one system that works for you. We tend to stick with systems until something forces us to move on. That’s actually not a bad thing: why mess with something that’s working. The issue is that we don’t always recognize exactly what isn’t working. We’re inclined to cling to our current set up or application as long as possible.
The solution is relatively simple: we have to be willing to change our technology as needed. I’m not recommending that we all join the aforementioned butterflies, but it is important to recognize that as we scale upwards, we usually have to change tools. Take a look at your options and see which meet your new needs: maybe the ability to share tasks is crucial, or perhaps you need some sort of visualization. And when you find the tool that makes sense as the next step, jump as fast as possible.
Secret #2: Other People Are Now Involved
If you’ve gone the entrepreneurial route and you’re doing well, you might be hiring employees or bringing on a virtual assistant. Even if you’re just managing staff for someone else’s company, you’re going to have some other people to think of when it comes to managing tasks and projects. As the boss, you do have the option of imposing any productivity system you want but doing so might not endear you to the people you have to work with.
It’s worth your while to check with those individuals to see how they like to handle tasks. Make use of the inboxes, to-do lists and other systems they already have in place, whenever possible. There’s often a reason that they’ve made use of a particular system: right now, I’m working with a writer who just doesn’t have the online skills to work with something like Basecamp. I email her each task or project I need her to work on, because that’s the only inbox she’ll actually check. Such a situation isn’t always ideal, but it works and that’s the important thing.
Secret #3: It Has to Work
When I realized I needed an application that could help me track larger projects, I looked at several options. I signed up for a whole stack of trial accounts and messed around with a whole bunch of applications. There were one or two that I kept coming back to — not because they worked particularly well with the way I operate, but because I knew that a couple of friends swear by them and find them perfect options. I even started using one of these applications — and everything fell apart.
Recommendations aren’t enough. Instead, an application actually has to work with your personal methods of getting things done. If it doesn’t, don’t pay money for it and don’t spend time on it. Try out applications as much as needed, but jettison them if they aren’t working for you.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Thursday Bram
Thursday Bram blogs about a variety of topics, from personal finance to small business. She is the author of an upcoming book on the tools and tricks you need to build a career you can take with you during long-term travel. More information about Thursday and her book, Working Your Way Around the World, is available on her personal site, ThursdayBram.com.
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Comments
Daniel Straight says on February 17th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I’m one of those pencil-and-paper holdouts at the moment. I’ve had great success with Todoodlist by Nick Cernis. I used to use Outlook’s task list (with plenty of modifications… I’m a programmer… I play with everything), but I found it quite refreshing to get it to paper.
Of course, there are some downsides to paper. Copy-and-paste is slow, for one. Also, it’s hard to synchronize your task list between separate environments unless you carry it around with you.
Leaving aside the intangible benefits of paper (it just feels nice!), there are some advantages to Todoodlist which I don’t find in electronic task management software. First of all, adding an item to the list is really simple. Second, it’s easy to see (and it forces you to pick) what the NEXT thing you should be working on is. Third, you don’t have to assign an order to anything but your next immediate task. Finally, an advantage paper will always have over computers: You can write/draw/doodle anything you want on paper and you can fold it, cut it, make origami out of it, or anything else you want.
The problem with most task lists for me is that they’re lists. A list, by definition, is in some order. When you enter tasks, you usually end up ordering them and then it can be difficult to change the order. Also, task lists tend to prefer priority to simply saying “this is next.”
Also, if I’m using a task management program, I may not necessarily be able to decide that I want to draw a smiley face on a task, make it bold, highlight it in green, or perform some other random action which would be simple on paper.
Using software also means I either need to open the website or program I’m using. I can just pick up a random writing implement and modify my task list.
I haven’t yet found a software solution that addresses these issues.
Despite this lengthy praise of paper, I really did like your article (though this is nothing unusual; you’re my favorite Lifehack writer *smile*), and paper definitely stops working quickly when multiple people are involved. Good stuff to think about. Thanks.
Nicholas Powiull says on February 17th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
There has been numerous studies on people and choices. The conclusion is that when you give people too many choices, they have a difficult time choosing one. Breaking all your choices down or breaking time down to a minimum output, will boost productivity, plans, and goals indeed. If your list of goals is too long, you are likely to not even begin.
Here Is Another Secret: I narrow this down to being the mind. When I use the term ‘mind’ in this definition, I am speaking of the part of you that is continuously driving you to get something done in order to make things better. Within most people there is a continuous mind chatter and mental noise dialogging on the background of every moment. This dialogging is in a continuous struggle, since in every moment it has a goal or desire that needs completed in order to make a problem better. This part of you is always questioning with “what if” dilemmas and creating stressful patterns when you respond to it by dwelling on it.
I discovered when the mind is quiet of the mental chatter, something phenomenal happens. The struggle stops, stress raises itself absent, depression melts away, and things I once saw as problems are nothing but a product of the mind. The pain of the problems disappear for the reason that you see the ‘problems’ are nothing more then a situation that desires attention.
The mind does not want to be in the present, the mind fixates a need within people to be in the future, where a goal, plan, or desire needs fulfilling in order to relieve itself from the moment of now. The mind is continuously struggling in every moment to attain itself in an undertaking to get absent from the moment.
However, when living in the moment then your not worried about the time is going to take to get it done (future), you not stressed over the thought of having so much to do because you realize the moment you get it done, within that moment of completion, your mind will think of another goal to achieve. When living in the moment you realize that you will always be incomplete when it comes to goals, so you never worry yourself about them, you just live in the moment and do the things feel good in that moment. You dont have thoughts of “I have to get this done or else this and this will happen!” because you realize that is the mind.
Quieting the mind is perhaps the most productive thing one can do to achieve all goals by moments. Living in the moment is perhaps the most effective thing one can do to manage time. They both are key in business tasks.
Lynn O'Connor says on February 17th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
In one of my jobs –teaching doctoral students of clinical psychology, I have exactly the same problem. They squirm at any “system” I try. Currently I’ve been “trying” Basecamp but they never look at it, its useless. Like you, the only thing that seems to work is sending them personal email (to the whole group for example). I can put things up on the school’s system but its like Basecamp, they don’t look at it. I have to keep at them, and at the TAs I have in a large class. It would be helpful for me to have a project management system (for example, for a class I teach that has 70 doctoral students in it), but I have not yet found it. I empathize with your dilemma.
Vincent says on February 18th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Hi Bram,
It is hard to ignore things that are recommended by our friends and if they swear that it works for them, we still need to ensure that it works for us too. We are not the same as them and what works for them may not work for us. So I would say, we got to trial and error to find the best solution for us.
Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger
Ian says on February 18th, 2009 at 9:50 am
It would be good if you could do a review of the applications that you tried for tracking larger projects.
Priyanka D says on February 19th, 2009 at 3:28 am
I wonder if you have used Deskaway. Would love any constructive feedback you might have.
Productive Pinoy says on February 22nd, 2009 at 12:46 am
I had a similar situation working with a business partner who didn’t have the on-line skills.. Frustrating at some point but like what you said you just have to keep what works.
Now, Im using chandler from chandler.org to track my team’s activity/to-do list– works just fine for me.
SuperBlogueur says on February 22nd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
It’s so true that we have to find a tool that is perfect for our particularities, not because people say it’s good. I know rememberthemilk but never went there to try it. We have to find what fits us best and go with it, even if it’s not the best tool on the market.
harry says on July 5th, 2009 at 11:37 am
You may want to check out http://www.GoalsOnTrack.com, a very nicely built web app designed for tracking goals and todo lists, and supports time tracking too. It’s clear, focused, easy to navigate, worth a try.