Work requires a lot of different tasks and commitments. A day in the life of my job my attention is divided across multiple media inquiries, requests for help from team members, strategy documents to work on, new updates that I need to get the boss or a key stakeholder, and managing emails requiring immediate or quick attention. Over the years, I’ve developed some systems using a variety of technological tools, to get a hold of my day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month tasks. Here are four tips for enhancing your task management that have been game changers for my productivity.
Tackle immediate tasks immediately
When I receive an email, I’ll give some quick consideration on whether I can take immediate action on this. If it is a quick response, I’ll respond immediately to keep the ball moving forward. If I’m unsure of the response or if the email requires more consideration, I’ll flag it for follow up. That way it remains at the top of my inbox and isn’t easily missed. I avoid letting more than six flagged items pile up because anything beyond that can get overwhelming fast.
Separate complex work
There will be many times that I get more than five or six requests for attention. To manage these, I gradually migrate the less urgent tasks into a separate tool (Asana) for tracking and taking action on down the line. That way nothing gets forgotten, but I’m also able to keep things from being overwhelming. Purpose built task management systems are also much better than email lists for keeping multiple things organized.
Tasks that are broken into different subject areas (new tasks, HR/Admin, Special Projects, Long-term Projects, etc) further delineate what I’m going to tackle and when. The sky’s the limit for your own categories, but don’t break things down too much – the aim is to keep things simple. The nice thing about Asana is it allows you to nest additional tactics under larger strategies, assign things to others, set dates and add files and attachments (among many other features). That keeps things from getting cluttered and overwhelming.
Write things down
Each of my weekly meetings – for direct reports, peers and the boss – are in Asana and over the course of the week, I’ll populate the meeting entries with new agenda items. These items are rough notes but they fill out the meeting ensuring clear action on real issues impacting myself and my team. During (and sometimes shortly afterwards), I’ll note the results of the meeting next to each agenda item in a few words (DONE, JOHN TO TACKLE THIS TUESDAY, etc). In a larger group, particularly if I’m concerned about action being taken, I’ll follow up with an email to the participants outlining the actions being taken (as I understand it). This holds everyone to account and also ensures that if I misunderstood something, it can quickly be responded to.
Make lists
Some of the most organized (and effective) people I know use lists religiously. Whether it’s in their notepad or online, lists of items allow you to keep yourself organized. If you are not a techie person, I’ve seen successful colleagues also use paper lists to prioritize. The best thing about listing out your actions is that it allows you the happy consequence ticking off/crossing off completed items – it’s a great psychological feeling that’ll feed your feeling of progress.