View from the Ivory Tower

So in Part 1 of this post series (http://cbkadel.polarissolutions.com/2009/12/12/managing-time-and-tasks-with-outlook/) – I talked about the need to have some sort of system to keep up, otherwise things get forgotten and people are disappointed.

In this post, I want to talk about more about the principles of such a system.  The title gives it away no doubt, but I think these principles might apply to whatever system you might think is useful for you.

• Principle I – Keep a To-do List or Lists.  Having some place that you use to keep those things you need to do is important.  The act of “writing it down” can be tremendously useful in causing you remember those things.  And consciously know what is a to-do list for you, and what is not.
• Principle II – Prioritize your To-dos. It’s only somewhat helpful to know you have a lot to do and what has to be done, if you don’t give yourself a hand in knowing where to start.
• Principle III – Make Writing To-dos as easy as possible.  If we’re talking about building habits for working, you’re not going to adopt them unless it’s easy to do.  If the level of effort of “writing something” down is high, there is a diminishing return on the value it creates if managing that list or lists takes a lot of time by itself.
• Principle IV – Make Checking your To-Dos as easy as possible.  If you have to open up some program you don’t use all the time already just to check what to do, you’re probably not going to do it.
• Principle V – Reprioritize and Complete Items on your To-Do list.  If you have a system for checking what to do, if you don’t keep it clean, its usefulness is diminished.

You might have more key issues, these were the ones that I had in my mind as I set out organize my self.