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We Still Don’t Get Things Done

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Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#41

Post by bmallerd »

kilroy123 wrote: post #14

I'm always curious how others "work." I use the Pomodoro technique myself, where I do a minimum of 8 sessions per workday. I try to do 10, but usually, I'm somewhere in between. I do not count meetings. Every day at work, I show up and do a minimum of 4 straight hours of concentrated and focused work. I often get told things like: "I'm killing it", "I'm a high producer", etc. To me, I feel like I'm cheating the syste…

I tracked my productivity pretty rigorously in college for about a year. My maximum sustainable productivity was somewhere between 6 and 8 pomodoros a day. If a deadline was imminent, I could "crunch" and put in something like 12 a day for a week. Interestingly, I would crash afterwards and can only do about 3 pomodoros-per-day until my brain recovers. The average productivity in the crash + recovery cycle was also 6! So I was just borrowing from future productivity.

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#42

Post by quartesixte »

moksly wrote: post #32

The more project management tools I have to work with, the less likely I am to work for or with a company. I have a somewhat similar stance on software architecture. Sure, I’m TOGAF certified but if you actually expect me to work with notation correct Archimare/UML/whatever and not just draw boxes on a napkin you’re either insane or sell a product with no competition. This is anecdotal of course, but after 30 years o…

Credit due where credit is due: these project management software companies have done a good job of convincing people they need it.

I've taken to using tools that most closely mimic notepad+pen or whiteboard+marker. Increasingly I am finding that a physical whiteboard, markers, and post-its are good enough. And if you need to create backups, the image quality on any smartphone is very, very good these days.

The more time spent working on the thing that manages your work, the less you are working!

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#43

Post by [deleted] »

Doches wrote: post #38

This is _exactly_ why I stopped keeping TODO lists, and started keeping DONE lists instead. What's a done list? Think of it as an anti-TODO list: your DONE list is where you write down everything that you've, well, done. You know that little dopamine kick you get from filing a neatly-tagged TODO or marking off something that you've finished? A done list is just that, and the only way to use it is to train yourself to…

[deleted]

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#44

Post by Lightbody »

moksly wrote: post #32

The more project management tools I have to work with, the less likely I am to work for or with a company. I have a somewhat similar stance on software architecture. Sure, I’m TOGAF certified but if you actually expect me to work with notation correct Archimare/UML/whatever and not just draw boxes on a napkin you’re either insane or sell a product with no competition. This is anecdotal of course, but after 30 years o…

Say what you will about Amazon culture in general (I’ve never worked there)… but one of their leadership principals is Dive Deep

> Leaders operate at all levels, stay connected to the details, audit frequently, and are skeptical when metrics and anecdote differ. No task is beneath them.

IMO this particular trait correlates well with a need for less process / project management software. I really believe if more people did this companies would be better off.

Note: this isn’t the same thing as micromanaging but I understand why some people think it is.

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#45

Post by cygned »

I do mise-en-place (preparation) and use TeuxDeux as my todo list. It’s so super simple but such an effective tool, so limiting it’s not getting in my way.

I tried everything else, every tool, every technique - nothing works for me. I can’t even use JIRA at work, I put things in TeuxDeux or on a paper list, otherwise I will forget what I need to do.

I always wondered if other people had similar challenges. Maybe I am too simple for tech productivity tools.

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#46

Post by cheetor »

kilroy123 wrote: post #14

I'm always curious how others "work." I use the Pomodoro technique myself, where I do a minimum of 8 sessions per workday. I try to do 10, but usually, I'm somewhere in between. I do not count meetings. Every day at work, I show up and do a minimum of 4 straight hours of concentrated and focused work. I often get told things like: "I'm killing it", "I'm a high producer", etc. To me, I feel like I'm cheating the syste…

I also do ~4 hours of concentrated work first thing in the morning. As my day progresses, my head gets filled with all kinds of shit (good and bad), and it's really detrimental to not just focus but overall output.

In the morning, my mind is fresh and more-or-less distraction free and I feel hyper-focused even without caffeine. Also, by doing a lot in the morning, motivation stacks up and "wins" convert into more "wins" throughout the day

After that long session, I'll usually take an hour break. I try to make sure the last half hour of the break isn't filled with any instantly gratifying content (reddit, yt, etc) so my mind isn't chasing another hit of dopamine when I resume my work. Anecdotally, I feel like this helps me

Whenever I loath doing a task, I tell myself to do it for 5 minutes and if I still don't feel like doing it, then I can do something else. It's a pretty common technique and works wonderfully for me. Something about my pride and not wanting to give up after 5 minutes helps me power through

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#47

Post by Apocryphon »

Lightbody wrote: post #31
jkhdigital wrote: post #24

I still think David Allen nailed it in Getting Things Done . Not the system necessarily, but he nailed the diagnosis of why we fail to get things done: an inability to be honest with ourselves about (1) the full scope and scale of the commitments we make, and (2) just how little time and attention we have at our disposal in meeting those commitments. Really, it’s the same sort of problem that is described in The Goal…

For what it’s worth, we (Reclaim.ai - I’m quoted in the article), have a lot of ADHD customers who tell us that we help with time blocking on their calendar. In particular, the fact that we do it automatically seems to be the thing they appreciate. Edit: First time I’ve ever been downvoted into negative territory. Clearly I’ve embarrassed myself ;P Is it because of self promotion? I guess… seems weird though I/my com…

fwiw, I’m going to check out your service. The article’s conclusions are philosophical and introspective, but it does give the practical finding that calendar time blocking is a more effective method than simple todo lists. So trying out the latter is an actionable item. Doing a guided meditation session to emphasize with my future self would be another step- wonder if that’s the future of meditation/wellness/productivity lifehack fads.

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#48

Post by jampekka »

For quite a while I have not used any project management or todo-lists at all. I usually have a project or few that I need to progress and I just keep them in my head. Sometimes I book some appointments with some other people which gives me a deadline to make some progress. For some crucial chores I may do a temporary todo-list of maybe three trivial items.

Not sure how optimal this is, but I've managed to stay employed and get most important things done. A plus side is that this has a sort of automatic priorization and pruning: I just forget some of the things or projects or ideas, and probably there's a (negative) correlation between importance and forgetting.

Perhaps people are on average a bit too preoccupied with planning and "tasking up" and managing and measuring things to do. I've found its often more trouble than it's worth. Also in anything more complicated the plan usually collapses quite rapidly, and having a strict task-structure etc may well cause people to keep the wrong course for too long.

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#49

Post by edoceo »

Lightbody wrote: post #31
jkhdigital wrote: post #24

I still think David Allen nailed it in Getting Things Done . Not the system necessarily, but he nailed the diagnosis of why we fail to get things done: an inability to be honest with ourselves about (1) the full scope and scale of the commitments we make, and (2) just how little time and attention we have at our disposal in meeting those commitments. Really, it’s the same sort of problem that is described in The Goal…

For what it’s worth, we (Reclaim.ai - I’m quoted in the article), have a lot of ADHD customers who tell us that we help with time blocking on their calendar. In particular, the fact that we do it automatically seems to be the thing they appreciate. Edit: First time I’ve ever been downvoted into negative territory. Clearly I’ve embarrassed myself ;P Is it because of self promotion? I guess… seems weird though I/my com…

Probably the claim about "a lot of ADHD" clients. How do you even know? Did you ask?! What percent? Feels real BS to me.

Re: We Still Don’t Get Things Done

#50

Post by Invictus0 »

Great read. I feel like task lists are really a coping mechanism we resort to when we are placed in a somewhat natural situation--that is, having an overwhelming load of tasks to complete. Once the tasks are "out of mind" and on the list, then they can be completed sequentially--sort the tasks by priority, and then do them in that order. If to do lists were really about our life goals and dreams, then the Seinfeld method still reigns supreme; that is, do the most important thing you need to do every day, even just a little bit of it, and note how many days in a row you've done it.

https://jamesclear.com/stop-procrastinating-seinfeld-strateg...

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