Maybe not totally…but it’s really helping me take the pressure off as far as getting my work done.

I posted a few days ago about how I need to manage my time better.  After a 2-week experiment with Outlook’s Task List, I can honestly say that I think I’m making headway with this.

Here’s my struggle:  I rely too much on my terrible memory to keep track of my tasks, and that just doesn’t work.  I end up wasting more time remembering and hashing over things that still need done, which wastes more time because I start to stress over it…it’s just NOT a good cycle!

What I’ve started doing is typing a new task into my Task List, either when someone asks me for something, or if I even just think of something that needs done.  I categorize them accordingly, but I don’t put a due date on them yet.  This way I can at least get the task out of my head and into somewhere that it’s going to stay. 

When it’s time to plan my week, I take the tasks that are on my list and begin assigning them due dates for the week that I am planning.  I only assign 2-3 tasks to each day, because I still have help tickets and standing meetings to take care of.  On that day then, I concentrate only on the tasks listed for the present day.  Once I’m done with the tasks, I tackle help tickets or anything else that needs my attention, and I only stop mid-task for scheduled meetings and urgent support issues.

So far this method appears to be working.  Things are getting done, and I honestly feel a LOT less stressed throughout the day.  Outlook 2007 does a great job of grouping the task list by days as well, so things are easy to read.

I’m sure this sort of method is documented somewhere, so I don’t feel like I’m posting anything earth-shattering, but it has had a positive effect on me, so I felt like it was worth sharing.

I must say, I’m a tad bit jealous for the folks that got to hit the IT Roundtable at COR this week.  You can bet that there’s a line item in my 2008 budget for next year’s event, wherever it may be.

A question that was asked to me indirectly a few days ago was “what was the take-home for you?”  For me, it was a single line of thought:  What can I do to better serve our end-users and set them up (as best I can) for a win?

Here’s a couple things I came up with… this is not “what you should do” … this is where I’m at as an individual.

I need to manage my time better.  I get so bogged down sometimes…not always with work, but sometimes with just thinking about the work that needs done.  Trying to remember everything you have to can be a job in itself if you don’t manage it right.  I’ve spent the past couple days taking every job that comes to mind and putting it in my Outlook tasks as soon I as I think of it.  I’m going to try using the task list for planning my week out and seeing how it goes.

I need to document better.  Duh.  Our infrastructure needs to be operational whether I’m at home, at my desk, or in a hospital bed, and I need to make sure that my boss (or anyone else that is there to do my job) can do it without having to call me.  This is one of my biggest struggles right now in IT.  I get in such a hurry to get something done or to close a ticket that often times I forget to make a note on how I did this or that.

I need to learn more.  This is why I don’t flinch at the idea of spending money to go to other places (especially churches) to learn, because I am 100% certain that I still know very little about IT.  The 2006 IT Roundtable was (and still is) THE biggest turning point in my life as an IT guy, and though I’ve learned much since then, I am nowhere near where I should be.  My big struggle here is reading.  I’m an “action” guy, and it is SO hard for me to sit down and try to digest something.  I need to find a place to go and read that is as distraction-free as I can make it.

I’m sure there’s more than this, and I’ll bring it up as it comes to mind (after I put it on my task list).