Section 5.2. Other Tips


5.2. Other Tips

The system is flexible enough that as you face new situations, you can adapt the system to handle them. This section lists some of the techniques I've found useful.

5.2.1. Large Projects

When dealing with a large project, split it into individual steps and sprinkle the tasks across to do lists on different days. For example, write a step on each Monday during the month that the task must be completed.

5.2.2. What to Do When You Finish Early

What should you do when a miracle happens and you run out of things to do? I think you should reward yourself. Here are some good reward ideas:

  • Get a head start on tomorrow's tasks.

  • Dig deep into that pile of dream projects that you've always wanted to do.

  • Read from that stack of magazines that's been accumulating.

  • Go through your request tracker and clean up old tickets.

  • Clean your office, your email inbox, your computer room, or lab.

  • Visit your boss's office and ask for more work. (Just kidding!)

  • Sit in your office for 15 minutes doing nothing. Trouble will find you.

  • If you have a flexible work environment, why not take the rest of the day off? You deserve it!

5.2.3. New Tasks Given to You During the Day

Let's suppose you've planned the perfect day. You have calculated each task down to the minute, and you know you'll be done and ready to leave right at the end of the day.

Of course, thinking like this is asking for trouble. It's days like this that your boss comes into your office around 2 p.m. with a "brilliant" idea that includes many multihour tasks, thereby disrupting your perfect plan.

That is, of course, why I only recommend planning rough estimates of how long tasks will take.

So, what do you do when new tasks are thrown at you all day long? We've already seen the technique of scheduling one hour per day for interruptions, but when a much longer project interrupts (say, a three-hour outage), we must reshuffle.

Calculate how much time you have left in the day and see whether your A and B priorities will fit into that time. If not, use the techniques to shift them to the next day. Usually all the Bs and Cs get shifted. If there isn't enough time for your A priorities, you need to talk with the person expecting those tasks to be completed. It may be your boss, who will hopefully understand and help you reprioritize your tasks. However, it may be someone else, and he deserves at least an email explaining that there was an emergency and that his request will be completed tomorrow.

5.2.4. Personal Tasks

I use the same to do list system for managing my personal to do tasks. Everything from laundry to shopping items goes in my organizer. That way, I get more practice at using the system, which benefits me at work.

If I used a different system for work and nonwork activities, I would have to carry around two different organizerscarrying one is enough!

Since I use a PAA, I can position items on the page. That is, I write my personal items toward the bottom of each day's to do sheet. That breaks it into two different lists on the same page. If you use a PDA, there may be another trick you can perform, such as assigning the task to a category.

When I leave work, I always check my nonwork items to see whether there is anything I need to do on the way home.




Time Management for System Administrators
Time Management for System Administrators
ISBN: 0596007833
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 117

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