Time Hacks: Managing your Day-to-Day and Long-Term Projects

Time HacksManaging day-to-day and long-term projects

Ellie Dworak, William Weare & Erin White

The Big Picture

William Weare

Establish goalsDetermine prioritiesMap projects to calendarWork in brief, daily sessions

“People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen,

and those who wonder what happened.”

“If you want to be great at getting the right things done, you have to start by defining clearly what you

want and why you want it.” (Fritz, The truth about getting more done, p. 166)

Let’s talk about priorities.

“The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing

second things first.”Robert J. McKain

Map projects to your calendar.

“You need to think ahead and make sure you schedule your week in a way that you get to achieve what you want to achieve.”

(Fritz, The truth about getting more done, p. 66)

Will’s world

Work in brief, daily sessions.

Constancy and moderation.

Advocates for writing every day

Gray, Tara. Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar. Teaching Academy. New Mexico State University, 2005.

Rockquemore, Kerry Ann, and Tracey Laszloffy. The Black Academic’s Guide to Winning Tenure—Without Losing Your Soul. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2008.

Silvia, Paul J. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive AcademicWriting. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.

The Nitty Gritty

Erin White

Automation: think like a computer

Thomas A. Limoncelli, Time Management for System Administrators

Simple things Hard things

Done once do it manually automate it

Done often automate it buy or write software

Managing e-mail: Philosophies

The “waterfall” or “executive” approach*

Managing/triaging the volume

Inbox zero (Merlin Mann)and/or inbox as to-do listdelete, delegate, defer, do, respond

* I made this up.

Managing e-mail: Time-savers

Filters/rules: keep it out of your inbox

Simple thing done often: cleaning out messages

Listservs, newsletters, automated messages

Be ruthless!

ExamplesIf to: address is “[email protected]”Move to folder Listservs\LITA

If message subject contains “Special Offer”Move to Trash


Message templatesSimple thing done often: composing similar messagesCalled “canned messages” in Gmail

Examples“The ____ system is currently unavailable. We’ve reported the issue with the vendor and will update you as soon as possible.”

Welcome e-mail for new colleagues with orientation information

Fielding feedback/common questions


Keyboard shortcuts/macros

Simple thing done often: replying, archiving/foldering, deleting, searching

In Gmail, activate keyboard shortcuts in Settings. Use J and K to navigate through messages in your inbox. Enter to read messages. R to reply. E to archive and remove from inbox. C to compose new. ? to see all shortcuts.

Common shortcuts for desktop programs

Ctrl+R to reply

Ctrl+N to create a new message.

Lightweight project management

List of all projects

Project names, owners, statuses, importance

As simple as a spreadsheet

Separate sheet for finished projects

Project charters/plans

Scope: what is and is not included

RACI: responsible, accountable, consulted, informed

Milestones and due dates

Checklists for common tasks

Lightweight project management tools

Google Docs spreadsheets

Portable, easy to share/edit on the fly

Can be embedded in web pages

GitHub

One repository for project list

One repository for each large project

Repositories can have documentation, track issues and milestones

22

Project list in Google Docs

23

Project plan in Google Docs

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Launch checklist in Google Docs

25

Project list in GitHub

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Project plan in GitHub

Making Time

Ellie Dworak

The quick and dirty time inventory

5-minute list #1: what are you doing?

Activity

Reference desk

Online learning assessment task force

Book chapter revisions

SLA presentation

Running reference desk statistics

5 minute list #2: how long is it taking?

Activity Estimated hours/week

Reference desk 8+

Online learning assessment task force 0-4

Book chapter revisions 2-4

SLA presentation 4-6

Running reference desk statistics 0-8

5 minute list #3: how important is it?

Activity Hours/week Relative importance

Reference desk 8+ 5 Very!


0-4 4 It’s interesting, and I agreed to serve.

Book chapter revisions 2-4 5 Sigh. Must be done, I suppose.

SLA presentation 4-6 5 Important, a deadline approaches.


0-8 4 Important if a decision is being made.

4 I enjoy this project + deadline.

5 It’s what I do.2 Will anybody really read our report?

3 I’m so done.

1 I’m being OCD. Nobody else cares.

5 minute list #4: must it be done right now?

Activity Hours/week

Importance

When?

Reference desk 8+ 5 Whenever I’m scheduled.


0-4 3 Can ask to reschedule meetings; flexible otherwise.

Book chapter revisions 2-4 3 We have a whole month . . .

SLA presentation 4-6 4 Need a draft this week in order to practice with group.


0-8 3 Not usually a rush.

5 minute reflection

What can you:

Stop doing

Do less of

Do more quickly

Ask for help with

Relax about

What would you like to:

Take on

Do more of

Do differently

Stop doing: Always offering to take extra desk hours.

Do less: Writing for publication. Keep it in balance.

Do more quickly: Creating powerpoint slides.

Ask for help with: Hmmmm . . .

Relax about: Deadlines that are only in my head.

Take on: Learn more about research methods.

Do more: Outreach to liaison areas.

Do differently: Try not bringing work to the reference desk for awhile.

It’s not just about time

What activities do you need time for?

What kind of time do you need?

What sort of environment do you need?

Dedicated chunks of timeSelected locationMinimize interruptions

OK to multi-taskLocation not so important importantInterruptions OK, maybe even good

Boundaries: set a timer; set a day of the week; complete something else first

Stop breathin

g so loudly, I need to focus

I would rather eat nails

Don’t tell anybody, but I kinda like this

I could do this

standing on my

head on the bus

Task

Schedule regularlyLet yourself be bad at itSmall goals with incentivesCollaborate/commiserate?

Balance high focus activities with those that require less attention

Brief work sessionsGet it over with first thingDistract yourself with shiny things

Activity How’s it going? Things to change or try

Reference desk I love the desk so much, I end up there more than I can really afford.

Pause before offering to take extra desk hours.


Good, but I really don’t have time for it and I feel badly about not doing much work yet.

Chat with chair about time commitment.

No more special projects for awhile (if possible)

Book chapter revisions Fine, once these revisions are done. But it’s been time consuming and I could use a few months without a publication deadline.

Cut back on proposals to one or two a year.

Set aside half a day, turn off telephone, finish.

SLA presentation Great, but I need to stop revising slides.

Set a timer for 5 minutes/slide.

Running reference desk statistics Takes me way too much time because I love making graphs and charts.

Write down exactly what is needed (e.g. busiest hours during the week) and do just that.

The end

Ellie Dworak [email protected] White [email protected] Weare [email protected] credits

http://bit.ly/timehacks

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Time Hacks: Managing your Day-to-Day and Long-Term Projects

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