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If most of the taskings are verbal, use 3x5 cards and keep them sorted by date. Every morning, pull the most relevant ones and concentrate on clearing them out of the deck by COB.
If most of the taskings are by email, modify the subject line to begin with a period and the suspense date (e.g., I need this becomes . Jun 03, I need this) and then sort your email by subject. The periods bring the suspensed messages to the top of the queue and the sort puts them in alphabetical month and date order. If you are really into this, learn to create email categories and then assign them to your messages. The categories will allow you to automatically keep the suspensed messages (and other categories) segregated.
If you belong to a large organization, hire a lower grade clerk to maintain the suspense logs
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Anonymous on
6/24/2009 11:52:23 AM
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If most of the taskings are verbal, use 3x5 cards and keep them sorted by date. Every morning, pull the most relevant ones and concentrate on clearing them out of the deck by COB.
If most of the taskings are by email, modify the subject line to begin with a period and the suspense date (e.g., I need this becomes . Jun 03, I need this) and then sort your email by subject. The periods bring the suspensed messages to the top of the queue and the sort puts them in alphabetical month and date order. If you are really into this, learn to create email categories and then assign them to your messages. The categories will allow you to automatically keep the suspensed messages (and other categories) segregated.
If you belong to a large organization, hire a lower grade clerk to maintain the suspense logs.
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Anonymous on
6/8/2009 11:00:41 AM
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I call my method the Chip-Away method.
I have several managers and have multiple deadlines every day. I try to work on everything to move it forward a little bit. So, even if there is a project that is due later - I work on it, so it starts to get chipped away at.
There is no rest in my day. At all times, I'm looking for what can be done now. You have to lose the idea that you will do a project from start to finish - and get comfortable doing what you can when you can. By chipping away at projects - I find myself completing work in advance of deadlines - and usually do not have much last minute pressure to get something done.
I recently tackled an office with nine 5-drawer lateral file cabinets that the manager wanted inventoried within a month. By tackling a little each day - I was able to complete the inventory (and clean up files) in less than 2 weeks - without pressure. Whenever I had 10 minutes - 10 minutes went to the file system.
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Anonymous on
6/8/2009 10:56:19 AM
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Patrick-
I work for a VP in a community hospital setting. We have multiple deadlines for multiple areas of the hospital - and each thinks that their project is the most critical. I use brightly colored index cards to update my to do list every evening before I leave so that I do not think about it when I go home - or panick the next morning because I have forgotten something. My boss is the one that prioritizes the projects - according to her system - not the manager's request. This helps me out A LOT. I also keep all on-going projects in separated folders in a special spot on my desk so that when the boss says - I need ___ - it is readily available. I hope this helps.
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DeDe on
6/8/2009 10:21:21 AM
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I do the same type of thing as Chera as far as writing down each day what needs to be done and putting them in the order they should be done. I work at an accounting firm so prioritizing is very important with all of our deadlines. You have to be very organized. One thing that I did learn is if you are given a project, ask them the due date on that project. I found this out the hard way by assuming everything had to be done the day that I got it. Some times you will find what you think is a high priority may not have to be. You may in fact have more time to complete than what you expected. Good luck!
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Kristie Mueller on
6/8/2009 9:10:13 AM
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Hi Patrick, I am glad I could help. Can you give me an example of a type of analytical or research situation? Do you have specific research projects that you are working on with designated due dates for trademark application or compliance for example?
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Anonymous on
6/5/2009 11:48:58 AM
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PRIORITIZE! You have to be very very organized, use to-do lists and update them everyday.
I have legal pads (the cheap bulk yellow type) for each "project". I use post-it tabs to track the phases of the projects and move the tabs to the current date's list for each phase. Eachday take time to update each to-do list. I also keep a master list for the day listing the "to-do items" from each project. Write everything that needs to be done, catagorize between A,B,Cs (main areas of importance) and 1, 2, 3s.
I also use a folder system for everyday items of Red, Green, and Yellow. Red=today, Green=by the end of the week, Yellow=by the end of the Month.
Of course you can also use a calander system too. I just find it too easy to click the "snooze" option and not so easy to over look the physical paper and folders on my desk. Hope this helps!
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Anonymous on
6/5/2009 8:07:33 AM
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