Killing the To-Do List

There was a moment where I suddenly realised that I was swamped with ‘things to-do’ and I was getting no where towards achieving what I needed to. Too many demands on my time and a dwindling sense of achievement in the day. Sound familiar?

First, a shout out to a great book called Make Time which was full of fabulously communicated tips on time. I read this book about 3 years ago and it coincided when I was first starting to understanding agile ways of working and how it can be applied in subsurface evaluations

If you are searching to harness the time management super-power you can read from any number of experts. So what is my top time tip to tell you in the next 30 seconds?

Kill the To-Do list. Throw it away immediately. It does you a colossal injustice. Once I did this, I realised just how archaic this process is. It is great for going to the supermarket or a trip to the shops … but for running your daily work activities? Absolutely not. There is a better alternative towards creating a smart backlog that does your valuable time justice.

Best tip: Create The Daily Highlight. This is the one thing you have to achieve that day, the object of your focus and that spare 90 minute slot that gets your deeper thinking. Remember it must drive your bigger goal and makes a difference. It is also something you would be proud to achieve in the day. Don’t forget that the bigger tasks may require being broken down into sub-items over several days (here you are creating a backlog).

Second tip: Define the Effort needed to increase awareness of the amount of time each task needs. That way you don’t give yourself 3 colossal tasks in a day which can never realistically be achieved. The T-Shirt method works well (S,M,L & XL tasks)

Third tip: Admin Day. There is a whole family of little tasks that arrive in the week that are small and perhaps not immediately pressing, but they can be the super-distractors. I write them down and then on a Friday I do a mini-sprint to get them all out of the way.

I found making the death swipe to the to-do list as an absolute nugget towards bring agility into my work. Hope it helps.

Great Read: Make Time: Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky (link)