Imaginary Personal Manager(pmswap.medium.com)
pmswap.medium.com
Imaginary Personal Manager
https://pmswap.medium.com/imaginary-pm-b4b818625498
34 comments
It's great to see someone on HN endorse Clickup based on personal experience. I selected Clickup over a number of other options for my workplace's project management system only a few months ago, in large part due to the flexibility and customization you alluded to (and cost vs. features), and I have been hoping that it was a good choice for others and not just according to my own biases. If you haven't had a chance, take a look at their automations - they might give you some ideas for automating your personal workflows a bit.
Bonus tip: If you use one of their docs as a meeting agenda/minutes, you can select a portion of text and make it into a task with a right click. I just discovered this, but it seems to be a great way to create follow-ups and assign people to action items.
Bonus tip: If you use one of their docs as a meeting agenda/minutes, you can select a portion of text and make it into a task with a right click. I just discovered this, but it seems to be a great way to create follow-ups and assign people to action items.
I use my https://crushentropy.com/ as the day planner and it has definitely made me more productive. It's like markdown for planning your day.
That's really cool. I just added my appointments and tasks for the day. Visualizing everything I'm definitely not going to be as productive as I was hopping to be =/
Over time, I find that this has resulted in me setting more realistic goals for the day. I'm not yet at the "stress-free productivity" stage, but I'm making progress.
Good article. I do this using 2 tools on top of Gsuite.
https://reclaim.ai/ - I found this on HN a couple of months back. It schedules tasks you add to your Google Tasks on your Google calendar, fully automatically.
https://tasksboard.com/ allows you to have multiple Google tasks lists displayed as a kanban board.
Drag your task into your reclaim.ai "todo" list and time gets blocked out in your calendar automatically. et viola!
https://reclaim.ai/ - I found this on HN a couple of months back. It schedules tasks you add to your Google Tasks on your Google calendar, fully automatically.
https://tasksboard.com/ allows you to have multiple Google tasks lists displayed as a kanban board.
Drag your task into your reclaim.ai "todo" list and time gets blocked out in your calendar automatically. et viola!
I use https://teuxdeux.com for weekly planning.
Basically for any planning. That's the only todo list that works for me.
Basically for any planning. That's the only todo list that works for me.
I'm a bit skeptical about Kanban boards because you cannot have them with you all the time. That goes against the main idea of GTD to reduce cognitive load as much as possible.
I used to use the "Action Day Planner" together with a notebook for more detailed project-related data, and this system was very capable of organizing my work. I don't think electronic devices and software are very helpful. You either don't have them at hand all the time anywhere, or you end up fiddling with software on mobile phones that distracts and makes you enter text much less efficiently than writing on paper.
Anyway, I found with time that the GTD method is mostly suitable for non-creative, boring management tasks. It's good for delegating and managing under load. Or, as a friend of mine once said: It's more of a "you (pointing at employee) better get things done!" method. I now only use a calendar and "Leuchtturm 1917" notebooks. Any other notebook will do, too, as long as they have a ToC and numbered pages.
I used to use the "Action Day Planner" together with a notebook for more detailed project-related data, and this system was very capable of organizing my work. I don't think electronic devices and software are very helpful. You either don't have them at hand all the time anywhere, or you end up fiddling with software on mobile phones that distracts and makes you enter text much less efficiently than writing on paper.
Anyway, I found with time that the GTD method is mostly suitable for non-creative, boring management tasks. It's good for delegating and managing under load. Or, as a friend of mine once said: It's more of a "you (pointing at employee) better get things done!" method. I now only use a calendar and "Leuchtturm 1917" notebooks. Any other notebook will do, too, as long as they have a ToC and numbered pages.
Why can't you have a Kanban board with you?
I use KanbanFlow with both work and personal boards and it's great. The mobile interface fine. For home/desk situations, I'll use a spare monitor or a cheap tablet so it's more present.
Nothing wrong with preferring a notebook, of course; it is easier for some things, and I use to carry one religiously. But since it's an extra physical object I have to haul around everywhere and that requires a special tool to even use, I don't miss it.
I use KanbanFlow with both work and personal boards and it's great. The mobile interface fine. For home/desk situations, I'll use a spare monitor or a cheap tablet so it's more present.
Nothing wrong with preferring a notebook, of course; it is easier for some things, and I use to carry one religiously. But since it's an extra physical object I have to haul around everywhere and that requires a special tool to even use, I don't miss it.
Thanks for the post, I've been doing most of what you suggested except for the auto adding of tasks to my schedule, that is a great idea. Thanks.
I have implemented automation for myself, but have a feeling that it might be interesting for others.
If you haven't tried Notion, you should. Especially the portion of this describing mapping tasks onto a calendar is implemented perfectly in notion databases.
For example, processing steps like this:
> The calendar is filled two times a week.
Unnecessary in Notion as you can view a kanban with dated items as a calendar.
https://www.notion.so/Intro-to-databases-fd8cd2d212f74c50954...
Edit: why am I being downvoted for suggesting a tool I like
For example, processing steps like this:
> The calendar is filled two times a week.
Unnecessary in Notion as you can view a kanban with dated items as a calendar.
https://www.notion.so/Intro-to-databases-fd8cd2d212f74c50954...
Edit: why am I being downvoted for suggesting a tool I like
I started putting 1 hour or half-hour blocks on my calendar for every task. Game changer.
I can have all the lists in the world without knowing what to do, when to do it, or how soon I'll be able to get to it. This works for all that.
I can have all the lists in the world without knowing what to do, when to do it, or how soon I'll be able to get to it. This works for all that.
I've started doing this and it's a game changer. Mostly in the form of "Wow I never realized how few things fit in 24 hours"
Strangely it feels like I get less done now. But I'm also less stressed.
Strangely it feels like I get less done now. But I'm also less stressed.
Yeah, it's fantastic in Notion to be able to add a date property to a task and have all your tasks magically show in a calendar without needing to manually create calendar events.
Anyone know an OSS alternative for this sort of time-scheduling? I use Trilium for all my notes currently but it's not great for time scheduling like Notion seems to be... Wish I could make a PR and add that feature but my Node skills are nonexistent.
Perhaps another tool is required to add items to a list, which then adds to my calendar. That does seem like a nice automation, and a "list view" / "kanban view" would be a plus.
But, I'm happy just blocking time in the same program work comes in on (email). I am far enough out of the iterative loop of development that most assignments are "soft" as in emails or requests from the group or random people in the organization who are in early stage product development and haven't formed a core team yet with all the project management tooling that comes with that.
But, I'm happy just blocking time in the same program work comes in on (email). I am far enough out of the iterative loop of development that most assignments are "soft" as in emails or requests from the group or random people in the organization who are in early stage product development and haven't formed a core team yet with all the project management tooling that comes with that.
That sounds a lot like "time blocking" or "hyperscheduling". I agree that this is a game changer --at least for me, specially being conscious that, well, you only have 24 hours in a day.
This is the approach I'm also looking at. GTD systems are good at storing and keeping track of times and due dates. But the planning/execution step is missing besides basic "work on the highest priority task for each project.
The next step could be a scheduler that takes the GTD state as input along with your calendar and builds an execution plan.
The next step could be a scheduler that takes the GTD state as input along with your calendar and builds an execution plan.
This seems useful, but they use terms like GTD and never define them, and with the grammar, it’s slightly hard to follow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done
I guess they assumed that anyone interested in todo-apps would have already encountered GTD before.
I never managed to get GTD done, but the book was still an interesting and enjoyable read when I read it back in university.
I guess they assumed that anyone interested in todo-apps would have already encountered GTD before.
I never managed to get GTD done, but the book was still an interesting and enjoyable read when I read it back in university.
In this case it could perhaps be excused, given that GTD in productivity/PM/business space is as recognizable an acronym as API is in software development.
It always baffles me how bloggers don't write it out first and then give a parenthetical acronym/abbreviation: Getting Things Done (GTD).
Unfortunately I like the name too much to find it acceptable as a mundane app.
I made a really dumb block-based, client-side-only tool for trying to play around with weekly scheduling.
https://jedahan.com/saltpeanuts/
The data gets serialized (but still human readable) in the url fragment, so its shareable, but server never sees it. You can also just download and run, or see the code for "jedahan's first and only Vue app" on https://github.com/jedahan/saltpeanuts#readme , which is the only user guide.
It has not helped my wrangle my time or focus at all.
https://jedahan.com/saltpeanuts/
The data gets serialized (but still human readable) in the url fragment, so its shareable, but server never sees it. You can also just download and run, or see the code for "jedahan's first and only Vue app" on https://github.com/jedahan/saltpeanuts#readme , which is the only user guide.
It has not helped my wrangle my time or focus at all.
I have a personal kanban board. My pain is deciding how many tasks I can work on for a given day.
Somedays I have 5 tasks and I finish them with a few hours left over. Other days, I only managed finished 2 tasks and have to push the left over tasks back into the pool.
Anyone know if there some heuristics I can apply so that I continuously adjust my task loading on a day to day basis?
Somedays I have 5 tasks and I finish them with a few hours left over. Other days, I only managed finished 2 tasks and have to push the left over tasks back into the pool.
Anyone know if there some heuristics I can apply so that I continuously adjust my task loading on a day to day basis?
What sort of tasks are we talking about? If they are cognitively demanding tasks that require uninterrupted focus, plan on getting no more than four hours worth done on an average day. Some people may find it takes practice to get to four hours, some may find that four hours is easy and six is possible.
A single distraction can easily eat up 30 minutes from your allotted time, even if the distraction itself only takes a few minutes.
A single distraction can easily eat up 30 minutes from your allotted time, even if the distraction itself only takes a few minutes.
If you wanted to start using the pomodoro technique, they have some time based heuristics. Basically each pomodoro is 25 minutes of focused work.
After you start the habit, you estimate and track tasks in number of pomodoro. And your goal is to do a certain number of pomodoros in a day and then adjusting your tasks on if you estimate it will take more or less pomodoros.
After you start the habit, you estimate and track tasks in number of pomodoro. And your goal is to do a certain number of pomodoros in a day and then adjusting your tasks on if you estimate it will take more or less pomodoros.
What's the problem on the days where you finish 5 tasks and have hours and energy leftover with using that information to "pull more work"?
Kanban is designed to minimize WIP. When your WIP is down to zero, it's perfectly reasonable to pull more work.
Kanban is designed to minimize WIP. When your WIP is down to zero, it's perfectly reasonable to pull more work.
I don't think there's a valuable heuristic. I would propose to go low (2 tasks in your case) and if you feel extremely motivated do some tasks from the next day (and consequently finish your week early if possible). Leftover time can be filled with hobbies and household to make you a better human being.
Have you tried velocity/capacity planning? It’s not too accurate on small scales, but should be pretty accurate for a single person on the scale of a week or two.
I use a simple text file. It has a list of tasks with a minus or a pluses beside it. If I don’t do a task, it gets moved to the next day and a plus added to it. Eventually the pluses get annoying and I just leave the task as never to to do.
It’s worked out well, if no one ever asks me about the never done task, then I succeeded in not wasting my time. Sometimes people do pop in to ask about it, at which point I simply add a new task, referencing the old one. I don’t even worry about due dates, I just pick things off the todo list, mostly at random. Important things tend to get done early or on time.
It’s worked out well, if no one ever asks me about the never done task, then I succeeded in not wasting my time. Sometimes people do pop in to ask about it, at which point I simply add a new task, referencing the old one. I don’t even worry about due dates, I just pick things off the todo list, mostly at random. Important things tend to get done early or on time.
First they provide a very flexible hierarchy. You can create multiple workspaces with multiple folders and lists of tasks within them, or start with just one space with one list of tasks.
Next you can view a list vertically as a list, or horizontally as a kanban-style board, or as a mind map, or a number of other options.
Third, you can put tasks on a calendar to timebox and arrange the flow of your work.
You can define a set of statuses to apply to the tasks in a lists, and can copy these status arrangements between lists. These define the flow of your work and the columns of your board.
Tasks can have subtasks, and can also contain check lists and comments. Check lists can be converted into substasks. Combinations of folders lists tasks and subtasks can be made into templates to speed the setup of a new project.
There are a number of other features which help to capture info and keep it in one place: Notepad is a quick place to jot something down that can be converted to a task later; Docs is a somewhat wiki-like place to write longer notes; then you can link things to provide the necessary relationships and associations. There are also numerous integrations with other apps to import or export data.
The phone app is pretty good too, including the calendar and kanban views.
Not a paid endorsement, just very enthusiastic about the capabilities of this system and how it can be adapted to suit many different working styles. Thought other productivity-heads might enjoy it! =)
1: https://www.clickup.com