Organizational Skills For Today's High Tech World?

arnie_apesacrappin asks: "Being a busy guy in an IT environment, I've noticed that there are quite a few young, technically savvy people that get handed a great deal of responsibility from their employers. A common occurrence, at least in my opinion, is that a young person doesn't always have the organizational skills to keep up with all the facets that a high pressure / high responsibility job brings. Included among the things that I'm considering are job tasks, social life, personal upkeep, money management, etc. It seems that one of these things (or one of many others) falls by the wayside in a person's new role. A feeling of having so many things to do that one doesn't know where to start sets in, which ends up affecting the ability of the individual to finish even simple tasks. So, what I'm asking is, how do you stay organized? I'm not looking for, 'buy a Palm Pilot,' but how people in the Slashdot community keep a handle on things."

A couple of things.

[Lazarus Short]

Here are a few things that I find help me out. As always, your mileage may vary:

• Make a to-do list. It may be obvious to some, but it's amazing how much more organized this one simple step can make you.
• Once you've got your list, whenever possible, work on it in order. Now, if an emergency comes up, you can deal with it of course, but don't keep neglecting that boring job thats been on your list for a week just because the newer project is more interesting. This ties into item 3....
• Don't procrastinate! It will, without fail, cause you more work in the long run. Trust me, I speak from experience on this one.
• Don't be afraid to ask for help if you get overwhelmed. Don't make a habit of trying to foist your responsibilities on someone else, of course, and always be willing to help someone else who needs it, and you'll find that there will be someone willing to give you a hand when you find yourself swamped.

Also, for those of you in college, look into organizational skills workshops put on by your school, as they can really be invaluable resources.

Good Luck!

--

Always a mess

[ishrat]

I have had my work always in a mess. When I had only a few chores to perform even then I'd forget some and procrastinate to damage, and now that I am always tied up doing things, I still forget or procrastinate the same percent of work. So the point here is: it has more to do with life habits rather than the present status of work schedule. I have freinds who seem to do everything with ease and still have time left over. It's the same as in school when you are in the higher class you find work of the lower class simpler and more interesting. Yes the sudden increase in work load does baffle one in the begining but one get used to it soon enough to a level that one is not a nervous wreck, but only somewhat off schedule.

Staying organized.....

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Well, the way I look at it in my position, there a three things that get my direct attention when I get one of those emergency phone call:

1. A student calls with a problem (if it's something I can do quickly, I do it. They do contribute to my paycheck.).

2. Payroll (my paycheck and everyone else's is VERY important. Especially my paycheck!).

3. Purchasing/Business Office (they fund our projects, so they get my attention right away too!).

Everyone else will get their fire put out as soon as I get time for it. If I am doing something for any of the above three areas, the person calling can wait (well, unless it's the president of the college or something!).

Get everything done as soon as you can. I process all requests asap. Even if the due date is 3 days from now, I do it and finish it today if I can.

Re:A couple of things.

[King of the World]

And hugs, don't forget hugs.

In the Age of...

[The Iconoclast]

Palm Pilots and MS Outlook, who needs organizational skills? :-P

Re:As a IT guy with a messy desk..

[compwizrd]

Regarding your last line, that's what a dual or more display is for! i've had times when the icons scroll off onto the second monitor.. sad part is i run my main monitor at 1600x1200.. we're talking something like 250 icons on the main desktop, and a few on the secondary. People at work wonder how i could find anyhting, and then i demonstrate. "ok, file starts with a f." And i start pressing F till it highlights up on the screen.

Ok, to make this ontopic. My desk is the same way, every couple weeks i take a bit of time and try to hide everything that's ugly. There's the Ouija board(white board) up on the wall, although lately it's showing the same dozen or so items. I had a palm pilot at one point, lost the stylus, which was ok, its easier to use the popup keyboard anyways. The palm pilot didn't Didn't really help me, i prefer my internal wet-ware scheduler and calendar. =)

Write Things down!

[krismon]

When the stuff I need to do tend to grow.. I like to..

1. Write tasks down.

2. Remember where you wrote it (a whiteboard by your desk or something)

3. Look at what you wrote down.

4. Prioritize.

5. Do task.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 frequently until the tasks are pretty managable. #2 & #3 are pretty damn important.. I've seen people write stuff down on their palmpilots and not look at it for a month.. heck I've done that.

Prioritization is equally important, do what you can, and what *needs* to get done in the time you have, don't try to do everything all at once--you'll burn out.

Know when to set your input buffer to no-write

[OlympicSponsor]

I multitask well. In fact, I'm not happy if I have only one "average" task to work on. Depending on the difficult of the task, I can generally handle up to about 4. It doesn't often happen that I reach that limit, but when I *do* (or when one task becomes "non-average" to the extent that I have to drop to single-tasking mode) my technique is: Say no. Better yet, don't even be around to ask.

When I am in the above situation, I sit and concentrate, accepting no input from the outside world. Example: I was working on several tasks at once and the CEO came over and asked a question about the documentation. His question indicated that there might be a serious problem--but I was already working on an "emergency". I said "Freeze. Don't touch anything." (he was doing the docs). Half an hour later, after finishing some tasks, saving my state and checking on his problem, I got back to him.

It's all about knowing how much you can handle and then saying "no" to everything else.

If you aren't like me, though, this won't work. What if you work slow on one task at a time? Your boss isn't going to like it if he can give you one task per month and otherwise has to remain silent around you. Then you have to learn how to multi-task (or simulate it).

[rant] Why is it that apparently intelligent people have no understanding of task-switching? Nearly everyone understands that you can't just do tasks in a random order--you need prioritization. But almost no one understands that you need to prioritize by task importance AND task size. For instance, I'm NEVER to busy to answer a question about how to fix the NT server ("reboot it"). Think of yourself as a process--you have to operate quickly, but you also have to avoid blocking other threads. That sometimes means you have to do work that isn't really yours.[/rant]
--
MailOne [openone.com]

Organization Needed in Industry

[clarason]

Well as one of the very few women in the tech field I think I have an advantage because we are supposed to be better at that sort of thing. And I've noticed many, many of my fellow workers are REALLY a mess when it comes to organizing and they seem to decide what to work on first, by who might be yelling the loudest at that particular moment. At one point in my life I simply did not work until I was orgainized. Well, no more. My desk looks like a tornado hit it and my files are piles! But the one thing I still do that saves my butt every time is I sit down first thing (usually when I feel overwhelmed and am not sure what to do) and write a list of every single thing I want to do that day. Usually this list is longer than the day but I write it all down anyway. And you have to write everything..even if it isn't work, like making a doctor appt or anything. Then I number each thing. Sometimes I have to renumber as I remember various things I forgot to add, but the numbering is what saves me. So that is what I recommend because it is easy and fast and works really well. You can even do it with a messy desk. Then you simply work on #1, cross it off, #2, cross it off...etc. Also if you lose this paper later, you can just create your list again. Another thing I had to do was stop checking my email so often. If you just check a few times a day you might save a lot of time too. Some of my fellow techies have gotten so disorganized that they stopped checking their E-mail and that really was a disaster, so you should check it at least once a day.

Organizers

[phutureboy]

Yes, to-do lists are great. I make a new one every morning so I know what I want to accomplish that day.

Also, organize your schedule/contacts/etc in a Daytimer or Palm!

Actually, I prefer the 'Dayrunner' knock-off brand of organizers. The pages are much more user-friendly, and the calendars are organized more sensibly than the genuine Daytimers, which are stuffy and clunky. I don't care for electronic organizers at all, but I know some people do.

Another gadget I find useful is a vertical letter file thingy... I put all my Accounts Payable letters in one of those. Every now and then I'll pull them all out and pay 'em.

--

Have a plan!

[CaptainCap]

For the individual it is the same as the software company: you have to have a plan in order to succeed. Because then you know what is important, and that's the stuff you do. If you have no overall plan you can have everything organized (a la Palm), but the fact is, you can't get it ALL done, anyway. You know that. You can't just have records and lists that you simply prioritize, because if you are any good at what you do, everyone will want to be one of your top priorities. You probably know that, too. I'd always had a plan, uh, sort of. But it didn't come together until I took a Franklin-Covey time-management class and used the Franklin Planner (paper version, the software sucks). I learned about having real, meaningful plans, so that when I choose an action, it gets results that really matter in my life. You can learn a lot about this with the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Steven R. Covey but I'd recommend that you take one of the Franklin-Covey classes. Get your company to send you to the "7 Habits" class, which is fairly expensive. I hope that doesn't seem too preachy or think "oh, that never works." If you are in software, you know that prioritized lists just barely let you keep your sanity, and you really need something more. And most of the people around you, heck entire companies, don't have a clue about getting beyond some endless lists. Yes, I was at a company that send all the executives to some time-management class, and things still remained screwed-up. Don't confuse the ingrained habits of highly INEFFECTIVE people (who constantly missed the cluetrain) with these learnable habits for highly effective people, like you. I manage my time so I have a 40-hour work week, I'm appreciated and rewarded, and still can sneak a peek at slashdot.

Task Management for the Harried...

[JazzManJim]

Well, first off, I'm not yet in the techie world, though I'm working hard on getting hired on as a tech writer. I am, however, a veteran police dispatcher, so I guess I qualify as an expert on time and task management. I've taken a couple classes and have learned some things the hard way. So now that you have my resume, here's what I'd recommend.

• Talk to your immediate boss without delay. Find out from that person what he or she expects frmo you and on what you will be evaluated. Have that person make you a list of what is and is not important and make sure that you have the right from them to refuse things or to place things as a lower priority that aren't on that list.
  
• Make a list of the tasks you have on your plate and priorituze them in the order of the list you were given by your boss. Stick to that list faithfully.
  
• Don't procrastinate on things that should be done, but have no deadline. If you've been given no deadline ona task do one of two things. Either set a deadline yourself, or check with your boss to see if it's actually necessary. If it's not important enough to rate a deadline, it may not need to be done at all.
  
• Stick to your plan. Don't get diverted by things like e-mail and phone calls that aren't urgent. If an urgent thing comes up, make sure your boss knows about it, so you don't get too far off task.
  
• For things like e-mail and non-urgent phone calls, schedule a time or two during the day when you can do them. Get your e-mailing and phone calls done them. It's okay to schedule two times a day, if you want, just as long as it's a specific time.
  

That's about all I can think of to really help manage time and tasks. It's not perfect, but it does help quite a bit, especially when you can get real busy with urgent assignments all at the same time. Just don't forget to gethelp when you need it and keep your boss in the loop.