In the previous posts we covered topics related to event scheduling and getting on top of your communication channels. In this post we will continue with building our productivity system. Today we will talk about Task Management. Just for reference, our productivity system series of posts will cover all the topics listed below:
- Calendar app
- Communications app (email, slack, teams)
- Task management app
- Note taking app
- Cloud storage (file management system)
Task management is a big topic in the productivity community, and in my case it is central to my productivity system. Again, I will give you a short overview of tools and I will tell you what I use, but the focus will be on the techniques and needed features rather then the specific piece of software that you should use.
Let’s start with what the task management application should be used for. Well, everyone is different and there are so many different suggestions that you might get from different people. And the best and at the same time worst suggestion is to use it the way it fits your life and your needs. I am saying that this is the best suggestion because everyone Is different and everyone’s job description is different. We all wear different hats and approach those responsibilities differently. However, you would not be reading this post if you did not want me to share my opinion on the topic, and to potentially incorporate some of my experience into your workflow. But make sure to only take the parts that you think will work for you. And don’t worry, you can always try things out and ditch them if you realize that they don’t serve the purpose. Ok, I wrote a whole paragraph without saying anything, so let’s go now. I use my task management application for everything. Let me break it down. First, it is my main inbox. Whenever I think of a new idea I quickly input it into my task managers inbox section. If I talk to somebody and they give me a task, I will put it into my Task management inbox. If I receive an email that requires me to do some work, it goes into my task management inbox.
I think you already guessed it, I am a big believer in the GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology, so the first step is to capture. The next step in the GTD methodoly is to clarify. Clarifying means deciding whether the items that you collected in your inbox are actionable or not. If they are, you should probably expand them by using verbs defining the action. For example, don’t write a task title: “Call Jim”. This task does not tell you why to call Jim and what to discuss. If it is going to be a simple chat, then ok. But if you need to discuss a certain topic and get some information from Jim, the title should be: “Call Jim and ask him about XYZ.” If the item is not actionable, decide whether you want to save it as a reference, put it on hold for later or simply trash it.
The next step is to organize the item. This includes assigning the task to a project and schedule it for later. Once everything is nicely organized in your task management system, you just have to make sure to frequently review your system. People often forget this step, but it is as important as setting it up in the first place. If you don’t review your projects and schedule frequently, you start loosing trust in the system. Once you can’t trust the system fully, you start relying on your memory to remember tasks and your mind gets cluttered again. Therefore, I suggest a weekly review that involves the following steps:
1. Process your task management inbox
2. Review all projects
3. Review your note taking system
4. Clear your email inbox
5. Review upcoming events in calendar
This review process usually takes me 10 minutes every week. I tend to do it on Fridays to make sure that I will not think about the upcoming week during the weekend.
So what are the must have features of a task management application? Simply, it should allow you to perform all tasks mentioned above. Let me break it down for you:
1. You should be able to easily capture tasks (look into quick capture shortcuts from Todoist, Things 3 and Omnifocus);
2. You should be able to organize your tasks in projects and areas (almost all modern task management applications allow you to do this);
3. Being able to forward emails to your task management system is a nice to have feature.
I personally use Todoist, and it allows me to follow all the abovementiones steps. In one of my next posts I will share my todoist workflow with examples of how information flows through my task managements system.
Until then, stay safe and be productive. :-)
