"do the most important tasks first then, if you have time, do some less important tasks"
yes; this is of crucial importance and even though it might be obvious to you; it is often not obvious to other people. As well - often tasks have vague importance. Where it might be hard to say which one is more important. In cases where the super important website deployment and some less important tasks are on the list, definitely it's easy to see the super-important thing taking precedent. but in cases where you need to choose between groceries, going for a walk, and checking facebook - it might be harder to decide. In that case - consider the task that can most easily be cut off. for example; it's can be harder to cut "a walk" in half because you might be halfway home. But it could be easier to cut groceries in half by only buying some of the groceries and rushing around the store.
Original post: http://bearlamp.com.au/time-management-and-do-your-tasks-in-a-different-order/
I have been trying out some (new for me) time management techniques. Various people tell me that they do this naturally, but I had to learn it manually.
This one involves:
In a worked example:
Total: 3hrs 25mins + facebook time.
In this example; if my facebook time takes 35mins I have literally no wiggle room on my estimates. But more importantly - if I do my facebook time first - and then fail to stop at 35mins, it means that I will either be running late for the rest of the day OR I will have to cut something short. The old me would probably cut the last task in the list short. Which might mean running late to the appointment, and it might mean not finishing writing a post on that day, and leaving it as a draft.
Recently I have been trying out a new factor on this system. To change the order of the tasks. Some tasks have fixed lengths in time. Some tasks are more flexible. For example, the amount of time it takes to shower and get ready is relatively fixed in time. However the amount of time it takes to write a post can vary extensively.
With this in mind, I will change the order of the tasks. Where I used to have a shower last, just as I am rushing out - so that I am fresh clean and ready for a meeting (a great idea if I do say so myself). I will now do something like this:
Or even:
Do the fixed tasks all in a row and then do the flexible tasks last. This means I might have got to my appointment 65 minutes early in the 2nd order, or 35 minutes early in order 1, and worked there on the FB or email.
This also means that if any task has to get cut, truncated or shortened due to a failure of myself to account for time, or some blip happening, like traffic, difficulty finding parking, a blog post taking longer to write or any number of other possibilities - The least important task (of checking facebook) gets cut. Not one of the more important ones.
Today is not a day to work on cutting down or cutting out of facebook, or sending strategic emails that reduce my email workload. Today is just a day to do things in a different order. See how that goes, and make incremental progress on the problem.
Meta: this took 21 minutes to write and I am nearly running late to my next appointment.
Cross posted to lesswrong: