I‘m an unabashed fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, of productivity sites like 43folders, of books like Time Management for System Administrators.
Like a lot of people out there, I find myself implementing bits and pieces of some of these systems; whether from laziness, utility, impatience, or some combination thereof. One of the things I’ve found to work well is simply making better lists.
By “better”, I guess I just mean simpler. Everything that needs to be done that day goes on the list, but only “task” oriented items; no projects. Those need to go somewhere else, and the most I’d mark on the “to-do” list is “see project x” or something.
I usually try to use a planner, but occasionally I just use a piece of paper; I write down what I need to do, give it a rough prioritization, and apply some common sense to it. Basically, what I’m doing is the absolute minimum amount of planning necessary to get my work done for the day.
There are a lot of things for which this would not work as well; longer term projects, for example, would need to be planned in a little more structured way. But for implementing some time management, without completely overhauling the way you do everything (though that’s a good idea, sometimes), doing “just enough” planning has proved a lot better than just winging it.
