Going back to paper as a task collection system
Sam Phillips, March 22nd, 2009 11:18 pm
Lately I find myself using a lot of paper at work – this is partly because a new PM at a client produces a lot of the stuff and partly because I fancied a change from a lot of notes on computer/iPhone. Let’s face it, there’s not a whole lot more usable than a pen and paper.
Previously I have spurned pen and paper because it feels very messy and can be difficult to keep track of. All of a sudden your centralised task list is split over various scraps of whatever you could lay your hands on at a particular moment, and my Backpack isn’t seeing the stuff it should be.
My new solution is unbelievably simple but still seems to have turned a few heads.
- On any piece of paper, anywhere (spec document, chart, graph, list of tasks), draw an empty circle next to any ‘actionable’ item. What do I mean by ‘actionable’? I mean anything that you would miss if this piece of paper was lost. A lot of notes you make you will never read again; they are just to help you think. For everything that you need to do something on, draw a circle.
- Once the item next to the circle has either been completed or graduated to another list, fill in the cirle.
Yep, that’s it. This means that any piece of paper I may have on my person may have these little circles on them. Once I’m done reading a particular document, or I’m back at my desk, I complete the tasks I can (in five minutes or less, GTD style), and graduate any items that can’t to Backpack. Once the paper has no empty circles, file it or (better) throw it.
This idea is not new by any stretch, and it’s certainly not anything clever, but it does help me keep things in order. The key to it really is the graduation. If you force yourself to keep all pieces of paper with a pending task or piece of information floating around (most likely on your desk), you will quickly go mad.
The other key is to have a ‘buck stops here’ list – that’s what Backpack is perfect for. Its email dropboxes also mean you can add stuff directly to this last-stop list easily. For me, the best thing about the dropboxes is that I can send tasks straight from my phone. This means that whilst I lay awake at night remembering all the stuff I need to do, I can send off a series of emails and turn my mind to other things like going to sleep.
Who knows, maybe Backpack is helping my insomnia!
Oh, and do yourself a favour when trying the pen and paper system – buy a nice pen, nice paper and instigate a recycling bin under your desk.
