Similar workflow, except I have 3 lists: TODO, Pending and Done.
"TODO" is actionable items. It's a reorderable stack of work I need to do. Same: interruption pushes a task to the stack, when I finish a task I pop it from the stack, etc. So I always know what to do next.
"Pending" is an unordered list of things I'm awaiting. Say, I asked someone to do something, and they promised they'd get back to me in a few hours (or "by July 20"). I occasionally scan this list to see if some of the items got resolved and I need to continue working in those areas because I'm unblocked.
"Done" is a list of items I completed for the day, all finished items go there. I then copy the entire list to the time tracker (for the PMs) at the end of the day.
However, I organize files by day, not by task. Each day I create a new file for the day by copying the lists of the previous day's file minus the DONE list. I don't modify lists for previous days, so it's kind of an append-only log so I can see what was the state for any particular day. 1 file per day is easy to see as a whole as it mostly fits in one screen (and inside my working memory). I use plain text files because I found it much simpler to use, I don't have to install any software, it just works, and it's easily searchable.
I've been using this system for the last 6 years now and it served me well.
I started this a few months ago and find that my TODO grows faster than it depletes. My TODO items are both professional items (i.e. implement feature x) and personal (i.e. fix bike chain). The list is items that will take some non-trivial effort.
I now find that when I have a moment to do something, I pick it off of the TODO list and complete it. Prior to this technique, I did not have a list of this nature and some items never got completed.
I feel incredibly productive with my current setup. However, I don't feel as though my previous system was unproductive and am concerned that I'm "spinning my wheels" by feeling like I need to complete these tasks that went unfinished before.
Have you experienced this? Do you know how to best think about what is optimal?
> However, I organize files by day, not by task. Each day I create a new file for the day by copying the lists of the previous day's file minus the DONE list. I don't modify lists for previous days, so it's kind of an append-only log so I can see what was the state for any particular day. 1 file per day is easy to see as a whole as it mostly fits in one screen (and inside my working memory). I use plain text files because I found it much simpler to use, I don't have to install any software, it just works, and it's easily searchable.
For my working files I use a similar system except I separate at least Months, often Weeks, and sometimes Days into subheadings for easy time tracking of tasks on various time partitions.
So when I need to start a new heading for a new day, I just move all the incomplete TODO items into it, similar to you moving them into a new file.
Occasionally I manually archive the completed tasks into files by year with headings by month only when I no longer need their full granularity.
"TODO" is actionable items. It's a reorderable stack of work I need to do. Same: interruption pushes a task to the stack, when I finish a task I pop it from the stack, etc. So I always know what to do next.
"Pending" is an unordered list of things I'm awaiting. Say, I asked someone to do something, and they promised they'd get back to me in a few hours (or "by July 20"). I occasionally scan this list to see if some of the items got resolved and I need to continue working in those areas because I'm unblocked.
"Done" is a list of items I completed for the day, all finished items go there. I then copy the entire list to the time tracker (for the PMs) at the end of the day.
However, I organize files by day, not by task. Each day I create a new file for the day by copying the lists of the previous day's file minus the DONE list. I don't modify lists for previous days, so it's kind of an append-only log so I can see what was the state for any particular day. 1 file per day is easy to see as a whole as it mostly fits in one screen (and inside my working memory). I use plain text files because I found it much simpler to use, I don't have to install any software, it just works, and it's easily searchable.
I've been using this system for the last 6 years now and it served me well.