Personal organizationGabriel Csergő

Ordinary day… at home

You wake up late on a Monday morning as you forgot to set the alarm the night before.

It was an “interesting” TV talk show about dogs on the street and authorities not doing anything about it.

And you fell asleep on the couch after eating too muchchips and drinking tomato juice (you don’t even like it).

As in the past, you forgot to make sure there is good food for the evening and it was too late to order some by the time you got hungry at 10pm.

Actually, you wanted to see a nice movie recommended by a friend, but you forgot the name of it and it was too lateto make a call.

Internet connection was down as nobody paid the last bill.

Your credit card was in the wallet forgotten in the jacket left on your car’s backseat.

Of course, the car had been parked at your friend’s house. It took a while to figure this out.

Ordinary day… at work (1/2)

You get into the office and head directly to the

meeting room for the Scrum started 10 minutes ago.

Another meeting is in the room so you lose a few

more minutes to get to the right one. Apparently you

missed the e-mail announcing the change. You arrive

at the end and start asking colleagues about what

they discussed to catch up, but still missed some

important info.

You get to your desk and start with Facebook, many

things happened since your last check on Friday

Ordinary day… at work (2/2)

Your TL waits for you to check-in the work did last week so

a new build could be made. In the mean time you verify

your e-mail – 10 new. Latest one is a newsletter and you

open two links. Meanwhile, your manager asks you on

Skype about your timesheet for last week that you didn’t

send on Friday. Your younger brother contacts you on

Messenger while the colleague next to you has a good

laugh on a cool YouTube video. You go to check it out and

then together you go to the kitchen to get some tea.

You suddenly remember the timesheet and go back to fill it

in. Of course, you bother two colleagues about the code

to be used for last Tuesday’s meeting. Your mobile starts

ringing, it’s your mother – there’s a big issue with Solitaire.

You’re stuck for 20 minutes!

Why personal organization? (1/5)

World of multi tasking:

Why personal organization? (2/5)

People can reach us on many different

channels:

Why personal organization? (3/5)

Complete a task

Think about other things

New ideas

We forget…

Stressed

Prioritize in our head

We forget…

New work

We forget…

Why personal organization? (4/5)

We are busy and we get a lot of distractions

Why personal organization? (5/5)

It is very important for growing in your career!

Being on time

Preparing meetings ahead

Providing input/feedback

for recurrent reports/activities

Record everything you need to do

Use a notebook or an application (PC, phone)

Manage incoming tasks (1/2)

First of all you need to decide how often you

can receive new tasks

E-mail – always open vs checked from time to

time

What about Skype, Lync etc?

Do you always answer your phone?

Do you allow colleagues to interrupt you?

Manage incoming tasks (2/2)

Multitasking is not efficient, focus is the key!

hide taskbar, work full screen

stop notifications

use silent mode

make appointments

use a meeting room etc.

Getting Things Done (GTD) workflow

Applying GTD workflow for e-mail

Empty inbox – prerequisite!

Inbox - a collection of new incoming work

Read e-mail from time to time

Create folders: Actions, Waiting, Reference, Projects

Reference – store it if needed later or Delete

Quick things should be done on the spot – short reply, forward, check

Delegate – move mail in Waiting

Defer – Move to Actions or Make an appointment in Calendar

Create Project if it requires more actions

How to use your Calendar

Add all recurring activities

Add activities that usually are related to other

tasks/actions:

Add planned actions and reviews

Leave windows of unallocated time for review

incoming work, for unexpected things, to

move forward on list of Next actions

Projects

If multi step, it is a project

Index of projects - keep same structure in e-

mail, notes, files

Make note of how you will know it is complete

What are the next 1-2 actions that will move it

forward

Disruptions

Before starting a difficult task,

move disruptions away

Clean your desk, focus on current work

Close or Stop notifications for Outlook, Skype,

Yahoo!, Facebook etc.

Go to a quite place or use a headset (silence

or classical baroque music)

You may inform colleagues

your are really busy

Dealing with Interruptions

Reviews

Review of incoming work

Review of projects

Review of the week

Review of the day

Review of your career (i.e. 6m)

Checklists

An example: Vacation preparation

Get project approval for specific period

Get manager approval for specific period

Make request – paper/ system (if needed)

Inform colleagues & client

Check recurring activities in Calendar for the

vacation period (i.e. make TS in advance)

Set-up Out of Office reply

Plan your vacation

Links and books

David Allen, Getting Things Done® and

GTD® - www.davidco.com

Getting Things Done, David Allen

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,

Stephen R. Covey

Questions?

Thank you!

Feel free to contact me:

csergogaby@yahoo.com

ro.linkedin.com/in/gabrielcsergo/