organization techniques

[ericjon262]

I'm making an attempt to organize my life better, so that hopefully I can accomplish more things, faster, and I was hoping that some of you would share the things that you do.

In the past, my organization for projects was simply to write a bunch of shit on a cardboard box and check stuff off as it got done, however, the cardboard gets lost, dirty, or just plain ignored, and it's not something you can carry around on your person reasonably unless you want to look homeless.

"it's 2023, just use your phone like everyone else"

great idea, however, I already carry my phone, it's already a habit, sure it's convenient, but I almost need something inconvenient to remember to use it. What I ended up with is a 3 ring binder, that I have a few tabs in, some notebook paper, some graph paper, and a few writing utensils, I have tabs for the major projects in my life, and the first page is a "to do list" that summarizes the next step items for each tab.

This seems to be helping me alot, but I'm also open to ideas, or just to hear your thoughts.

[SappySE107]

Dry erase boards and spreadsheets. Also a cork board. For entire car build projects, giant sheets of paper taped to the wall were used to make a list of everything. That's better for a team of people to stay organized.

[pmbrunelle]

I have a word document for my Fiero.

It lists tasks, mostly in chronological order, with some grouping of related tasks.

Later steps could be described in one line; for instance, I could write "paint car", and then as I get closer to doing that large task, I will start breaking it down into smaller tasks.

Fiero List.png (111.29 KiB) Viewed 3197 times

I have no version control; when I make an edit, I save and overwrite the existing file. I don't really need anything more fancy than that.

My house renovations are getting a bit complicated to manage now; I'll do a similar word file for the house.

I store these files on a cloud service.

[ericjon262]

Dry erase boards and spreadsheets. Also a cork board. For entire car build projects, giant sheets of paper taped to the wall were used to make a list of everything. That's better for a team of people to stay organized.

I'm typically working alone, so the team aspect is less important, but a whiteboard in the shop is a great idea, as it lets me outline the day's tasks so my notepad can stay clean(er).

I have a word document for my Fiero.

It lists tasks, mostly in chronological order, with some grouping of related tasks.

Later steps could be described in one line; for instance, I could write "paint car", and then as I get closer to doing that large task, I will start breaking it down into smaller tasks.

Fiero List.png

I have no version control; when I make an edit, I save and overwrite the existing file. I don't really need anything more fancy than that.

My house renovations are getting a bit complicated to manage now; I'll do a similar word file for the house.

I store these files on a cloud service.

This is very similar to my current method, just in a digital format, although I tend to break things down further a bit more randomly, mainly because I'm trying to write down ideas as I have them, otherwise I might forget a potentially great idea.

[pmbrunelle]

I tend to break things down further a bit more randomly, mainly because I'm trying to write down ideas as I have them, otherwise I might forget a potentially great idea.

Initially, I write things down in a disorganised fashion, the priority being not to forget any ideas.

Then, once everything has been noted, then I take the time to clean up the list (including fixing grammar mistakes), and re-order tasks in the way that makes the most sense.

In my previous post, I shared the list in its cleaned-up state.

In the past, I have also done this with paper+pencil (actually, my to-do list at work is paper+pencil), but as project complexity rises, too much time is spent erasing and re-writing (in the clean-up phase), and re-writing everything on a new sheet of paper once every so often.

[ericjon262]

my project complexity is high, but thankfully it doesn't yet surpass good old pen(cil) and paper.

[eHoward]

For lean six sigma, I learned using post it notes on a wall sized sheet of butcher paper. You can move the notes around if you need to change the process or reprioritize. You can use different color notes to represent different workflows. You can take the butcher paper off the wall and roll it up if you need to transport. It seems silly but works surprisingly well.

[ericjon262]

I like that idea for bigger projects, once my shop is a little more in order, I may try and implement that idea.

[The Dark Side of Will]

For lean six sigma, I learned using post it notes on a wall sized sheet of butcher paper. You can move the notes around if you need to change the process or reprioritize. You can use different color notes to represent different workflows. You can take the butcher paper off the wall and roll it up if you need to transport. It seems silly but works surprisingly well.

We do similar things for the R2P2 (Rapid Response Planning Process)/MCPP (Marine Corps Planning Process) operational planning teams. Add some large format transparencies for map overlays and you're golden.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I'm making an attempt to organize my life better, so that hopefully I can accomplish more things, faster, and I was hoping that some of you would share the things that you do.

Life or car projects? Organizing your life better may mean getting rid of car projects.

For a project in general, I try to construct a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) in a Google drive sheet or doc, then pull individual items out of it for weekly ToDo lists in Google Calendar events. I mark each on complete with something like [DONE 12/10] This is a manual process and I'm not super successful at keeping available tasks from all the things I probably *should* be doing in the ToDo lists.

[ericjon262]

I'm making an attempt to organize my life better, so that hopefully I can accomplish more things, faster, and I was hoping that some of you would share the things that you do.

Life or car projects? Organizing your life better may mean getting rid of car projects.

For a project in general, I try to construct a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) in a Google drive sheet or doc, then pull individual items out of it for weekly ToDo lists in Google Calendar events. I mark each on complete with something like [DONE 12/10] This is a manual process and I'm not super successful at keeping available tasks from all the things I probably *should* be doing in the ToDo lists.

Both life and car projects really, thus far, my binder has made getting things done happen much better, and gives myself a better visual on what needs to be done. I don't disagree that getting rid of cars would go a long way for me, but wrenching and developing stuff also brings me happiness in a way most other things can't, but I do need to develop a plan that will actually let me work on them, that is executable.