Comments on: Why To-do Lists Suck

By: Adam Prall

Adam Prall — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:38:02 +0000

No, I think Adam (not me m the author, dummy) is writing not so much about the viability of the task list, but actually the semantic meaning of it and how it should really be structured. It seems like a lot of my programming life is spent writing computers and people what are, essentially, extremely fancy task lists.

By: Gerry Kirk

Gerry Kirk — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:57:02 +0000

Heh the formal meeting monster rears its ugly head. The more formal a conversation has to be, the more overhead incurred. Sometimes that cost is justified by saving precious execution time later, others times not.

Agreed there is a balance in there some where. Creating space for quick chats with low overhead, at the time when info is needed can be a huge productivity boost.

I’ve seen success with working agreements that state when people agree to work together. Clients agree to be available via direct conversation, either phone, Skype and/or a team chat room. Team members agree to work together during a fixed period of time.

Look forward to more of your thoughts. Wish I could notifications of comment replies…

By: Thody

Thody — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:45:08 +0000

Gerry: The problem with conversation has nothing to do with being old-fashioned. The ability to have a conversation assumes that the task creator is available when you need the information (or at all).

Also, in reality a two minute conversation costs more than than two minutes of productivity. Assuming it’s even possible to come to a resolution in two minutes, you can not discount that enabling a conversation often requires finding a mutually agreeable time to talk, exchanging pleasantries, as well as the non-trivial expense of interrupting your workflow. Then this cost is multiplied by the number of people required on the call. A two minute conversation can easily represent 10-15 minutes of combined lost productivity. If these conversations need to be had on a regular basis as you work through your list it becomes a major issue.

You are correct, having too much information too soon is not a good use of time (this is a time saving measure after all). However, not having the right information when it comes time to execute a task is extremely detrimental to productivity. Balance must be found.

By: Gerry Kirk

Gerry Kirk — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:24:25 +0000

Is a 2 min conversation with the person who needs the work done too old fashioned? The problem with writing everything down is a) often more effort than benefit b) still easy to misinterpret c) you won’t think of everything that needs to be communicated.

The other issue is too many items on the list. Only so much can be done, yet we talk about stuff a mile long even if there is a chance we might not get to it for a long while, if at all.

One thing that is worth writing down is the expected result. So what does it mean for the garbage to be taken out? There one could state on what day, where it should go and at what time.

My experience is todo lists, and other means of specifying requirements work best as the start, not the end of the conversation. As long as the person doesn’t have 100 other tasks to juggle, and can do the job in the near future, then talk is indeed cheap and efficient.