When you’re adding tasks to whatever task management app you’re using, be sure to add a due date — even if it’s an arbitrary one. Assigning a due date means you will revisit this item, and it won’t live forever at the bottom of a revolving list of higher priority items.
On the due date, you have the option of completing the task, or simply pushing the due date further out, but at least it has been brought to your attention that the task has been around for a while, and still isn’t complete.
Ok, they don’t suck. But they don’t tell the whole story, because items on a to-do list rarely provide context.
For example, take a simple task, which can likely be found on many of your to-do lists, such as “Take out the garbage”. At face value, this seems like a very obvious request. But let’s assume someone is visiting, sees your list on the fridge and wants to lend a hand. Suddenly this seemingly simple task becomes more difficult to execute. Where is the garbage can? Is there more than one? Where does it need to be taken? What day is the garbage collected? What if the bag isn’t full? What about the raccoons?!
The difficulty with most items on to-do lists is that they’re really only meaningful to the person who wrote them. This is because they can fill in the gaps by looking at the task from their perspective, with their experience, and their past knowledge of the situation. As you’ve no doubt experienced, this causes problems when to-do lists are shared within a team, when revisiting an old list of your own, or worse of all, when a list is generated by an outside body, such as a client. Continue Reading
No one likes to generate estimates. They trigger anxiety, frustration, boredom and are usually inaccurate anyway.
At some point in human history, estimates evolved into something more than what they’re intended to be. Perhaps we have shady contractors, auto garages, and wedding planners to thank for the modern perception that billing a client more than the estimated value means someone has been mislead, or taken advantage of. Or, perhaps it’s the fact that generating an accurate estimate is genuinely, extremely difficult — especially given that many estimates are expected to be delivered while there are still many unsolved variables on the slate. Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of the fact that an estimate is really just your best guess, based on a combination of the information available at the time and your experience. Continue Reading
