Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Why Managers Should Study “I Love Lucy,” Kill Their To-Do Lists, And Get Zen
Fast Company: Jim Benson is the developer of a way of visualizing work called "personal kanban," and the co-author of a book on the subject. We caught up with Benson to learn more about workflow, "I Love Lucy," and how being nice is good business.
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8 comments:
I'm not sure I agree with this article. The article is saying to get rid of To-Do Lists because they are too high stress, which ends up lessening your productivity. I disagree. My To-Do List heightens my productivity, because I can see everything I need to accomplish, including a breakdown of every part of a project, and when those pieces of the whole need to be done. In order to relieve my stress, I over-organize rather than letting things go and taking on the "zen" attitude.
Another point that can be made against this article is that theater is a high-stress industry. We have hard deadlines that have to be met, and sometimes those deadlines are all on top of one another. Does that mean we shouldn't keep track of what projects we have and when they're due? No, it means the opposite. You need to be able handle the amount of stress that will be thrown at you in the industry. If someone can't handle the stress, maybe this isn't the right place for that person.
And anyway, who says To-Do Lists can't be "zen"?
I completely agree with Jess. My to-do list helps me organize and feel in control of what I am doing and need to do. I think having the 3 columns, especially the 'done' one would only serve to clutter my list and cause me to feel more pressured. Having one to-do list that I cross things off of once they are done, makes me feel like I make progress and then don't need to acknowledge again unless there is another step. Similarly, I think a 'zen' attitude can lead to letting things slip through the cracks.
In the end it does come down to how a certain individual works. Some people do better at the last minute than in advance, and others do better when their bosses are strict than when they try to be their friends. Also, if I remember correctly the reason their boss says that they'll get fired is because they had been screwing up everywhere else and this was their last chance.
Well yes, I do agree that you should only do what you have time to do. I think that this as a philosophy is really great, but in actual practice I don't know exactly how it would work. I do a combination of a to do list and this process, I first look at everything I have to do for the week and then make a schedule of what I can achieve on what days. Also I think this philosophy is a little ridiculous because at some places you can't really say no to work. And it all has to be done right now. At least that's how school feels most of the time.
I agree with both of the above comments. Almost every single day, I make my to-do list and write out even the mundane things I need to do on there (such as cleaning dishes) along with more important projects (finish dimensioning drafting). That is simply the best method of organization and prioritizing that I know and will use. It is such an accomplishment to make that list at 9am, and then by 10pm see almost everything crossed off. There are times where I've put more stuff on my to-do list than I can accomplish for that day, and it's a little bit of a bummer, but it doesn't create more stress, it's just an indication to me that I need to better analyze the time that I'll have for the day and what I can get done in that time. Working in theatre, there are definite deadlines, and to-do lists work well with deadlines. Maybe in the corporate business world to-do lists don't work well, but in theatre, they are the backbone of mine, the previous commenters, and many others method of organization.
This article isn’t necessarily saying that we ought to get rid of to-do lists altogether; it is merely suggesting that we reorganize them slightly. Separating a to-do list into three columns entitled ready, doing, and done is really just a more blatant way of portraying something most of us already do anyway. The ready column is the list of all major projects coming up, which for most of us means that it is quite long and overwhelming. This necessitates daily to-do lists that contain the tasks that must be accomplished each day in order to complete long-term projects in a timely manner. In the three-column method that this article suggests, the daily to-do list is the “doing” column. The done column gives the user the same satisfaction as the X’s or check marks on a normal to-do list. Being able to see what has already been accomplished gives the user a way of assessing their time management and a sense of satisfaction that can be channeled toward even greater productivity. Like Zoe, I create a list of everything that has to be done each week, and then break those tasks down by day to ensure that everything is spread out as equally as possible and I am overburdening myself as little as possible.
I agree with Meg on that this author is not saying to get rid of to-do lists, but saying there's a way to make a to-do list work better for you. What Jim Benson is saying is not much different from what David Allen says about to-do lists in his book "Getting Things Done"- there are ways to organize your to-do lists so that you are not overwhelmed and so that you can clearly assess your priorities as well as what possible work can be done in a given situation.
I agree with Zoe that Benson's ideas are all great in theory, but possibly not great in practice. The kanban idea is great- if you have the availability and opportunity to limit the amount of tasks that need to be focused on at one time, then you should absolutely do it. I know that I, personally, would get a lot of my work done faster if I wasn't so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work and other things I have to handle. If those things were not on my plate, or if I re-organized my to-do list in a way that sections things off better, I may be able to be less overwhelmed and therefore work more quickly and productively.
There are a lot of strong feelings here about to-do lists. First off I want to say, the article itself is making no suggestion about how we need to go about our work. It is an interview with a man that has a different type of system. The interviewee has a system Ready,Doing,Done that may work for his company.
I love that the comments here are people that are so attached to their to-do list. Is it not possible that this guy’s idea could be helpful? Maybe we do take on too much work. Zoe, why can't we say no to work? I need more info about this system before I can truly understand if it could fit into my world. The interview ends abruptly; I wanted more nuts and bolts.
Either way I agree with Jess's closing argument...Why can't To-Do Lists be Zen?
I really like the idea of changing to-do lists to having three different sections. It is true that my to-do list that I use 'Remember The Milk' to manage it does tend to build up rather than make me feel like the work is getting done efficiently. Having a "doing" column would be very useful to have. I do not agree that there should be no more than three items, though. The is nearly impossible considering that is a third of the amount of classes I have, but it is a good idea to have a relative limit of things to make sure I do not over commit myself. To-Do lists are great because they ensure nothing slips through the cracks, but having a limit could be a nice guideline for making sure you are not over-committed.
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