Task Management Strategy/Methodology

Need a task management strategy?Looking for a way to manage an ever growing number of tasks on a tasklist?

Below we give you a few guidelines on how to manage and prioritise tasks aiming to give you some tips on being efficient with tasks. A todo list can become a daunting thing but it need no be if the tasks are managed in an ordered way.

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Review And Prioritise, Instigate and Depute.

There are several situations you might find yourself in;

• Sometimes, it might be you have nothing to do lined up, yet;
• Sometimes, it might be you have just one thing to do;
• Sometimes, you may have multiple tasks all waiting to be started;

If you have many things stacked up you might not be able to remember them all. So you need to create a todo listto remember and then manage all those tasks with a task management strategy.

The todo list, is not just a list, it does not make itself, you will be adding into it (and maybe others if you are sharing lists) with the future in mind, that fact alone means the list will be full of useful insights ready for when you come to review it and employ your desired task management strategy.

You may be entering tasks into a to-do list on a regular basis, and there may be many tasks, so it is important you try to enter as much information about the task as you can at the time you enter it as because of other priorities you might not come back to that task for a while.

Upbringing, personality type, situation, age determines which of these types of task will bring you most gratification on completing the task. No one task management strategy is going to work in all circumstances but below we go though some of the considerations you may want to employ.

You will want to complete as many tasks as you can from that list. What is the best task management strategy for employing?

Review And Prioritise;

Review

Its pretty easy to review your list of outstanding tasks, just look though them, and ensure they are all the things you believe you need to do.

If there are tasks there that look like they are going to take a long time or look daunting, then, if you want to make sure this gets started, it is important you split out at least the first things that need to happen on that task into smaller bite size chunks and ensure the early stages get a high priority.

If there is an entry with not much information, or where the information could be read in different ways, then attach more information or make it clearer.

Review your tasks in a quiet period, for example waiting in a queue and bored, take some time to review your tasks, for example, need to do something else for a while to reset your brain, take some time to review your tasks.

And Prioritise

Prioritising is not a simple process and it is a process you need to get right.

Factors used to assess priority are multiple; Whose priority is it? Is it an easy or a hard/complex task; Is the required timescale to complete a short time or a long time; Are the costs involved small or large (in terms of time or money) in terms of the benefit to be achieved by completing the task?; Is the priority likely to change tomorrow?.

The rule of thumb is, you should target your attention on what you, other others you are linked to, want for "tomorrow" (which could be today/tomorrow, or wherever your "tomorrow" lies).

Based on that, here are the various categories and how you might prioritise them on a first pass;

• Important and must be done now; Priority 1
• Important and must be done (You can and should of course do it now); Priority 2
• Not so important but should be done if possible; Priority 3
• Not so important and no need to do immediately; Priorities 4 to 9
• Not useful, just nice; Remove

If you ask yourself, how do I prioritise tasks;

Some considerations on prioritisation;

For your outstanding tasks, you should ensure a good mix of the below are near the top of your list;

• There will be tasks you want to do (Whether you are responsible or not);
• There will be tasks, that are valid, but you don't want to do them, but feel responsible to do;
• There will be tasks which are a mixture of, or are half way in between the above two;
• Get others opinions on your priorities pers/managers/spouse they will have useful alternative opinions.

Those ones you don't want to do, consider them and ask are they the ones holding something back, if they are, do them and get them out of the way as quickly as you can. But do them, or they will linger and cuase a negative impact in terms of the other tasks being completed.
Some other considerations on priority;

• Are you being paid to do the task, and that money is useful to you or others. Then just do it.
• Will, not doing it, make you, or someone else feel bad. Then probably just do it.
• All other jobs, its up to you if/when you do them.
• Priorities change quite often. A high priority today may change to low, "tomorrow", a low priority from "tomorrow" may become high today.

A note for yourself, there will be more high priorities from today that will be reduced in priority tomorrow than low priorities that become high, so don't take immediate action on a high priority just because it is high priority, use your judgement on what everyone want's to achieve.

Never get pressured thinking you have too many items in your to do list. There is only an issue if you have too many things to do now, or today, in which case you have not reviewed and prioritised correctly, for example by not giving yourself enough time, or you genuinely have too much to do, where if that is the case you need to then continue to review and get rid of any obstacles before continuing completing any further tasks (i.e. make your first priority to resolve the fact you have too many things to do in too little time).

Instigate and Deliver;

Instigate

Once you have prioritised, as much as possible, one by one, complete the tasks in priority order. Making sure, as much as possible, that you complete the task you are attempting to complete.

Certain tasks will be of more interest to you at certain times, try to ignore that, unless you are tired, and work on priority items, this is easier to say/write than to actually do.
Studies have shown that taking short mental breaks during lengthy tasks will boost your productivity. Have a stroll or a cup of tea every now and then.
Don't become destracted and ensure you focus on the job at hand. Turn off your emails.
Reward yourself when the task has been completed.
The best time to tackle the task will be the morning, remember that.

Depute/Deliver;

Try not to be distracted by other tasks and try to complete the task you are performing before moving onto the next task.
Where comfortable you should employ task delegation.

Whether you or another are doing the task, some more considerations for a task management strategy;

Always include smaller, interesting, things on your list that you might want to do when you are bored, and only do them when you are bored.

Be sure to keep to the priorities. If you are at a point where the you feel you cannot, then knock of some off the smaller tasks whatever priority they are. Always ensure there are tasks on your list with some element of self learning whatever priority you give them.

At any time, you might be doing tasks from the list, or might be taking a rest. Taking a rest is a good thing, it allows your creative side to flourish. Some of the most insightful tasks that you might add to your list come when you are having a rest so make sure you have these breaks.

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