Hi Patricio, It sounds like you're kind of referring to time blocking - but not exactly. I don't think there's any tool that addresses exactly what you're talking about in the time-life-productivity balance problem because, let's face it, it's an abstract problem that's just not easily solved. Although, I've come across a tool called "ManicTime" that is really helping me track where my time goes through the day - but it's really just a historical view of what already happened.
I've recently been thinking through the research that says we only do "focus work" about 3 hours per day. Focus work is defined as producing something. So not email, surfing, calls, etc. That means a great deal more of our time is spent on things that would not necessarily be considered productive as is being spent on things that are productive. The way I've come to look at it is we have a lot of busy-work that's necessary before we can get to the focus work. But the focus work is all that really matters. On Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 9:03:55 PM UTC-8 Patricio Carranza wrote: > Hi Dwight, > > Thanks a lot for taking the time to share your thoughts. > > Interesting enough Project Management tools (which I've been using for > more than 3 decades) don't really align to what I'm describing here. Let me > explain it. > > See, the paradigm I'm describing is about enabling you to work at the > intersection of your available time and your areas of life and/or roles and > the goals & projects under them. In practical terms (hope this helps gets > the idea), you would be able to do the following: > > *Time Allocation Across Life's Roles and Areas* > > 1. set the areas of your life and/or roles (more or less supported by > MLO) > 2. set goals and/or projects and tasks to achieve those goals (totally > supported by MLO) > 3. provide the ability to place any of your tasks of your backlog in a > calendar view (like you would do in Google calendar or Outlook). Editing > the task start date/time and end date/time in the calendar will in turn > adjust that info in your backlog (supported by MLO through sync with > Google > calendar) > 4. Show you (ideally a visual) report where you can see at least the > following views: > 1. % of the total time allocated by areas of life, roles, > goals/projects, etc. For example, 40 hours allocated in total, 30% to > personal stuff, 30% to professional related stuff, 40% to family > 2. % of the total time available for a given window of time you > select (for example look at the next week, or look at the next month, > or > look at the next 3 months) by similar dimensions. > 3. similar to 1 and 2 but in amount of hours (instead of %) > 4. Remaining effort of tasks/projects vs allocated time > 5. Now I can look at the info in #4 and check: > 1. am I allocating my time in the way I really want in alignment > with my personal goals? For example, I want to be 30% in professional > development not 10%, etc > 2. identify projects / tasks that I should simply put on hold since > I don't still have enough time to allocate (at the current pace it > would > take me forever to complete, etc) > 6. Repeat 3, 4 and 5 until it's 'optimal enough' > > *Planning Our Time Effectively* > > Now, I can simply use the standard functionality of a calendar, like > Google calendar (leveraging that MLO sync up with Google Calendar), and do > some basic checks: > > > 1. Do the following days, weeks, months, etc, etc look realistic in > terms of being able to do what I just planned for? Should I do any > adjustment? Then I can adjust from the calendar view which in turn will > adjust my tasks (current functionality in MLO through sync with Google > Calendar) > > Not to mention the potential benefits of introducing the ability (e.g. if > the calendar view functionality existed within the app e.g. MLO) to filter > the calendar view by tasks attributes (e.g. context, flags, etc, etc) So > for example I could apply a filter to only see those tasks in my calendar > related with area of life ABC or project XYZ, etc, etc. > > > > *Adherence to Planned Time * > > Finally, and a bit more 'nice to have' and of course at the expense of > tracking what tasks you are working on at any point in time, or at minimum > mark if you work or not in a plan task: introduce the ability to do > comparison between plan vs actual. > > This is all about answering the question, am I executing in accordance > with my plan? Am I planning too aggressively? etc, etc > > > I'm not saying these capabilities fall or not in the scope of a task > management tool, I'm not debating that, not looking to have a theoretical > debate of what type of tool should support this. What I'm simply saying is > that I think we work with sophisticated yet really 'disconnected' tools > which IMHO really miss the key point we need support for which is true time > and goals achievement management in a connected fashion. > > Simply put, I think we have great task management / ToDos management > tools, we have good enough calendar management tools (like Outlook calendar > or Google calendar) but we really lack functionality (I'm talking in > general not just MLO or any other tool) that connects and centers on their > intersection enabling people to intelligently manage their time. > > Supporting what I describe here doesn't necessarily imply sophisticated > capabilities. As with anything, there could be a basic version or MVP, a > more complete one, an advanced one, etc, etc. > > Thanks again! > > Patricio. > > > > > On Sun, Feb 11, 2024 at 12:53 AM Dwight Arthur <mlod...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi, Patricio >> >> I believe that you are describing project management tools. Project >> management tools and task management tools have many similarities. Project >> management tools are more powerful and take more time to set up and >> maintain. If you can afford to hire someone to track your time, update >> every task every day to reflect additional time spent, revise estimated >> resources per task as needed, and research and code all the inter-task >> dependencies then you may be ready for a project management tool. Maybe you >> can do all of that yourself in which case I salute you. I tried it before I >> found MLO and I found that I was spending more time on managing my projects >> than I was spending on getting them done. >> >> One of the things that a good project management tool will do for you is >> to identify the critical path, which is to say, out of all of the tasks >> available for you to work on right now, which is the one that is most >> holding up other tasks? The idea is that by throwing resources at the tasks >> on the critical path you can complete your project sooner. >> >> Here is a helpful guide to some current project management tools: >> https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-project-management-software >> >> I have not tried any of these tools, my experience was with a prior >> generation. Maybe today's tools are enough better that what you want to do >> is feasible with them. But for me, a task management tool is what I need. >> More powerful is not always better. Managing tasks with a project manager >> sometimes felt to me like trying to spread jam on my toast using a chain >> saw. >> -Dwight >> >> On 2/10/2024 2:32 PM, Patricio Carranza wrote: >> >> Hi MLO Community! >> >> I hope this message finds you well. Today, I'd like to share an insight >> that recently crystallized for me, something that has been on my mind and >> challenging me for quite some time. I believe I've finally managed to >> articulate a fundamental aspect of personal task management that we could >> all benefit from discussing. >> >> At its core, managing personal tasks is fundamentally about managing our >> most precious resources: time (and energy, health and money too...). >> However, for the purposes of this discussion, let's focus on time >> management. >> >> Many of us use tools like MyLifeOrganized (MLO) to manage our tasks. MLO, >> for example, offers an impressive array of features that enable the >> creation and management of a sophisticated system for tracking tasks, to-do >> items, and even entire projects. It allows for the specification of task >> duration, priority, urgency, and supports an almost limitless hierarchy of >> task categorization. >> >> Despite these capabilities, a crucial question arises: what real value do >> these features offer if they don't simplify critical aspects of time >> management? Specifically: >> >> *Time Allocation Across Life's Roles and Areas*: How can we easily >> visualize and adjust our time distribution across different areas of our >> lives, roles, projects, or goals to ensure it aligns with our current >> ambitions and priorities? >> >> *Planning Our Time Effectively*: How can we plan our days, weeks, and >> months in a way that is realistic and flexible, ensuring that we don't >> overload ourselves with more tasks than we can handle in the available time? >> >> *Adherence to Planned Time*: What mechanisms do we have to track our >> actual time spent on tasks compared to our plans, enabling a thorough plan >> vs. action analysis? >> >> While there are workarounds and methods to achieve some of these >> objectives within existing applications, they often feel like makeshift >> solutions rather than integrated, purpose-built features. >> >> I believe there's an opportunity for us to discuss and perhaps envision >> enhancements or new tools that more directly address these fundamental >> aspects of personal task management. How can we better integrate time >> management into our task management applications to truly support our goals >> and improve our productivity and satisfaction? >> >> I'm eager to hear your thoughts and any experiences you might share on >> this topic. Together, we can explore ways to make our task management tools >> work even harder for us. >> >> Patricio. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MyLifeOrganized" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to mylifeorganiz...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/7a71f960-fe07-4347-847c-0f87070b23a1n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/7a71f960-fe07-4347-847c-0f87070b23a1n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> >> -- >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >> Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. >> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/mylifeorganized/s7dARG8r7bg/unsubscribe >> . >> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >> mylifeorganiz...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/257fd885-e11c-4dfa-8548-e815e44d84c5%40gmail.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/257fd885-e11c-4dfa-8548-e815e44d84c5%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. 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