thanks for sharing Mark.Yes, I agree with you in the end it's mainly or mostly about the focus time / work.
On Sun, Feb 11, 2024 at 10:06 PM Mark R <markaruzi...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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 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 > mylifeorganized+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/d1b0c558-eee1-4118-aa9b-cfcc6861887fn%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/d1b0c558-eee1-4118-aa9b-cfcc6861887fn%40googlegroups.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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