Parking on a downhill slope
I think that I first learned of the idea of ‘parking on a downhill slope’ via 43folders. Merlin passed on the advice from Jeffrey Windsor (which he, in turn, got from a book on finishing your dissertation) that you should try to end the day’s work by setting out very clearly where you need to start the next day. I’ve tried to follow that advice, but I don’t do it as often as I should. However, today I made a concerted effort.
I’ve got to write a reference for a student; it’s not a particularly difficult job, but it’s one of those things you procrastinate over and find difficult to start. By the time I’d got all my other stuff done today, it was getting late and I was exhausted. I wanted to make a start on the reference, because I knew if I didn’t that I’d be in exactly the same Procrast-A-Rama state that I’m in today. But I couldn’t write the reference because I was too tired to do a good job on it, and I didn’t have time.
The answer, I decided, was to park downhill, and nibble away at the task a bit. I created a folder on my computer to hold the reference (and the inevitable future ones for that student), looked up and noted down the student’s marks for the previous years, addressed the envelope for the finished reference, and finally made a few notes in a file as phrases occurred to me. Each thing in itself was pretty trivial, but now I’ve got everything gathered together that I’ll need to finish the task, and I’ve made an important psychological start, at least. Of course, the real proof of whether this technique works or not will come tomorrow when I’ll take the hand-brake off and see whether I roll downhill as I want to, or defy the laws of physics and roll back uphill.
1
Some times I think it would be nice to have a job in which I would know what I was going to be doing on the 24th January, but I don't even know if I will even have a job at the end of January. I can leave work at 6, and by 8 o'clock the next morning, 25% of the imperatives have changed. In the space of 4 or 5 hours, from not knowing a problem exists, I may design something, tool it, mould it and despatch it; but of course, these are not the problem areas. The problem areas are the bl**dy paperwork, the endless costings, the trying to convince clients who, having been told that a job will take 4 weeks, ring up and ask if they order it today, can the have it on Monday............ 10% cheaper.
I lack Hercule Poirot's "Order and Method", I have an untidy desk, and a last minute brain; it thinks most clearly when it has to solve the problem. I lack intellect, and have difficulty in "deliberately thinking" as there is so much to distract me. I try reading these self-help books, "The One Minute Manager", "Peter's Principle" and "Parkinsons Law", but I always end up winging it - I sometimes waste time wondering which job to start first, I "watch" myself doing it, but every time the phone rings a different pressure can be felt, good thing, if Gordon Brown doesn't nick any more of my pension, I've only got 3 years to go! After over 40 years of continuous employment, I'm still convinced that one day some-one will find me out!
by Jonathan Briggs @ 30/11/2006 7:52 pm • Permalink •
2
The tagline on "Getting Things Done", and I realized when I started analysing things that planning my day before I got there was one of the biggest causes of stress in my job.
I work for an American company, so I typically come in to a bunch of e-mails from them during their afternoon the previous day, many of which I need to move forward. Once I know what I can move on with, and what other fires have started overnight, I can think about what I'm actually going to do with my day.
It's all very well parking on a downhill slope, but sometimes you come back and find that someone's stolen the car.
Now, I come in, see what's changed since I left, process all that, and then decide what to do with the rest of my day. I'm vastly less stressed than I used to be.
by Andy Cunningham @ 30/11/2006 10:00 pm • Permalink •
3
Andy: I think it's less about planning your day and more about jotting down whatever context you have in your head, so when you start the next day you can snap back into context and get the ball rolling.
Lately after I've had a big email juggle to clients about a feature request I'll schedule it in my calendar and in the notes I put down the simplest path I'll need to take to implement the problem. I'll usually have it fresh in my head how I want to approach the problem, especially if I've had to give a time estimate. For example, here's the notes for a coding block I scheduled a few weeks ago:
I was amazed when I was able to go to a cafe, working offline, and pump out a complete discount coupon feature in under 4 hours before my laptop battery ran out. Having that list definitely helped keeping me on track.
Thanks for pointing our Merlin's post. I dunno if I would have noticed that I've done it a few times in different granularities and its worked really well.
by Tim Lucas @ 01/12/2006 12:27 am • Permalink •
4
Please excuse me but what does "granularity" mean in this context? I have run across the word quite a lot recently and still don't understand what people mean when they use it.
by ThoughtBadger @ 01/12/2006 9:40 am • Permalink •
5
I'm just starting with Getting Things Done and like the way it assumes you'll get interrupted, that your priorities will change constantly, and gives you tools to deal with that. Merlin's podcast interviews with Dave Allen are great, by the way.
I'll try the Parking Downhill idea. Today's Friday, the ideal day to take stock and maybe set things up for Monday morning...
by Pica @ 01/12/2006 3:03 pm • Permalink •
6
Hi Guys,
I really admire anyone who is organized enough to implement a strategy to get things done.
The last couple of years I've lost my focus and need to re-align myself and feel this site is going to be the catalyst that forces the issue.
Thanks for putting it together, I for one appreciate your time and efforts.
Take Care,
Rachel
by Rachel @ 01/12/2006 5:12 pm • Permalink •
7
Wow. I think I touched a bit of a raw nerve there
I can report that my strategy did actually work this time: I got right down to the reference first thing this morning, and got it finished. Mind you, there was a bit of additional pressure and incentive since I wrote about it here.
I think I'm probably quite lucky in some ways, in that my work environment doesn't have quite as many changing goal posts as others' do. However, UK students do seem to operate on a time zone very similar to Pacific Standard Time, so I often have a flurry of email crises to deal with first thing in the morning -- or worse -- just before I go to bed.
by bsag @ 01/12/2006 6:33 pm • Permalink •
8
Rachel: I don't really have a system either... I think the most important thing for me is just getting into a balanced, positive and productive routine. Recently I gave up on some commitments that were getting me down, and it's made a huge difference. I tried the GTD thang a year ago but w/o the routine it was pretty useless. Just wasted money on evelopes and index cards, haha.
ThoughtBadger: Sorry, that was a bit vague. By "granularities" I meant sometimes I've jotted down high-level tasks (as above), whereas other times I've jotted down exactly what bits of code I need to implement (e.g. "add AffliatesController#index"). How the term applies to other professions I'm not sure.
bsag: a little extra fire under the chair always helps
. Thanks for sharing!
by Tim Lucas @ 02/12/2006 1:16 am • Permalink •
9
Granularity seems to be one of those "descripive of a state of existence" words to describe a condition which to the man on the Clapham Omnibus sounds misleading. Granularity has a very clear common meaning, describing as it does the quality of sand, or the coarsest of the grades of free flowing sugar. It seems to have been borrowed to describe a lack of smoothness in the course of a philosophical or an academic pursuit. It is not all one way traffic of course, "Quantum" being the most obvious example, though of course, as it seems to have been borrowed by journalism to describe a degree of movement, it is now supposed to mean the complete opposite of its dictionary definition.
The proper re-definition of existing words is best left to I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue.
by Jonathan Briggs @ 02/12/2006 3:37 pm • Permalink •
10
Having heard Tim's explanation, I felt I was getting some kind of handle on this, granularity meaning something to do with breaking down jobs into a series of sub tasks, but having heard Johnathan I now see that it's just one song to the tune of another, whereby the job can be viewed as a sandwich and the sub tasks as the component parts whether sliced bread, butter, or Marmite (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/11/30/amazonmarmitedotmac/). But what if we were to replace the Marmite with say jam, and the sliced bread with a fireplace, etc. etc.
by ThoughtBadger @ 02/12/2006 10:38 pm • Permalink •
11
Jonathan, sorry for misspelling your name in my haste.
by ThoughtBadger @ 02/12/2006 10:40 pm • Permalink •
12
I try to do this with my writing as well. It's much more of a challenge to end the day's work in the middle of something you're excited about, but it definitely makes it easier to pick things up again the next day.
by Debbie Ridpath Ohi @ 03/12/2006 2:47 am • Permalink •
13
When you get to be a "Twirly"* you may find, as do I, that leaving a paragraph half completed may mean a paragraph never completed.........
by Jonathan Briggs @ 03/12/2006 11:28 am • Permalink •
Page 1 of 1 pages