Modelesis

Leadership, Software Development, Tech Industry, &c

A Yoda-Inspired Task Management Tip

As Disney takes Star Wars mania to new levels, I find it increasingly difficult to remain the odd guy who’s never seen a movie or knows much about the series. In truth, it’s impossible to fully evade this cultural phenomenon, and indeed one of my favorite project/task management techniques comes from a timeless phrase by master Yoda: Do, or do not; there is no try. I’m a big fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done and Michael Linenberger’s Manage Your Now methods. Read more →

The Rise of the Task Management Inbox

Much of today’s task management issues stem from using the email inbox as a task management system.  Thus far, solutions have revolved around re-educating ourselves on inbox management.  Now, a couple startups (and at least one large email player) are actually rethinking the way our inbox works.  As they carefully tread new ground, task management laypeople will benefit immediately, while productivity experts will initially struggle with this new paradigm.

Read more →

Defuse Micromanagement by Emphasizing Time Instead of Control

If you enjoy working with micro-managers, you can skip the rest of this post.

OK.  Now that I have your attention, let me offer a suggestion for dealing with the micro-managers in your environment by approaching them with a genuine intention to help with –not correct– this trait.  Help them deal with the impact it has on their time, as opposed of making it about the way they control their duties.

Read more →

Choosing Rules For Bounding Tasks In Time

I’ve been using GTD since late 2006, but it really took on a whole new level for me after reading The Secret Weapon Manifesto. For those that don’t know what I’m talking about, Getting Things Done (GTD) is a time/task management methodology first introduced by Dave Allen in his 2002 book “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”; The Secret Weapon (hereafter “TSW”) is a specific, detailed guide to implementing the GTD methodology using the popular Evernote note-taking service.

Read more →