{"id":833,"date":"2017-02-06T21:30:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T21:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aciref.org\/?p=833"},"modified":"2017-02-06T21:30:16","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T21:30:16","slug":"three-ways-to-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aciref.chpc.utah.edu\/?p=833","title":{"rendered":"Three Ways to Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tAs someone with a lot to do at work (tickets! meetings! reports! documentation! workshops! community-building!), I often consider how I can optimize my work time. Like a good scientist, I try lots of approaches and some of my experiments are more successful than others.\u00a0 This post describes three “success stories” — using a simple technology, finding a time management system that works for me, and embracing a reproducible workflow.<\/p>\n

1. Sign In Sheet<\/h2>\n

Problem<\/strong>: New user accounts are tracked in our account management system, but it was difficult to track who was coming to office hours.<\/p>\n

Solution<\/strong>:\u00a0 We now have a clipboard with a sign-in form at our office hours table and we have researchers fill in the date, their name, their department, and why they’re here.<\/p>\n

Advantages<\/strong>:\u00a0 Now it’s very easy to enter that information into a spreadsheet and use it for reporting.<\/p>\n

Unexpected advantages<\/strong>: If we’re very busy at office hours, having researachers sign-in gives us a way to interact with them immediately and give them the reassurance that we know they’re there.\u00a0 When we become free, we can then check why they came so that we’re primed to start interacting with them.\u00a0 Also, if we don’t recognize someone on sight (which happens, when you meet with hundreds of people in a year!), we have a cheat sheet.<\/p>\n

Lesson learned: Sometimes a very simple, “non-technical” solution can have a really big impact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. A Plethora of Post-Its<\/h2>\n

Problem<\/strong>: Until a few months ago, I used a planner for my day-to-day task management.\u00a0 Meetings and appointments were scheduled through my calendar, but I would write down individual tasks in my planner by hand.\u00a0 However, I was frequently overwhelmed by tasks and\/or ran out of space in my planner.\u00a0 It was hard to know where to put ongoing tasks that were either “do as necessary” or “need to be done, but could wait until tomorrow.”\u00a0 I ended up re-writing many medium\/long-term tasks from day to day, or even week to week, just to make sure I didn’t forget about them.<\/p>\n

Solution<\/strong>: I independently arrived at an approach that already exists – a kanban board<\/a>.\u00a0 In my implementation, each task gets written up on a post-it note and placed under the appropriate category.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>I use 4 categories:<\/p>\n