Hints and tips for managing the work/work balance!
Discussion
I would say that I'd be on fairly safe ground by guessing that most of us on PH work bloody hard for a living. I thought I would try to harness that ethos and the knowledge that comes with it by asking about how people manage their work loads and how they avoid "taking it home" at night.
As background I'm about 10 months into my first "proper" job since leaving University and I love it. (For proper read; high visibility, good but demanding customers, varied length projects etc.) What I am wondering though is how to balance the tasks that come in from all sides - what approach do people take when prioritising the work? (They didn't really teach practical skills at Uni!)
Does one develop a "
it factor" that simply says - I can't do any more than I'm doing today - so that will just have to wait? Or is there a more complete method?
The common sense approach seems to be about making a list in the morning and sticking to it - but I've found that that doesn't factor in those things that come in during the day that need to be done, so I was wondering if others here have a different approach that works for them. No harm in trying new things after all!
The other side to this is how to avoid taking work home in the sense that you try to switch off on your way home. I am a member of the local sports club - but being honest with myself, need to go more often - but does anyone have other little tips as to how to let work go in the evening?
I'm not looking for a wonder solution, what I hope to get is a series of little things that people have adopted as methods of managing workload and balancing short/long term projects.
Cheers for any and all comments / tips
Phil
As background I'm about 10 months into my first "proper" job since leaving University and I love it. (For proper read; high visibility, good but demanding customers, varied length projects etc.) What I am wondering though is how to balance the tasks that come in from all sides - what approach do people take when prioritising the work? (They didn't really teach practical skills at Uni!)
Does one develop a "
it factor" that simply says - I can't do any more than I'm doing today - so that will just have to wait? Or is there a more complete method? The common sense approach seems to be about making a list in the morning and sticking to it - but I've found that that doesn't factor in those things that come in during the day that need to be done, so I was wondering if others here have a different approach that works for them. No harm in trying new things after all!
The other side to this is how to avoid taking work home in the sense that you try to switch off on your way home. I am a member of the local sports club - but being honest with myself, need to go more often - but does anyone have other little tips as to how to let work go in the evening?
I'm not looking for a wonder solution, what I hope to get is a series of little things that people have adopted as methods of managing workload and balancing short/long term projects.
Cheers for any and all comments / tips
Phil
Mannginger said:
I would say that I'd be on fairly safe ground by guessing that most of us on PH work bloody hard for a living. I thought I would try to harness that ethos and the knowledge that comes with it by asking about how people manage their work loads and how they avoid "taking it home" at night.
As background I'm about 10 months into my first "proper" job since leaving University and I love it. (For proper read; high visibility, good but demanding customers, varied length projects etc.) What I am wondering though is how to balance the tasks that come in from all sides - what approach do people take when prioritising the work? (They didn't really teach practical skills at Uni!)
Does one develop a "
The common sense approach seems to be about making a list in the morning and sticking to it - but I've found that that doesn't factor in those things that come in during the day that need to be done, so I was wondering if others here have a different approach that works for them. No harm in trying new things after all!
The other side to this is how to avoid taking work home in the sense that you try to switch off on your way home. I am a member of the local sports club - but being honest with myself, need to go more often - but does anyone have other little tips as to how to let work go in the evening?
I'm not looking for a wonder solution, what I hope to get is a series of little things that people have adopted as methods of managing workload and balancing short/long term projects.
Cheers for any and all comments / tips
Phil
I can't work out how one would experience both short and long term projects inside 10 months.
You wait until the economy changes. One project has lasted three years, and you've been taking the work home with you since you started. There's only one of you, and if you're being "over managed" and "excessively trained" then you must "asses the risk" of telling them so.
>> Edited by dilbert on Tuesday 28th February 05:48
Poor terminology then - by long term projects I mean ongoing work. Not one particular outcome but an ongoing commitment to a series of "councils".
As I mentioned - I'm not looking to move, merely looking for others' experience in order to try out different methods of time and task management.
Cheers
Phil
As I mentioned - I'm not looking to move, merely looking for others' experience in order to try out different methods of time and task management.
Cheers
Phil
I don't have a clue, I've been up since 4 stressing over the mountain of work I have to get through in the next couple of months....
More seriously, I also find to-do/task lists to be a good way of mentally arranging the day, but prefer to plan for the next day just before I leave work. That way I can see what I have to do & prep for it if necessary. For me it "finishes" the work day & works if I'm leaving at 6pm or 10pm.
There are always things that come up which get in the way, but if I have critical stuff which needs finishing I will book time in my diary and stick to that. Obviously it doesn't cover all situations, but at my curent client they use calendar facilities a lot & it works for me.
More seriously, I also find to-do/task lists to be a good way of mentally arranging the day, but prefer to plan for the next day just before I leave work. That way I can see what I have to do & prep for it if necessary. For me it "finishes" the work day & works if I'm leaving at 6pm or 10pm.
There are always things that come up which get in the way, but if I have critical stuff which needs finishing I will book time in my diary and stick to that. Obviously it doesn't cover all situations, but at my curent client they use calendar facilities a lot & it works for me.
Each work place is slightly different I find, in terms of work/life balance and whats expected. If you feel that its getting a bit OTT for you maybe you could discuss your workload with your boss, whatever form he/she takes? Their job is to manage you, not bury you.. Allthough it has to be a mature, realistic discussion not a bitch. The toys/cot interface must be carefully managed. Soldiering on under exess pressure without talking to anyone is not the way forward in any case.
As for the **** it factor... you're choosing to let someone down or something fail to get some space for yourself... it's never the end of the world but choose carefully and dont make a habbit of it
All IMHO of course...
As for the **** it factor... you're choosing to let someone down or something fail to get some space for yourself... it's never the end of the world but choose carefully and dont make a habbit of it
All IMHO of course...
Work/work balance? That's about right. I started at 9am yesterday and was still hammering the keyboard at 5am this morning. 3 hours in the sack, wash and brush up, kid off to school, and I'm back.
Home working - its just a lark, innit?
>> Edited by victormeldrew on Tuesday 28th February 09:15
Home working - its just a lark, innit?
>> Edited by victormeldrew on Tuesday 28th February 09:15
I have a list of things that I need to do, I generally prioritise them on urgency, I keep a list that I look at in the morning and evening and tick off what I have done, add in new stuff and so on. I mentally switch into work mode when I arrive at work and switch off as I leave. I use outlook reminders to remind me of common reoccuring tasks, of which I have a lot. Some days I will have a little work in dribs and drabs, sometimes I have almost more than I can handle, I'll stay later and come in earlier, take shorter lunch breaks and generally work my a off to get it done, it all works out in the end.
off to get it done, it all works out in the end.
Just stop.
Come 5:30, unless it NEEDS to be delivered or completed for the next morning, then I get up and go home. Forget work until the next day.
Nothing is more important than your hobbies, R&R, family, friends, relationship etc.
Infact almost all the areas I have expanded into, be it interests, out of work work, potential future work/career possibilities, have all come about through my hobbies and interests out of work.
I like my job, but I couldn't live without having my own space and time too.
If your employer doesn't appreciate that, then they are not worth working for. I'd only work above and beyond if it was all gonna be for me at the end of the day!
Dave
Come 5:30, unless it NEEDS to be delivered or completed for the next morning, then I get up and go home. Forget work until the next day.
Nothing is more important than your hobbies, R&R, family, friends, relationship etc.
Infact almost all the areas I have expanded into, be it interests, out of work work, potential future work/career possibilities, have all come about through my hobbies and interests out of work.
I like my job, but I couldn't live without having my own space and time too.
If your employer doesn't appreciate that, then they are not worth working for. I'd only work above and beyond if it was all gonna be for me at the end of the day!
Dave
You make up a promise list or lists.
Basically a promise list consists of things you have promised to do for someone else and by when, and things that others have promised to do for you and by when.
I leave it to you whether you have an overall list or one for individual relationships. The former is easier to manage, the second type is easier in the case of key "accounts."
On each promise you can further refine it by assigning priority urgency based on factors that are important to the particular relationship and the overall position.
Then it is up to you to manage the situation though common experience once suggests that once you are above 10 priority A promises in either direction then you need to sort workload either by reprioritising, rescheduling or shedding.
Another way of looking at it and this is a mind thing rather than a practical thing. When under high workload or difficult situations people tend to get stressed because they see this enormous obstacle blocking their way.
Basically what they have done is built this wall out of tiny bricks, I have to do this (brick 1), oh yes and this (2), but if I do that then (3), and that (4), and that (5), oh no! then that will happen (6), and then the other (7)..... 7 bricks in place with one thought train.
Suddenly there is this humongous freaking wall in the way and you don't know whether to climb over it, round it, through it. That is the way of a breakdown unless you fix it.
You have to identify bricks that you can deal with and those you cannot. Deal with the ones you can and the wall will come a-tumbling down.
It works for me.
FiF
Basically a promise list consists of things you have promised to do for someone else and by when, and things that others have promised to do for you and by when.
I leave it to you whether you have an overall list or one for individual relationships. The former is easier to manage, the second type is easier in the case of key "accounts."
On each promise you can further refine it by assigning priority urgency based on factors that are important to the particular relationship and the overall position.
Then it is up to you to manage the situation though common experience once suggests that once you are above 10 priority A promises in either direction then you need to sort workload either by reprioritising, rescheduling or shedding.
Another way of looking at it and this is a mind thing rather than a practical thing. When under high workload or difficult situations people tend to get stressed because they see this enormous obstacle blocking their way.
Basically what they have done is built this wall out of tiny bricks, I have to do this (brick 1), oh yes and this (2), but if I do that then (3), and that (4), and that (5), oh no! then that will happen (6), and then the other (7)..... 7 bricks in place with one thought train.
Suddenly there is this humongous freaking wall in the way and you don't know whether to climb over it, round it, through it. That is the way of a breakdown unless you fix it.
You have to identify bricks that you can deal with and those you cannot. Deal with the ones you can and the wall will come a-tumbling down.
It works for me.
FiF
Make sure you have things to do in the evening - it's all too easy to sit at work later and later because there's no "must leave by" time. I'm a contractor, but paid by the day, so I work my hours and no more. However when I was a permanent employee, I would make sure I'd agreed to meet people (at the gym/track for me) in the early evening - that way I could say to my team lead/boss that I had to leave as I was meeting people. It also made it a more definite plan in my own mind.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff