Jan 28
Talking about planning, meeting deadlines etc.
2005 at 04.31 am posted by Veerle
One of the daily things in my working routine is carefully planning projects. Planning is important, just to avoid unpleasant surprises, not only for yourself but also for the client. Mostly my week starts off pretty doable. A week is nicely filled with work but I always try to make sure there are some free gaps left. From experience I know that they will always get filled anyway.
There are times, however, that my week is already totally filled from the start. It means that I need to work late to get all the work done and that I need to do some coordination, like who can do what, spread the workload to different colleagues, contact some partners and freelancers etc.
What might sound as a big con to some if you work on your own are the long hours. But the good thing is I can choose this myself and there isn’t a boss looking over my shoulder all the time… well big surprise ‘am I the boss’. Phew that did wonders to my ego :-D Besides, the job is actually my hobby so I really don’t mind at all. It doesn’t always feel like ‘working’. OK, sometimes there is pressure because of deadlines, but it’s more like a ‘healthy’ one. It keeps you buzzing.
Planning makes sure the process of projects goes smoothly. This way you can offer your client quality service and meet the deadline that has been agreed on. On the other hand things doesn’t always go as planned. There are too many factors that influence planning. My work tactic is to calculate a very big margin (leave open spaces). What I also do is trying to keep a good balance between time for meetings with clients and time to work. Never have too much appointments in one week, make sure it is well spread, calculate travel time etc. A good planning gives you the least unforeseen hick-ups.
A practical tool for setting a todo list is OmniOutliner. It came for free on my Mac (together with OmniGraffle, handy tool for flow charts btw) and I use it not only for myself but also to communicate to my colleagues, freelancers and partners. It’s simple, clear and has everything I need. It’s recently updated with some more powerful and handy features. Certainly worth to give it a go.
17served
1
Looks pretty good this application you use. But unfortunately i have no mac :(
Does anyone know a similar small, easy and powerfull software for Windows ?
2
.monday {
margin: 2hours
}
.wednesday {
position: absolute 2km 20km;
content: meeting
}
.sunday {
clean: all;
outline: week_schedule
}
3
I used v.2 some time ago, but I didn’t like the interface. But now there’s v.3.. have to try it, looks good. Thanks for the tip!
@koen
nice one :P
4
Yaknow, they have these fancy little things called daytimers that allow you to schedual your entire year! [Ooooh, ahhhh] And the more expensive ones even have notes!
-Ryan
5
@Andreas, I can’t imagine there isn’t similar tool for Windows. I’ll et let you know if I can find any info.
@koen, LOL :-) Could be you are suffering from CSSitis :-P
@Ryan, can’t follow you I’m afraid… not sure what your point is.
6
I’m sure you’re better informed than i am, but just in case check out Ta-Da List by 37signals, or their more elaborate Basecamp.
7
It’s nice to know that I or, ourselves are not the only ones that have to deal with these issues, and that you do a similar thing to avoid hick-ups. What i find hard about managing my time, is I always think of a new of more efficient way to handle a task or my time, so my plan constantly changes. lol.
8
verlee, how new is your mac?
i bought ibook 3 months ago and there wasn’t any software from omni group there :(
should I move to europe ;)
9
i bought a powerbook g4 in august and i have the software.
i love your site veerle, very informative and unique.
i can’t wait until you do flash tutorials. *hint hint* lol
10
@KD, thanks for the info and URL, Basecamp seems like an interesting tool to me.
@Gavin-James, I totally understand what you mean ;-)
@winetou, mine is a PowerBook G4, like erika’s. The software on an iBook differs from the PowerBook. The iBook is oriented to the ‘home’ market, the PowerBooks to the ‘professional’ market. On an iBook you get other software like Nanosaur 2, Marble Blast Gold, Quicken and World Book 2004.
@erika, thx for the compliment. All ideas/hints are welcome, so I’ll keep it in mind.
11
Thanks for the post, Veerle. I love Omni products---a very useful bunch. :)
12
You should try Time and Chaos
13
For those interested in the topic of planning, todos, — getting things dones — I’d suggest having a regular read of:
http://43folders.com/
14
You could try the following software:
Mindgenius
It lets you easily map your ideas, and i use it a lot for todo-lists.
Still looking for a freeware kind of look-a-like.
15
Joi Ito has posted about this also, some good pointers in the comments for Windows users.
http://joi.ito.com/archives/2003/01/04/in_search_of_power_outlining.html
16
Who has time to care about planning and project deadlines when the new Apple 2nd Gen G4 Powerbooks were released?
HORRAY!
17
I recently upgraded to OmniGraffle 3.1. I used to be a huge Windows XP fan and only recently switched back to OS X in July 2004. Anyway, after I made the switch I found the software mentioned in this post included free on my Mac. And believe me it’s great. You can do anything with OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle. I’m getting ready to start another project which will require me to develop an application flow for the client. And I will be using both programs to make the complex concept of the application more user friendly so “everyone” on board is on the same page.
Don’t really know of a good program aside from the bulky Visio for Windows users that would even come close. At least not for free.