AIBU to ask how the f*ck you organise your work?!

[Getorganized]

I'm struggling and grateful for any tips. I have a list with longer term projects listed on a calendar and a different one with shorter pieces of work on it. My job can also be really reactive - different stuff coming in every day that needs prioritising on top of proactive/planned stuff. This means I have a notebook bursting with stuff and I don't know my arse from my elbow. I've tried a digital notebook. I have a small team I also manage.

Do you have any failsafe organisation methods?! Tools you use?! Help!

Trello. I have many lists on it.

Everything is in my online diary.

10am - Review Document 1

Then when you open it I incudes any notes:

1- check subclasses 11
2- revisit section 8

I also cut & past the relevant emails into the meeting or refer to the dates & sender so it's easier find them.

I used a desk pad. I can't be doing with one divided into days as so much of my work is reactive that what I might plan on doing on a Monday morning may well get bumped for several days.
I have four core areas of work so group all of the things I have to do into one of those four. If something has a firm deadline, I write it next to it. Otherwise, as things get more urgent, I tend to highlight them in some way.
On the right hand side are some boxes and I use one for things where I am waiting a response (so they're on my to do list but I can't action them), one for work I know I'm going to have to do but can't start yet and one for what I think of as my aspirational work as it would be good to do it but no one will ever chase me if it's not done.
As I get things down, I scrawl through them in biro.
Sometimes I start a new sheet every day; sometimes it's weekly.
Sometimes I add to this with post it notes. For example, if I know I have to do seven things that day, I write them on a post it and, once they're done, I'll go back to the master list. The post it's are also used when I need to break a big task down into smaller chunks as that allows me to cross things off more quickly and feel as though I am achieving

Sounds too basic but I have a notepad document on my desktop and I add everything to it. It's my 'to do' list. The second something pops up that needs doing, if I can't do it that instant, it goes on the to-do notepad. When I get a moment to breathe I see what I can get done from it. Every morning I spend the first half hour cracking through it the best I can. I have a heading for short term and long term, and only if I get through the short term stuff do I make a dent on long term.

Online task lists don't work for me, so I don't bother with that.

For smaller/individual tasks, I have a lined notepad. I write all my notes from calls and meetings on the right hand page. On the left, I note the items assigned to me or by me for action - and to whom - and the deadline. I cross them off when they are done. I keep a running to-do list on a post it which I keep on the latest left hand page. Every couple of days I run back through the actions and cross off anything that's done.

And I have the big projects/ongoing tasks for the whole team on a whiteboard which we review together every week.

Everything goes in my online calendar - if it needs to be pushed out, I push it out there. So everything is always accounted for and I don't risk missing deadlines. Now, though, ask me if I have enough time to do everything I'm supposed to do...

I have a similar job and I’ve just started using Notion and it’s been a game changer. Takes a bit to learn but worth it.

I use Trello with lists for Backlog (longer term projects/tasks), this month (based on deadlines), this week and in progress (max three tasks at once in progress). Then have a list called parking lot (waiting for something from someone else) and a list for tasks my team are working on. Super easy to move things back and forth as my work is also very reactive - can also add notes, dates, labels to the cards. For things not worth adding to a list (e.g. reply to a simple email) I just stack them and put aside a couple of times a day to crack through them.

I've got an Excel spreadsheet where I list everything, ordered by deadline. At the start of the week I prioritise, order the jobs for the week, highlighting the most pressing if it's a non moveable deadline, and then I work through the most urgent tasks then non urgent if I've time, adding stuff as it comes in. I don't manage anyone though, so I'm just dealing with my own projects

Same as you really - one page of 'long term projects', which doesnt move, and one of my active 'to do' list.
I then scribble notes in every meeting. They generate new tasks. So I'll write, and circle, the title of the task somewhere on the page "Book tickets for X", "Research Y".
Then every week or so, I'll gather all of those new notes and the original 'to do' list and write a new 'to do' list.
It sounds messy, but I've been doing it for years!

Todoist app. I have about 8 different longterm projects and other smaller ones and it allows me to sort my Todo lists in each project, but also arranges them in order of priority and deadline dates. I can filter things with hashtags too. And it links to my calendars.

Excel. I use auto formatting to highlight priority items and include both the deadline and the day I am planning to do the work. I simply order by date to see my tasks for the day. I have a field where I can note what the task is part of so I can also filter for all tasks connected to a particular piece of work. Rescurring tasks are rediarised for the next occurrence as soon as completed.

Online doesn't work for me .I use a bullet journal layout per week, a page divided into different projects.

I have to add basic things to it like "answer email from Jane" otherwise it all disappears out of my head.

I have a trusty filofax and I love it. I have a double spread open every day – left hand side: short term to do list, right hand side: long term projects. I rewrite the spread every week.

Trello here too. I have multiple projects which have to go through the same steps (I use lists for this) and find it really helps as I physically move the card across the board.

There's reclaim.ai which is free, or maybe you can try out usemotion and talk your boss into buying it...

Both are AI calendars that sync with google calendar etc. You add in tasks (and their priority/how long they take/due date) and it schedules them in around your immovable projects/meetings in your existing calendar.

I started off with reclaim and ended up buying usemotion. I couldn't be without it.

Not work but I have to organise every thought in my head like this or I lose them.

Notion is absolutely brilliant for this. It also syncs between web and mobile which is really important to me. It's one of those things that's infinitely customisable, I haven't worked out half of what it can do. You can also download and use templates other people have set up. Absolutely brilliant! I just use the free version but there's a paid one too.

I use my Outlook calendar like a kanban board. Each task becomes a half hour calendar entry that I drop into the evening. Each morning I copy the highest priority tasks into the free daytime slots I have. As each task is done, I change the evening entry to “free” and drop it to the bottom of the list. At the end of the day, whatever I haven’t finished gets moved to tomorrow. If I run out of free evening slots to drop new tasks into, that’s a sign that I don’t have capacity to take anything else on.

Also, as my calendar starts to fill up with meetings, I block out focus time so I can get stuff done. This is also (in theory) a useful way of making sure you don’t end up sitting in back to back meetings all day- as soon as you’ve got more than a couple of hours on the trot, you block out half an hour either end. I say in theory because I quite often cave and move the blocks, but I will say no if I need to.

I also colour-code meetings into P1, 2 and 3. P1s are must attend, P2s will be declined if trumped by a P1, and P3s go as soon as they become inconvenient.

I've tried various electronic versions and settled on an app called Ayoa. I have a task board with various categories like 'admin' or 'planning'. I'll then prioritise some of them by marking as now/next/soon. If I switch view it only shows all of the now/next/soon items, which is my priority list for the next couple of days.

I've tried more complicated methods/apps but I hate having to schedule in too much detail. The simple now/next/soon categorising really works for me.

Yes I do this with Outlook. Good for checking back too.

Keeping detailed lists doesn't work very well for me - things change so frequently that maintaining an up-to-date list is a pain.

I spend all day on email and pretty much all my work stems from an email of some sort, so I just flag in Outlook the emails where someone has asked me to do something or where I've said I'll do something. I then treat all of the flagged emails as my to-do list.

And I block out time in my Outlook calendar to remind me to do specific tasks.

One note for my daily tasks, with all others in my teams calendar. I also book out focus time so I don't get interrupted. Admin time to catch up too.

It can help to do a RAG rating at the beginning of the week and a simpler one each morning. That really helps me prioritise.

This is what I do too. Stuff changes so often and things move up and down a lot. Tasks rarely take place when I think they will. The only annoying thing is when someone sends me something via Teams to review but most people know I'm better if it's on email.

@mynameiscalypso yes for that reason I just stay logged out of Teams/Slack usually. It's too distracting and I find that people use it to try to "jump the queue" and put me on the spot to try to get a response from me more quickly.

Scribbles That Matter Productive Weeks planner works brilliantly for me. I have spaces to plan projects, and then a weekly plan where I can put in the fixed meetings and appointments. That shows me how to allocate the rest of the time for longer tasks and where to build in flexibility for the stuff that comes up. I really need the physical planner that I can see at a glance and scribble notes on easily.