Should We Track Completed Projects & Tasks?

I know some people do, but I don't. Wasn't it Picasso who would touch up his works because they still weren't just right? If they were still in my system I might continue to "work" on them and I would never feel "done".
 
Interesting perspective.

I happen to feel it is critical to track completed projects and keep vast amounts of reference material long after the project is "done" and it's saved my bacon so many times I can't even imagine working without that safety net.

Here's a fairly simple example: 25 years ago I rebuilt from the ground up the entire Black Welsh registry in North America from the original importation in 1973 to then. The data were entered into what was, at the time, the best option for registration software for purebred livestock breeds. But I scanned or in some cases kept all the original source material, paperwork and all emails, letters and hand written notes about the process. I also have details on all projects, todo's and when I entered in data into the old system with info on what computer I was using at the time (critical for anything dealing with dates). Basically everything related to those projects.

We are switching software. The new package includes many data verification tests to validate the data make sense. Ensuring parents are not shown as born after offspring, ownership chains etc. In the process of extracting out the data and re-importing into the new system I discovered a number of anomalies. For the majority of them the issue is that critical dates were stored in multiple database tables, in different time formats done on different systems and didn't match. The rules as to what was the "proper" date format appear to have changed but old data was never converted into new formats. The new system has a single standardized date format for everything and critical dates are stored in a single table (as well normalized a DB as we can manage for the computer geeks). Getting everything correct and accurate in the new system has required me to go back to the original data sources. My notes, figure out date time stamps and by knowing what computer system I was running I can tell the start date for those and then rebuild the database. If I had not kept all that material, and all the todo's that got checked off as to when I finished some piece of the data entry way back when I have no idea how I'd get accurate data in the new system now. No boss required me to do it/ And there was nothing but expericen with computer systems that made me squirrel away all that material for when I need it.
 
Oogiem said:
Interesting perspective.

I happen to feel it is critical to track completed projects and keep vast amounts of reference material long after the project is "done" and it's saved my bacon so many times I can't even imagine working without that safety net.

Here's a fairly simple example: 25 years ago I rebuilt from the ground up the entire Black Welsh registry in North America from the original importation in 1973 to then. The data were entered into what was, at the time, the best option for registration software for purebred livestock breeds. But I scanned or in some cases kept all the original source material, paperwork and all emails, letters and hand written notes about the process. I also have details on all projects, todo's and when I entered in data into the old system with info on what computer I was using at the time (critical for anything dealing with dates). Basically everything related to those projects.

We are switching software. The new package includes many data verification tests to validate the data make sense. Ensuring parents are not shown as born after offspring, ownership chains etc. In the process of extracting out the data and re-importing into the new system I discovered a number of anomalies. For the majority of them the issue is that critical dates were stored in multiple database tables, in different time formats done on different systems and didn't match. The rules as to what was the "proper" date format appear to have changed but old data was never converted into new formats. The new system has a single standardized date format for everything and critical dates are stored in a single table (as well normalized a DB as we can manage for the computer geeks). Getting everything correct and accurate in the new system has required me to go back to the original data sources. My notes, figure out date time stamps and by knowing what computer system I was running I can tell the start date for those and then rebuild the database. If I had not kept all that material, and all the todo's that got checked off as to when I finished some piece of the data entry way back when I have no idea how I'd get accurate data in the new system now. No boss required me to do it/ And there was nothing but expericen with computer systems that made me squirrel away all that material for when I need it.
Click to expand...
Great example. By the way, the idea of switching software for such a major project is scary.
 
Dave Edwards said:
We often worry about keeping track of the projects we need to work on. But what does the GTD methodology say about tracking completed projects? I did a little research. Here's my take on the subject.

https://youtu.be/_vqXyJMIO2s
Click to expand...
@Dave Edwards

Good video . . . thank you very much

On this end, find completed Projects are either:

1. Imbedded in one's life . . . for good or ill . . . as hearing the late Gene Wilder once say: "be careful of what you want, you just might get it"

2. Support

3. Reference

4. Archives

Lastly, agree it is a good idea to appropriate celebrate completed Next Action(s) and Projects for intrinsic 'dopamine reinforcement' to help keep going and overcome unforeseen challenges with the Next Action(s) . . . when in doubt . . . make it easier . . . always celebration worthy ?
 
gtdstudente said:
@Dave Edwards

Good video . . . thank you very much

On this end, find completed Projects are either:

1. Imbedded in one's life . . . for good or ill . . . as hearing the late Gene Wilder once say: "be careful of what you want, you just might get it"

2. Support

3. Reference

4. Archives

Lastly, agree it is a good idea to appropriate celebrate completed Next Action(s) and Projects for intrinsic 'dopamine reinforcement' to help keep going and overcome unforeseen challenges with the Next Action(s) . . . when in doubt . . . make it easier . . . always celebration worthy ?
Click to expand...
I see the benefit for some. I just like to get them done and gone from view.
 
fooddude said:
I see the benefit for some. I just like to get them done and gone from view.

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
youtu.be youtu.be
Click to expand...
@fooddude

'Imbedded' in one's life might seemingly be gone from view while seeing many other benefits in many other 'areas' of living from completed project(s) . . . making good completions most worthy ?

All good . . . thank you very much
 
I never used to, but now I do keep records of what was done in OneNote. Unfortunately I do have a lot of questions from my boss and other managers about what tasks have been done, and once a task is completed it is out of my mind and memory so the notes really help answer questions. I also get a high volume of similar projects that are done with similar actions/methodology, so when planning out my projects it saves time to look back at a previous project, see how that was done and then if successful use similar actions/methods.
 
The app I use moves each completed or cancelled next action or project to a logbook ordered by date. Next actions in projects are displayed on the date completed, as well as inside the project on the date the project is completed. Tag filtering works inside the logbook too. I honestly only use this feature occasionally but it is very useful when I do. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want this if you use a digital list manager.
 
Dave Edwards said:
We often worry about keeping track of the projects we need to work on. But what does the GTD methodology say about tracking completed projects? I did a little research. Here's my take on the subject.

https://youtu.be/_vqXyJMIO2s
Click to expand...
Within the 20K role of Clinical Social Worker, I keep track of "Completed Projects" while reviewing Treatment Plan/Goals with clients. This gives an opportunity to loop back to completed items from current areas of focus, where some "belief building or positive association" may be needed. It also gives an opportunity to see patterns of completed projects that then establish a foundation for discussing higher horizons (eg Values). Of course, by doing this consistently, I don't have to remember all the relatively completed projects across my entire case load...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top