Hi All,
I’ve had an incident at work recently, which initially made me question my GTD practices, but ultimately, it’s made me question the non-GTD’ing practices of those around me.
Several weeks ago, my manager asked me to complete a particular project/task – coding our database so it could import reports from an external supplier and merge these with data we already hold in the system. This was duly completed and I let my manager know it was complete.
After a week or so, because of a change in the reports sent from the external supplier, this new coding would not work with the new style reports.
I notified my manager of this and said I was working on new code to fix this problem. In the meantime, any reports were merged in the old format so it didn’t stop the workflow.
I’d not been notified of any deadlines or how urgent or low priority it was from my manager. This made it to my Project/Next Actions List with no particular due date (otherwise it would be on the calendar or as a dated task) and no particular urgency.
At the same time, I undertook the development of a completely new database system from scratch, which needed to be running live within a couple of weeks of being assigned it. My manager emphasised that this was a priority and I was given a deadline date it had to be completed by.
To get this new system up and running I had to cancel 4 days holiday before Christmas; work over 12 hour days and on some days go in during my holiday to get this completed. I didn’t mind doing this as it doesn’t happen often and I’ll generally do whatever’s needed to get the job done.
The system went live, worked fine and everyone was happy.
Two days later I get a frantic call from my manager, asking me if or why the update of the code to allow the previous database to merge the reports had not been completed. They thought it had been done a couple of weeks previous and had been running in the meantime.
I explained the new coding was still ongoing and that the new system had taken priority recently. I said that I had not notified to anyone that this coding had been completed and that they had been originally notified of the problem and that the solution was still ongoing.
They then told me it was a priority, it should have been completed by then and that it needed doing straight away. So another late night and it was fixed and updated.
Initially I felt this task had slipped through the net and I’d missed it – I felt guilty that I’d not done it sooner. It was an open loop that I’d missed.
But then I got thinking; here was an item on my project/action list with no deadline or priority and my manager assumed it was completed simply after a given time. They didn’t ask me about it until it was already crisis time.
We have no scheduled or even regular meetings regarding workloads; tasks are delegated to me, I complete them and notify whoever assigned me the task. If I don’t say it’s done, it’s not done!
If no deadline is set and they need something sooner they usually ask for a status update after a few days etc. In this case no update was requested as they thought it had already been completed.
So where does this get me? A few questions, that’s where!
If someone requests an action from me, I’m thinking that should be on their “@Waiting For…” list so they can track me?
At the same time, it makes it into my Project/Next Action lists or calendar if a deadline has been set and I track it from there. Once completed I notify them, they tick it off their @Waiting For… list.
If they don’t set a deadline it’s open ended and when a larger project is initiated with priority and deadline, then that would come first?
If someone delegates a task to me, should they have to track whether it gets done or can they assume it will be done? I’ll let them know when it’s complete, but if I don’t say it’s completed it’s a dangerous game for them to assume it’s complete without checking with me first?
I’d never assume anything, instead it would go on an @Waiting For list instead. I can then tickle a reminder for a week or so to see if it’s completed or what the delay/progress is.
If it was that urgent it should have been stated first and then a reminder set to chase me if not completed within their timescale (not that there was one initially!).
Initially I thought I’d let this one slip through my net, now I’m thinking it slipped through their's by not tracking me?
Perhaps I should ALWAYS get a priority/deadline date?
Do you track everything you delegate? (I do for critical tasks)
Many thanks for reading, any comments/feedback very much welcome.
And if my manager should happen to read this, no hard feelings, just wondered how recent events all fit in with GTD!!
Many thanks,
Andy.
I’ve had an incident at work recently, which initially made me question my GTD practices, but ultimately, it’s made me question the non-GTD’ing practices of those around me.
Several weeks ago, my manager asked me to complete a particular project/task – coding our database so it could import reports from an external supplier and merge these with data we already hold in the system. This was duly completed and I let my manager know it was complete.
After a week or so, because of a change in the reports sent from the external supplier, this new coding would not work with the new style reports.
I notified my manager of this and said I was working on new code to fix this problem. In the meantime, any reports were merged in the old format so it didn’t stop the workflow.
I’d not been notified of any deadlines or how urgent or low priority it was from my manager. This made it to my Project/Next Actions List with no particular due date (otherwise it would be on the calendar or as a dated task) and no particular urgency.
At the same time, I undertook the development of a completely new database system from scratch, which needed to be running live within a couple of weeks of being assigned it. My manager emphasised that this was a priority and I was given a deadline date it had to be completed by.
To get this new system up and running I had to cancel 4 days holiday before Christmas; work over 12 hour days and on some days go in during my holiday to get this completed. I didn’t mind doing this as it doesn’t happen often and I’ll generally do whatever’s needed to get the job done.
The system went live, worked fine and everyone was happy.
Two days later I get a frantic call from my manager, asking me if or why the update of the code to allow the previous database to merge the reports had not been completed. They thought it had been done a couple of weeks previous and had been running in the meantime.
I explained the new coding was still ongoing and that the new system had taken priority recently. I said that I had not notified to anyone that this coding had been completed and that they had been originally notified of the problem and that the solution was still ongoing.
They then told me it was a priority, it should have been completed by then and that it needed doing straight away. So another late night and it was fixed and updated.
Initially I felt this task had slipped through the net and I’d missed it – I felt guilty that I’d not done it sooner. It was an open loop that I’d missed.
But then I got thinking; here was an item on my project/action list with no deadline or priority and my manager assumed it was completed simply after a given time. They didn’t ask me about it until it was already crisis time.
We have no scheduled or even regular meetings regarding workloads; tasks are delegated to me, I complete them and notify whoever assigned me the task. If I don’t say it’s done, it’s not done!
If no deadline is set and they need something sooner they usually ask for a status update after a few days etc. In this case no update was requested as they thought it had already been completed.
So where does this get me? A few questions, that’s where!
If someone requests an action from me, I’m thinking that should be on their “@Waiting For…” list so they can track me?
At the same time, it makes it into my Project/Next Action lists or calendar if a deadline has been set and I track it from there. Once completed I notify them, they tick it off their @Waiting For… list.
If they don’t set a deadline it’s open ended and when a larger project is initiated with priority and deadline, then that would come first?
If someone delegates a task to me, should they have to track whether it gets done or can they assume it will be done? I’ll let them know when it’s complete, but if I don’t say it’s completed it’s a dangerous game for them to assume it’s complete without checking with me first?
I’d never assume anything, instead it would go on an @Waiting For list instead. I can then tickle a reminder for a week or so to see if it’s completed or what the delay/progress is.
If it was that urgent it should have been stated first and then a reminder set to chase me if not completed within their timescale (not that there was one initially!).
Initially I thought I’d let this one slip through my net, now I’m thinking it slipped through their's by not tracking me?
Perhaps I should ALWAYS get a priority/deadline date?
Do you track everything you delegate? (I do for critical tasks)
Many thanks for reading, any comments/feedback very much welcome.
And if my manager should happen to read this, no hard feelings, just wondered how recent events all fit in with GTD!!
Many thanks,
Andy.
