Extensions to @Waiting For?

[Brent]

I find that I don't check my @Waiting For list often enough. Has anyone extended their use of the @Waiting For list in a way that makes it easier for them to maintain the list? Is there some lifehack that might help?

 

[taxgeek]

Hi, Brent.
I find it makes it easier to check the list if I make the title of the task:

Estate Planning Memorandum drafting (wf Linda to type).

The parenthetical helps me remember why the heck it was on the waiting for list and triggers thoughts like "oh yeah, she gave that back to me this morning".

HTH.

I also try (don't always succeed) to do a mini review every morning which includes reviewing my @waiting for list. Otherwise, you're right, stuff which is back from whatever it was waiting for sometimes gets lost on that list.

HTH.
Taxgeek

 

[DoubleDippin]

I add significant / critical @Waiting items to my tickler file. The others that aren't as critical or significant I re-evaluate during my weekly reviews.

Mike

 

[severance1970]

In the morning I don't even start on my in-basket until I've gone through each of my existing buckets, especially Waiting For, to make sure they're current. As long as you've built in the habit of looking at Waiting For at least once a day, things won't get too out of hand.

 

[Barry]

I review waiting fors during the weekly review. If I have a waiting for item that cannot wait for the weekly review, then it is really a next action such as: "ask Jim about the report" instead of "waiting for report." If I need to ask Jim about it on Thursday, then it goes on the calendar.

Just because you are waiting for something doesn't mean that the waiting for list is the best place for it. I think of that list as being just for items that are low urgency and I really can "just wait" rather than actively manage. Sometimes an item will sit on the waiting for list and be reviewed several times before being promoted to a next action when it becomes more urgent.

 

[Brent]

Excellent responses, all! As usual. Thanks very much.

 

[grt]

I have a @waiting for folder in my Outlook email. Under this folder I have a subfolder for each of my direct reports' names. When I meet with that person, I have a ready list of items to review and make sure there is progress if not completion.

Not only does it help me stay on top of things, (I hope) it tells them I care about what they are doing and any roadblocks they encounter!

grt

 

[severance1970]

Just because you are waiting for something doesn't mean that the waiting for list is the best place for it. I think of that list as being just for items that are low urgency and I really can "just wait" rather than actively manage.

For me it's less a question of urgency than of being conscious of what are in my buckets and ensuring hard edges between them. If I have a call to make, it goes on my calls list. If I've made the call and am waiting for a response, it goes on my waiting for list. Each day I review these and make intuitive judgements of whether or not a change of category is now called for ("Is this really still a waiting for, or should it go back on the calls list?"). People's schedules and standards for replying are too different for me to follow a set length of time to expect a reply, so rather than dismiss that intricacy I'd rather keep all of my transactions conscious during the week and close them at the first opportunity.

Hard landscape, of course, goes on the calendar, not the action or waiting for lists. Everything that's not hard landscape is managed in discretionary time.