Hello,
How detailed should next actions be? For example, if I have a task "Check functionality of updated apps" that I do after a software update, would it be better to have next action for each app, or just an umbrella next action? How would you recommend people handle this?
Thanks,
manynothings.
I find that periodically I start getting lazy... For example our annual holiday party is coming up and I have to write awards speeches. Out of sheer laziness and not doing the write thing I did setup a project which included
1. Select Recipients of Awards
2. Research Awards to Buy
3. Ask Marketing to Purchase Awards
4. Write Speeches
5. Print Speeches for Award Issuance
So #1-3 were okay. I got to #4 and the road block hit me real hard..... Because writing speeches means I am writing crappy generic speeches. I need to break this down:
1. Brainstorm talking points for each recipient
2. Bullet overarching theme of each award
3. Write First Draft of Speech (using my notes from above)
4. Review and tweak Speech to create Draft 2
In doing this I do some of the thinking about the content first. Writing speeches is a daunting task. Might take me 2 hours and it will be crappy. but brainstorming talking points for each recipient (and I would make that literally one next action for each recipient) might take 5-10 minutes per recipient and I can do them in different pockets of time and keep the project moving forward.
So long story to answer your question. I find that breaking down the next actions helps to move them. 99% of the time my procrastination comes in when I set a task too ambiguous and not specific enough.