Schedules instead of lists?

[TesTeq]

Here Getting past the post-retreat flop I've read:

the executive should be practising the art of using their schedule to manage all their future activities, following the most recent research. In her latest book, Dezhi Wu from the University of Southern Utah confirms that the most effective time managers make heavy use of schedules, and little use of lists.

Unfortunately, most local executives don't use calendars in this fashion, and instead schedule little more than appointments with other people.

Most use lists, but run into problems when they need to plan complex activities such as a new project that requires multiple dependent activities ranging over several months.

Using lists requires constant monitoring, and many do a poor job of frequently scanning them, resulting in major items falling through the cracks.

Do they know the GTD basics in Utah?

 

[mcogilvie]

Here Getting past the post-retreat flop I've read:

Do they know the GTD basics in Utah?

It took a little digging to figure out the reference. Dezhi Wu is an Asst. Prof at Southern Utah University, and has written a book entitled "Temporal Structures in Individual Time Management: Practices to Enhance Calendar Tool Design ". It's $255 on Amazon. I think I will have to live without it... me and my lists.

Although I have to admit that it probably is better if a poorly-organized exec is heavily scheduled, in order to focus his or her attention on particular decisions, especially if deciding is the perceived job function (rather than planning, leading, et cetera). That way the rest of the organization can get on with their work. Probably they need GTD to compensate for their exec with the gatekeeper mentality.

 

[John Forrister]

Only partly because of the price tag, I read reviews and excerpts rather than buying the book. It seems to be about one type of list - the calendar. That's an important type of list for most people, but by no means the only one. GTD is a much more comprehensive approach to list management, because it's about productive focus, not time management.

"Time management is really managing what we do, during time. But it’s easier for executives to say that time is what needs to be managed, rather than themselves."
from Time Management - What’s the Real Issue? – by David Allen

 

[mthar1]

Using lists requires constant monitoring, and many do a poor job of frequently scanning them, resulting in major items falling through the cracks.

Need I say more...

I would fail seriously at using my calendar too if I didn't actually check it regularly.

 

[BjornLjunggren]

Calender = We tool

I say the Calender is the ultimate "We" tool. If you have scheduled something with another person you put it in your calender. The calender is therefore a very important social tool, a good way to keep track of your commitments towards others.

But how about you? How about your own commitments to yourself? Here is where GTD comes in. I define GTD as two things. 1, the "I" tool. It is where you have your own commitments to yourself. 2, the "It" tool. It is where you manage all your projects/goals/visions , that magic (IT) that will transform you.

Then if you use these two powerful tools in life (Cal+GTD) you can make your own life to be the ultimate "You" tool. Make your life about THEM. Then you can change and influence other people and make their life better/more valuable and ultimately your own.

Life is good

 

[David Hoeffer]

I have access to the book mentioned (Temporal Structures...). There's a fair amount of humanities PhD level concepts, like "socially-constructed time", so I couldn't bring myself to read it in detail, but from what I could gather:

* the meat of the study is a set of correlation analysis performed on different characteristics of time management behavior. For example, procrastination behavior correlates negatively with meeting deadlines.
* none of these characteristics is about making lists
* keeping a schedule correlates with meeting deadlines
* the main focus of the study seems to be to provide ideas or a theoretical foundation for future calendaring software.

As somebody who tries to practice both rationality and GTD, I would be very interested in scientific arguments against GTD, as it could possibly help me to update my approach, but I can't really find them in this book, at least not after my rather cursory reading.

The book is available on safaribooksonline for those who have a subscription.

 

[Nicholas Hughes]

List is a list, but schedule is a list with time and due date. That is why schedule is more effective than list. If we only do the list, we may be get disorder and confusions finally. But with the time and due date, it will be clear that when to do and what to do.