the WF list

[suzanne1]

1) I think the idea of the waiting for list is great to have an overview.
However, I don't succeed in writing down everything I'm waiting for. There are so many little things you delegate... Do you really write down everything? Or do you only write down things you delegate that are really important?
I think it is not easy to learn the habit of writing down all these things. waiting for.

 

[Oogiem]

I don't succeed in writing down everything I'm waiting for. There are so many little things you delegate... Do you really write down everything

I'm bad at this as well and it's come back to bite me on occasion. I sort of assumed that things I asked to be done would be so I just dropped them and then a few months later discovered I was missing some critical info when it came time to re-activate a waiting project. So A goal for 2010 is to really develop the write down my waiting fors habit.

Or in my case figure out how to do it conveniently in Omnifocus.

 

[GTDWorks]

I pretty well write it all down - but I confess that there are some people who always deliver and so I don't track their smaller delegated items as closely as I do others.

 

[clango]

delgate and waiting for

1) I think the idea of the waiting for list is great to have an overview.
However, I don't succeed in writing down everything I'm waiting for. There are so many little things you delegate... Do you really write down everything? Or do you only write down things you delegate that are really important?
I think it is not easy to learn the habit of writing down all these things. waiting for.

I think that if you delegate, you expect a feedback, so a waiting for list could help more we could think because other are not, generally, so organized...

 

[rangi500]

I've been in the same company for about 6 years and have come to realise that certain people don't need to go on my WF list, because when I ask them to do something, I can honestly trust that they will get back to me, so I can just leave it with them. People I haven't worked with before will always go on the list, as do people I've learned need reminding about things in their court.

 

[kewms]

I don't use a Waiting For list. If I need to track it, then there's a Next Action or Tickler item for me somewhere, and I track that.

Katherine

 

[jasont]

Waiting for vs. Project Delegated

For what it's worth,

I have 10 direct reports and utilize the projects delegated list extensively. My waiting for list was getting out of control and the projects delegated really helped.

Basically, waiting for is specific to single action items. I put a lot of emails in this context (waiting for a simple reply from someone).

Projects delegated is for those larger items: direct report is putting together a proposal for a client. This allows me to review the projects delegated and then, as needed add this to an agenda item: "discuss with Bob the 'specific company' proposal."

This kind of helps to not have to write everything down, but still capture the key pieces that I don't want to fall through the cracks.

As an aside (and consistent with the other posts), some people, due to their specific needs, require more consistent capture of the items they have outstanding. Simply put, some people are more reliable than others ;-)

 

[ellobogrande]

Track *EVERYTHING* whether you trust your delegates or not

I track everything that I'm waiting for someone else to do for me--trusted or not. Like any next actions they represent bookmarks on my projects. If I didn't track them, I'd have lots of orphaned projects that would go stale.

If I delegated projects to other people I would certainly track them in some way. Even with the most reliable people the unexpected happens and suddenly they may not be able to complete the work that I delegated to them, but I'm still responsible for getting it done. Last thing I want is to come into the office one day and find my head on the chopping block because something I delegated without tracking didn't get done.

Anytime delegation is involved I try to use e-mail to at least initially set up the agreement. That way I have something to track. I think most cases where @Waiting For items are not generated is when delegation is done verbally. However, if you are tracking your projects as you should and do a weekly review, you should be able to identify missing @Waiting For actions without fail.

 

[wilsonallen01]

Don't Trust Anybody..

Hey I would like to give some suggestion that no need to get afraid from anybody...
They are just like as you are so do not get afraid from anybody...

Thanks

 

[Oogiem]

I don't use a Waiting For list. If I need to track it, then there's a Next Action or Tickler item for me somewhere, and I track that.

I like this approach. I think I'm going to try to add some next actions/ticklers for the things I am waiting for and see if that works better for me than a separate list.

 

[mcogilvie]

1) I think the idea of the waiting for list is great to have an overview.
However, I don't succeed in writing down everything I'm waiting for. There are so many little things you delegate... Do you really write down everything? Or do you only write down things you delegate that are really important?
I think it is not easy to learn the habit of writing down all these things. waiting for.

I think it depends on the nature of your work. I typically don't write down wf's associated with short-term items and with people I see every day. This is especially true for colleagues. Situations can be very fluid, and if it's not my project, I'm probably not waiting for it. With staff, I typically would not track things I expect to see shortly, such as "please make 20 copies and take it to Room 245 asap."