Where do you track project deadlines?

E

ero213

Registered
Hi everyone,

I am a video producer and I often have multiple projects going at any one time. I've found the project planning software tomsplanner.com to be very useful for planning and tracking multiple projects. It's essentially a gantt chart program but its added usefulness is that I can chart out several projects next to each other and make sure that certain phases of projects aren't overlapping with each other (eg video editing which requires total attention and has to be done to the exclusion of other production activities.)

These are essentially project plans but I've also decided it would be a good idea to track the deadlines for active projects and subprojects in another location where I'll see them more frequently. Do people prefer tracking these deadlines on their calendar or next to the projects in their list?

I'm favoring the second option because I already have the deadlines tracked on the "project calendar" (ie gantt chart)

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks,

Eric
 
Suelin23

Suelin23

Registered
I think the answer for this will be dependent on the tool you are using for your lists.
I am using Pocket Informant on the iPhone, and I can assign actions to projects and contexts, if they have neither they stay in the inbox. I like to put deadlines in the calendar (Pocket Informant includes a calendar as well) but I also assign them to a project and a context - DL (for deadline). That way I can see them when I'm looking at my project actions, and also see all the deadlines for all projects together just by looking at the DL context. Seeing all your deadlines together is good, you can get a good feel for whether you are overcommitted or not, and if it is too full you need to review priorities and the gantt charts to see if it is actually possible to do it all.
 
E

ero213

Registered
I use a hybrid paper-digital system.

-5x7 Notecards for projects and next actions
-GCal as my "hard landscape" calendar
-Remember the milk as digital tickler
-tomsplanner.com for project planning/scheduling
-Google docs for various other lists, horizons, checklists, etc.

Also, I should add that I don't own a smart phone.

EO
 
mcogilvie

mcogilvie

Registered
I'm using OmniFocus, which is a pretty robust tool.
I have a Dates context, broken down into:

TIcklers- deadlines
Events- events that need some prep:
Tentative- things I will probably do
Possible- usually recreational stuff with horizons, like museum shows

I usually set a Tickler deadline within a project, rather than making the project due, because I don't want all my actions on the project going due four days before the project is due. It sounds a little complicated but it's not if you grow organically into it.
 
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