TL,DR: I'm dangerously disorganized at work, and would love to hear about your method of organization and staying on top of tasks.
Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by.
Some context: I went into management consulting right after college, and remained there for 3-4 across 2 different firms. I recently transitioned to a small private equity shop.
I've never been the most organized person, and that has become more and more apparent each passing years. I've done fine at work, but with the higher responsibility level that comes with tenure in any field, in addition to the increased visibility and the need to be more aware of the high-level picture of the project - my lack of organization has begun to stress me out more and more. Now that I'm in PE, my lack of organization is threatening to drown me.
My MO to date has been to keep notes scattered across 2 different journals, random word documents, scratch pieces of paper, and post-it notes. Needless to say, it's a wonder I've gotten this far without letting anything major slip through the cracks (and trust me, it's come dangerously close too many times to count). I'm realizing that if I don't get this issue figured out, it's only a matter of time before I drop the ball on something huge.
I'd love to hear how you guys stay organized - both strategically, as well as tactically. I know different folks use a wide range of methods - some use OneNote, while others just keep a paper journal with everything in it.
Strategically - how do you prioritize? When additional items are added to your worklist on a daily basis, how do you remember to return to minor items from a discussion a day or a week ago? What is your overall record keeping method? How do you frame your organization method in your mind?
Tactically - what type of stuff specifically do you write down? How do you prioritize your lists? For example, if you use OneNote - do you keep lists on different sheets, all on the same sheet, do you keep multiple workbooks for one project, or have one notebook for all your projects? What tab names do you use? If you use a journal, how do you make sure you don't lose anything on previous days' entries? Etc. etc. etc.
ANY tips or advice would be helpful! Thank you in advance for your responses - really appreciate it.
It is a fairly simple website/app, but Trello has worked pretty well for me. I use it for a mix of personal/professional purposes.
You essentially create different cards for different tasks and can organize them into different categories. In my previous job, I would create a card for every engagement and organize them in rows by the manager who assigned it to me. I would write notes on the cards about any detail, like conversations w my manager on certain numbers to use, summaries of conversations with the client, updates on who is reviewing what, etc. You can also create deadlines that keep you on track and add colored labels (you create the label names), therefore you can customize it to your needs. I did not really edit stuff on the app, however I had it on my phone in case I was ever in my managers office and needed to pull up my latest notes on my phone. Actually worked pretty well. One of my managers used it as well and we could share cards on projects so that the both of us could edit it. This was very helpful but also came with a little less privacy.
Hope this helps. I have struggled with everything you mentioned above as well, so I am looking forward to some more helpful responses...
I like Todoist to track tasks. It's just a task tracker, but with some added bells and whistles (group by project, share with teammates, add notes, add emails, set due dates, set reminders) that make it more useful to me than Outlook's task list.
It has an outlook plug-in and a phone app that syncs, so it's always current across my devices. I basically use it as soon as I have that "oh, shit" feeling that I have too many tasks to follow up on than I can fit into my head at any given time. I can just jot down quick notes and categorize them by project by hashtag, or add a task from an email without interrupting workflow too much.
It's a great feeling to jump from a phone call, make a task, and send it to "Thursday" and have it vanish from your list and pop up a different day when you actually can get to it. Something about capturing it but also letting it out of your present mind is calming to me.
In any case, this helps me when I have 47 tasks across two deals to manage over the next couple days. I'm sure there are other apps/systems that work for others, and there's a whole "personal productivity" rabbit hole you can get going on if you start.
Had the same issue as stated above, but I have a more old school approach. I have a Italian leather folder, which I keep one pen, one manila folder, and a legal pad in. I carry this with me everywhere I go.
The manila folder has three blank sheets of printer paper in it that I use to write down "To Do Items." These items are larger items, like projects and work related items that I need to accomplish in the coming week. Accompanied with deadlines & dates.
The legal pad is used to take down notes involved with the nitty gritty details of those work items. Once I'm finished taking detailed notes on my legal pad I add these pages to the manila folder as appendixes.
I think whichever avenue you choose (old school or new school) you'll find that either will appropriately keep you organized if you develop a firm regiment. The huge key here is to not deviate from your regiment by taking notes on whatever else is handy.
I've totally paused meetings with my MD to grab my manila folder from my office.
How do you stay organized at work (both in general and on action item lists)? (Originally Posted: 02/19/2018)
Hi monkeys! Thanks for stopping by.
Some context: I recruited into management consulting right after college, and remained there for 3-4 across 2 different firms. I recently made the jump to a small private equity shop.
I've never been the most organized person, and that has become more and more apparent each passing years. Don't get me wrong - I've done fine at work - but with the increasing responsibility that comes with remaining in any field, along with the higher amount of visibility and need to keep abreast of the high-level picture of the project - my lack of organization has begun to stress me out more and more. Now that I'm in PE, my lack of organization is threatening to drown me.
My MO to date has been to keep notes scattered across 2 different journals, random word documents, scratch pieces of paper, and post-it notes. Needless to say, it's a wonder I've gotten this far without letting anything major slip through the cracks (and trust me, it's come dangerously close to that a number of times). I'm realizing that if I don't get this shored up, it's only a matter of time before I drop the ball on something huge.
I'd love to hear how you guys stay organized - both strategically, as well as tactically. I know a lot of folks use OneNote, while others just keep one journal with everything in it.
Strategically - how do you prioritize? When additional items are added to your worklist on a daily basis, how do you remember to return to minor items from a discussion a day or a week ago? What is your overall record keeping method? How do you frame your organization method in your mind?
Tactically - what type of stuff specifically do you write down? How do you prioritize your lists? If you use OneNote - do you keep lists on different sheets, all on the same sheet, do you keep multiple workbooks for one project, or have one notebook for all your projects? What tab names do you use? If you use a journal, how do you make sure you don't lose anything on previous days' entries? Etc. etc. etc.
ANY tips or advice would be helpful! Thank you in advance for your responses - really appreciate it.