Tools and Getting Things Done

Ever since I began my career in product management, the complexities of my role have evolved with time —

Leading a single project --> managing multiple projects

Working with a single team --> multiple teams of stakeholders

Individual contributor --> team manager

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To keep up, the way I manage work has also evolved.

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The evolution of my getting-things-done methodology:

1. Email/Slack ✉️

Workday largely dictated by emails and messages

Features

• Fosters the culture of collaboration

• Build social capital and trust with team

Problems

• Not all emails/messages require immediate attention

• Massive source of distraction

This had started with the objective of projecting myself as the “always available” guy. I was busy, but not outcome driven.

Realization

This is what everyone wants me to work on

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2. To Do List 📝

Workday largely dictated by things I feel are important

Features

• Curated list of tasks from email, messages, etc.

• Easy to add and maintain

Problems

• List is ever growing

• No visibility on completion date

At one point, I was clocking 60-80 hour workweek for several weeks. This wasn’t sustainable. When I looked back, I hadn’t accomplished enough despite having spent too much time working.

Realization

• Unable to quantify time spent on tasks

• Spending more than expected time on few tasks was putting me behind on others

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3. Calendar 🗓️

Workday largely dictated by, well… the time I spend at work

Features

• Forces prioritization of tasks depending on importance and bandwidth

• A ledger of time spent

Problems

• Under-estimating time for a task

• Sticking to planned schedule

Solution

• Learn and optimize for future

• Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough

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I haven’t encountered too many issues with this system just yet. Is there room to get better? I’m sure!

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Will this work well for you? Productivity is highly personal, so maybe or maybe not!