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Operating Cadence

Task management

Day do day management of tasks

Here I explain how do I manage my day to day flow of tasks. I use todoist app which is great to put dates into tasks. Here I get into detail on:

1) Task management processs - definition of tasks and prioritization

2) Matrix of types of tasks - how to identify different types of tasks and how to group them together

Task management proces

3-tier task

I have 3 different tiers of tasks which have their own tags in todoist.

Priority for the day - Today

Must dos for today, have to stay late if needed be

Need to be well defined

how much time it takes

is it well defined

Refined every week in

Week Journal⁠

and in the morning review of the day

Backlog - @backlog

List of tasks that are important to do but not urgent, not in today todo list but should be the ones

Need to be prioritized

if has specific deadline put there with 1 week before / add buffer

Add a deadline if I want to make sure I review by certain date

Ideas for projects

Big ideas that should become projects

reviewed every week and moved to proper projects when prioritized

ADHD principles of a task - how to define well a task

🧠 Make the task SMART

Specific: need to know what the outcome is exactly

Measurable: outcome is obvious, quantifiable and verifiable

Achievable: make sure the goal is realistic in the timeframe

Realistic: even if you can achieve it, should you?

Time-bound: when are you completing it

🎁 Rewarding

Make sure you know what is the reward in the end

Break it into small rewards in the middle if task is long

Make the task creative - one option is to put colores

🏃 Easy to start - Chunking into different tasks

Start is the hardest part

Break it into small sub-tasks, and create a subtask that is very easy to start to get going (SPS: smallest possible step)

💯 Aim for 80% completion, not 100% perfetion

what 80% would look like?

👬 👭 Accountability

Make it visible to others so it increase your motivation

Find a work partner for the parts of work that are less motivating to keep you on track

Matrix of type of tasks groups

When to group tasks

Cognitive load - if a recipe is smth you know well you might be able to listen to podcast, if is complicated you might need full attention

Task Types

Planning tasks

Require breaking tasks into smaller steps and planning how much time something will take

Examples: preparing a meeting; planning a project, planning the day

Pure execution tasks

Methodical (finite steps)

No need to think just keep pushing through

Examples: Paying a bill, clean dishes, buying something online

Deep thinking / “flow” tasks

Require high level of focus and concentration in that task. Goal is clear but requires deep thinking, getting into a flow state

Trial and error (simulations)

Eg. Interview case study; Coding

Mind wandering / Research tasks

get inspiration by reading somethings, or listening to something. no concrete goal

Insightful (creativity; out-of-the-box thinking; innovation)

eg. listening to some classes as inspiration, listening to a podcast or reading an article

Learning tasks

require focus on what I want to take out of that

Shifting the way your mind is set up to think (mindset)

eg. React course, flask course

Meetings - attending

require energy of being present of listen

Meetings - leading / 1:1

require energy to lead the session

Other type of tasks

prepare coding eg. break down elevator simulator architecture - is this deep work or

Ways to execute tasks

Where?

Home - at desk

Home - at standing desk

Home - balcony

At Café

Office

Sound

No sound (noise cancelling)

Ambient sound

Podcast

Music

Time of day

First thing of morning

Morning

After lunch

Afternoon

Evening / after dinner

Rabbit hole tasks 🐰 🕳️

how to notice a rabbit hole

when you lose sense of big picture and end up spending too much time in one tasks

when the timer ends you check if you are further from when you started

for not straighfoward tasks make sure that you budget time to planning the task itself

for some tasks that you discover at the time know when you

stop and reanalyze the situation; make sure you put time to planning

readjust the prioritization

Trigger: you went into a rabbit hole; losing sense of 🐰 🕳️ ; slamdunk; task requires planning time

How to deal with rabbit holes

option 1: make it task require planning (readjust/ deprioritize task)

option 2: deprioritize the task and move on

Rubik Cube Task 🧊

Definition

Task is lengthy and will take time to develop, specially if you just try trial and error

You don’t know how to do it yet (there is no defined process)

Task is something that was already solved by someone else (there is advantages in learning the best practice)

Approach

Define the minimum requirements you want for the task

Put a brake before execution: set a timer to do research upfront (minimum time)

Start with list of questions you want to answer in the researrch

Define the process that you are going to adopt for the task

Be your own critique of the process

What are the flaws? What would you recommend if someone was presenting. you this plan

Day do day management of tasks

Task management proces

3-tier task

ADHD principles of a task - how to define well a task

Matrix of type of tasks groups

When to group tasks

Task Types

Ways to execute tasks

Rabbit hole tasks 🐰 🕳️

Rubik Cube Task 🧊

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