Robert Mills

Getting Organised: Lists

One of the things I get asked most as a Studio Manager is how I organise myself, the team, clients and projects. The simple answer is lists. Without lists I’d be a less efficient Studio Manager because I have so much to remember for myself and other people that if it isn’t all recorded somewhere then it won’t all get done.

This leads to the second most popular question I get asked. What to do list app do you use? My answer to this often raises a few eyebrows, none. I’ve tried many but stuck with none.  Teux Deux worked well for organising my own tasks and I was a big fan of its simplicity and focus on the reason it existed, to help people make and manage lists. You don’t need an animated all singing all dancing app, you need to chuck info down quickly and Teux Deux allows for this. They have since rolled out other features too but for managing a team of 8 people it just isn’t scalable.

I’ve also tried Remember the Milk and more recently Clear. I had the same issues with the former, good for me but not for the team. The latter is a smasher of an app. It is simple, well designed and easy to use. I also admire they way they use colour to prioritise tasks (they call it the Heatmap). I’ll be using Clear for freelance work and to stay organised out side of work mainly because I like to use different tools in order to compare and contrast them to find the best one for my needs.

There’s no I in team but there is in list

It was becoming clear that most to do apps were aimed at organising the individual. Then along came Wunderlist. This is a wonderful tool because you can share lists with others and it became invaluable for creating snag lists for web projects and allowing the project team, both in the studio and client side, to manage the lists.

I started to use this for the team and I think it would have worked out long term but my issue was time. As well as the phone, the team in front of me and emails, I also have to update/respond to our bespoke internal project management system, spreadsheets, the whiteboard and Harvest. I didn’t need another tab open with more info to be updated. The trouble with it being online and shared with others too is that it had to be up to date at all times in case they referred to this and of course it would only be as up to date as I kept it.

On the odd occasion I work from home I find that Corkboard.me is a good way of sharing info with the guys back in the studio. You can generate a unique URL to access your Corkboard, add post it notes to this (I do a post it for each person), chuck their tasks on their and share the link. Then throughout the day we can all update it as things are completed and it updates instantly. It works in these cases but wouldn’t be suitable day to day when I am in the studio.

So where did that leave me?

Having reviewed a few options I decided to bypass all online/app options and resort to a tried and tested method … pen and paper!

There, I said it. At the start of the week I write a list. I put the name of my fellow Blueggers and their tasks beneath their name. This is every job they are working on. Then in morning catch up I go through the lists and across the course of the week I update them by crossing off completed jobs, adding new ones and having little methods such as a ‘c’ in a circle to show a job is ‘with client’.

The reason why this works for me is that I have all the tasks on one page and by having to physically write things down and keeping it in front of me at all times I have a constant overview of studio activity at my fingertips, literally. I don’t need to share all that info with the whole team, they only need to know their priorities for the day. I like having an actual list that I can fold, hold and doodle on.

It also means I can take the list with me. Sure, you can do this with apps on your mobile of course but I really believe you can’t beat pen and paper for scribbling notes, capturing new to do items quickly and using it as a brain dump throughout the day. On the reverse side of the paper I make notes. Notes whilst I’m on the phone, reminders, phone numbers and so forth. I also don’t want a list to sync to other devices, this seems to regimented and again, probably works better on an individual basis when someone moves from a desktop machine to a handheld device.

At some point all the info on my paper list is transferred into the PM system but there’s something about having things written in front of me that helps me be more organised with greater recall on tasks and priorities. I appreciate that many apps do the same but in my experiences outlined above, updating these seem more labour intensive and more of a chore. The paper and pen method allows me to quickly note things, capture messages and write things do as they are emailed/shouted to me. Once it’s on the paper it won’t be forgotten.

If I ever lose that sheet of paper though … well maybe I should photocopy it for a backup!

That’s what works for me. Despite my best efforts and despite the lovely looking and easy to use to do apps that exist in abundance, I prefer the traditional methods. Have you tried any other to do list tools? If so, I’ d love to hear about them in the comments. You might have found the one I’ve been looking for.