organization strategies 2

[Liftingengineer]

I am a younger engineer who works at a small facility. My job is so varied and I am always pulled in different directions. I am constantly given more work than I can handle, which is probably common so I am not complaining. My question is how do you engineers who have earn their gray hairs keep there work organized? Also how do you prioritize what is important to complete and what you can merely push to the side?

I've got a PHD is Broscience

 

[IRstuff]

I've got a coworker that logs each and every assignment into his notebook, when someone comes along with a new assignment, he pulls out his notebook and asks, "which assignment do you want me to slip?"

Priorities are established by your customers, not you. If you need to juggle, then you need to get consensus from your customers for schedule relief.

TTFN
faq731-376

 

[StevenHPerry]

There are 30+ year people who still struggle with this. It's a habit. Learn and practice it now.

David Allen - Getting Things Done
Stephen Covey - First Things First
Peter Drucker - The Effective Executive

[I imagine I'll get a few snarky remarks from the cynics for listing those books... but they are worth a read, even if you are intensely cynical.]

The 2x2 Importance vs Urgency matrix is the key for me. It's amazing to me how many people I've worked with who do not understand the difference between the two terms. You can find the matrix at

http://binged.it/10Z52fP

How do you determine where things fit in the matrix?

Important vs not-important: Communicate with your boss. Know what you are expected to accomplish. Will you be dinged significantly for ignoring defect notifications from the shop? Are you graded on relationships with vendors (directly or indirectly)? Are you expected to make copies and fetch coffee in order to keep your boss more productive? What can you do that will make the most money for the company?

Urgent vs non-urgent: You could let everything that's not obviously urgent sit "in suspense" and then file accordingly if no one follows up within x number of weeks.

Everyone leaves the office with work undone. You just need to make sure that you get the right things done.

 

[dbooker630]

I still use a Franklin Planner, I have had one for 25 years now. I still like to write down what I have to do and view what is not yet done on paper. The Covey book is a good place to start.

 

[ctopher]

I have an Excel spreadsheet that I keep updated on the server. My boss can look at it anytime and make comments.

Chris
SolidWorks 11
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[zdas04]

Time management is an intensely personal thing. I use "management by strata" (i.e., I pile the next thing on top of the last thing until I need the last thing again), it is messy, not very efficient and amazingly easy to let important things slip, but I have never been able to sustain any other method for more than a day. I've read all the books that StevenHPerry recommended and they are all well written and full of useful information. I've probably read 20 other books on time management and they all make sense and I have vowed to implement many of their ideas a hundred times, none of the vows has lasted a whole week.

I know people who plan their life around their DayTimer (or Franklin Planner). I've had a dozen of them over the years. Tried every kind of calendar they sell (a LOT of calendar formats) and none of them stayed up to date for more than a few days. When I started my business I purchased a log book and promised myself I would record every phone conversation, project details, etc. Nine years later it is still on my desk (somewhere under all this paper) and I've filled up 2 pages. I had a boss once who insisted that all his Engineers used a DayTimer. About 1/4 of the guys embraced it and did a better job of time management. about half went through the motions and saw the stupid thing as just another obligation that did nothing for them. The rest carried them from place to place and most of us couldn't tell you even if there was an ink pen inside it.

What I'm trying to say is it never hurts to learn time management techniques. You may find a gem that makes it all worth while (e.g., one of the books I read said "if meeting does not have an agenda it it worthless. If the agenda is not followed the meeting has no chance of success. In either of these cases just leave." I followed that advice to the letter for the last 5 years I worked for a big company and it got me out of hundreds of hours ow mind numbing stupidity--work the time to read all the books.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
Remember: y'r mr lkly t gt a usfl rspns f y use

 

[macmet]

I use Outlook and assign time as necessary. I put deadlines in it and reminders for deadlines. It can be helpful.

I find it only works if I do a reasonable job keeping up to date. If I fall way behind I end up with too many alerts and it all just blends together.

 

[patprimmer]

This is a rare occasion where I dissagre with IR.

It is you and only you who sets your priorities.

Your decision will be strongly influenced by others, but eventually you decide as to what or whose pressure you will yeild to and whos you will ignore or put off.

There will be times when more than one customer will demand 100% of your time at the same time. Obviously if you allocate your time at more than 100% you are cheating somewhere or paying someone lip service. That is fine if that is YOUR decision, but it is also you who will face the consequences.

Often your choice is what consequences you choose to face.

Trying to please all can easily result in pleasing none. It's often a game of brinksmanship.

Another rule is to resist pressure to over promise and always under promise no matter what the pressure, then over deliver.

Regards
Pat
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[KENAT]

I've tried a few different methods and usually end up just muddling through.

I'll occasionally discuss my priorities with my manager but even if we manage to set some they usually only stand for a few days!

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[zdas04]

Once (before I had kids) I was working 70 hours a week in the office and taking stuff home. I had 9 active projects that all hit critical stages at the same time. I was stretched pretty thin and feeling a bit sorry for myself. My boss walked into my office and dropped off a new project with a short fuse. I threw him the list of what I was working on and asked what slips. He said the all time classic line "We have nights and we have weekends". I said nothing, but left the office at quitting time and joined a gym (my wife's regular quitting time was almost 2 hours after mine and we were carpooling). Starting that day I worked 40 hours a week. If I traveled, I took comp time. I did that for a year. At the end of the year I was EXACTLY as far behind as I was at the beginning of the year. Exactly. Nothing fell off the tracks. I didn't get fired (in fact I got a really good performance review and a good raise that year). I did get bored as hell. On the anniversary of the "we got nights ..." statement I didn't go to the gym and withing a few weeks I was back to 70 hours/week, but it was because I'm happiest when I have some pressure in the system.

The point is that, like Pat said, you create your own priorities, and you need to create them in a way that keeps you whole.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.

 

[mechengdude]

This may seem overly simplified but theres a lot to it. Do this one thing.

Concern yourself with what your supervisor deems important.

 

[77JQX]

Mechengdude hits it on the head. I do (1) what the boss wants, (2) what I need to do to keep other people busy, and (3) whatever is at the top of my inbox. I've been successful using Outlook to schedule follow-ups and tasks, but dayplanners never worked for me. One of the best things I've had to do was write weekly reports to my supervisor about my activities. That really helped me to focus my attention and keep things moving forward on multiple fronts. Since I quit working for that supervisor, I gave that up - I'd recommend it, but I don't have the discipline to do it myself.

 

[Jboggs]

Ditto Mechengdude!
Cannot emphasize this enough. Your department has several customers, but you have only one - your boss. I've worked both sides of that fence for many years. As a worker, people that ask for your help understand when you say something like, "I'd like to get right on that. Sounds like fun. But I need you to clear it with my boss first. I can get started as soon as he tells me to." As a boss, I am working under an assumption that I know what my people are doing, and about when they will be done. I am not happy to discover that they are working on something else that I had no knowledge of. I have instructed engineers that worked for me in the past to always divert all requests through me.

You will also find that not everyone will get the same priority from your boss. He has a larger view than you do, and his job is to manage dept resources to achieve certain objectives. Sometimes that means not working on a project that otherwise might sound good to you.

You will also find that diverting them to your boss is an EXCELLENT way of finding out how important they really think their own request is. Read that again. You will see many projects just "disappear" that way.

 

[KENAT]

That only works for some direct bosses. For reasons various your boss may not always have the best idea of what is most critical etc.

So sure, if your boss is on top of things and you don't know better then rely wholly on them.

However, as you get more experience you may find you occasionally have a better idea of what's really the priority than your boss.

Of course, the consequences of second guessing your boss and getting it wrong can be unpleasant.

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[truckandbus]

I have two maxims tacked to my office wall:

Prioritisation List
1) What the boss tells me to 'drop everything' and do 'now'
2) Work that I like from people that I like
3) Work that I don't like from people that I like
4) Work that I like from people people that I don't like
5) Work that I don't like from people that I don't like
6) Work from people that I want to piss off

For Tasks Assigned by Email
1) When task arrives, do not open the email. the bold subject line serves as a reminder that it is something that you need to attend to.
2) Eventually, the unopened task will fall off the bottom of the inbox's first screen
3) The assigner may send a 'reminder' email at some point. Apply step 1) to this as well
4) If the task was important, the assigner will either: a) come see you in person, or b) assign the task to someone else
5) If not, then it obviously wasn't that important in the first place

A bit tongue in cheek? Sure, but it illustrates the point others have made in that there will always be work to do and at some point you develop the knack of knowing what you HAVE to do versus what you want to do.

This covers the day to day situations. When you get into project work you need to fall back to manpower planning and deciding if Project B is the priority, Project A and Project C move out or you get more resources to keep A and C on track.

 

[zdas04]

I think that Today's Dilbert is on point.



David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.

 

[Liftingengineer]

Thanks everyone for the tips. I try and focus on what my boss gives me, but essentially my customers is the production of the plant, and the safety/environment of the community. Also I will take in account how much I get bugged about the project. If they are bugging me a lot, well I can guess my customer thinks it is important. I will also try Stephen Covey’s Book for some tips to keep organized.

What do people think about the Franklin Planners? I have always been to “lazy” to use one hah ha ha


I've got a PHD is Broscience