46. PROJECT PLANS IN 3RD STAGE OF MANAGING WORKFLOW FOR BUSINESS

Project Plans and Support Materials are relevant information to help you implement your projects and that you can organize by theme or topic. For next action categories, you need 1) a Calendar and 2) a Next Actions List. A Calendar is where you put three things: Time specific actions – things you need to do at a specific time (appointments, etc) Day-specific actions – things you need to do on a specific day (reports, calls, etc) but not necessarily at a specific time Day-specific information – things you need to know on a specific day (flight schedules, directions for appointments, etc) .

The calendar should be sacred territory. If you write something there, it must get done that day or not at all. The only rewriting should be for changed appointments. The ‘Next Actions’ list is where you put all the longer-than-two-minutes, non-delegatable action you have identified, which you need to do but not on any given time or day, and therefore does not need to go in your calendar. If you have only 20 or 30 of these, you can put them all in one files. But if you have more, it’s better to subdivide them into categories, such as ‘Calls’, ‘Project Head Questions’, etc.

You will also need a “Waiting for” list for all the items that you have placed in the “delegate” category, and that someone else needs to do before you can take action. After you have made all these lists, you will have to set up a personal organization system. it should be done at the moment it is defined. If the action takes longer than two minutes, ask yourself if you’re the right person to do it. If the answer is no, delegate it. If the action takes longer than two minutes, and you’re the right person to do.

Companies are continuously evolving and people have to change and evolve to keep up. While your parents held the same jobs for forty or fifty years, most people these days are more like free agents, and change jobs and careers several times does not need to go in your calendar. If you have only 20 or 30 of these, you can put them all in one files. But if you have more, it’s better to subdivide them into categories, such as ‘Calls’, ‘Project Head Questions’, etc.