HOW TO GET ORGANIZE ? 2

[gomirage]

What are the tips and things that you use to get yourself organize. I am not really what you call an orhanized person. Can't find my stuff at home and at work. Always behind my schedules and can't deliver when needed. To keep my job i have to put in lots off hours than necessary. I am affraid this will cost me my job. I always try to prioritize but always find myself doing things not on my to-do list.

What are daily efficiency and focusing tips you use or see people use in engineering ?

chris

 

[corus]

At work I downloaded post-it stickers for the computer which I make reminder notes on the screen. These are better than the normal yellow post-it stickers as those tend to fall off things with all the dust and muck that tends to collect around me. Another tip is not to tidy up, as you can tell.

corus

 

[ctopher]

Get a filing cabinet and keep each project in seperate folders. And subfolders for email, refernce, etc. The same goes for your PC. Put together a seperate folder that is easy to get to that has a running time you spend on each project. This helps me, maybe others have better ideas.

 

[swertel]

Piles, stacks, and cantilevered columns. OK, maybe not the last one.

I have my job box. I go through it every morning and prioritize that jobs based on due date, estimated time to completion, and dependancies (i.e. someone else depends on me finishing this work so they can get started). I then work through each item from the top of the stack.

How do I handle interruptions? Same way, essentially.

If the interruption can be satisfied immediately, I take care of it so the person making the request can continue working (the dependancy priority). If not, I remember from the morning review what my workload is and I create a placeholder (hand written note, printed email message) and place it in the correct location within the stack.

Obviously, priorities change. I may have a task that is #6 on my list of things to do. Someone may come in asking about it and stating that they need it sooner (schedule change, requirements change, whatever the reason). I simply find that place holder and move it higher on the stack.

--Scott

For some pleasure reading, try FAQ731-376

 

[COKA]

I have folders that are identified from Monday through Friday. Every time I have a job that needs to be done, I find out how urgent it is. If your boss keeps giving you stuff that are always a priority, then ask him if it is more ugent then the Project "A" that he gave you last night, or the Project "B" that he gave you this morning. He will understand. Once I have a due date, I split my work per folders. I also have a "TO DO" pad where I put everything that I have to do for the day.

Coka

 

[EngJW]

I live by the clock. Get up the same time every morning and have a routine that never varies. I start the car the same time and arrive at work at the same time, with a little extra built in to allow for traffic jams or stopping for gas. I am almost never late.

This is something I never planned. It just comes naturally and I try to follow the same principal at work, even though things are less predictable. I have worked in a number of places where people putzed around all week and then by Friday afternoon decided they had to work the weekend. I hardly ever work overtime, and in my 30 years of engineering I have never worked an hour of overtime that was necessary or productive- only because the boss decided we had to.

Also at work, I try to work on things before they are due and I tend not to volunteer or take on more than I can handle. That is a failing, probably. I guess I value my private life more than status, money, or title.

Sorry about all this rambling,
John Woodward

 

[xnuke]

I'm a calendar person. I put deadlines/project milestones on my calendar when I receive them, and reminders go on there prior to the deadlines so I have plenty of warning. I check my calendar several times each day, but the most important times are at the beginning and end of each day.

I am also a file person. Each project has a permanent file and a portable binder. Everything goes into the file; only copies of the stuff I need for the next few days/milestone go into the binder (the originals stay in the file). I take 20 minutes at the end of each day to add to my project notes for each job so I can stay on top of things. My file/binder has four subdivisions: prepwork, design, construction, and commissioning. Oh, and my project notes stay on top of the prepwork tab.

It's not easy, but when you're a controls engineer trying to keep track of thousands of instruments and I/O points for a job, it helps to put the time into organization. I'm much more efficient during the rest of my time, and my flaw occurences stay really low due to the attention to detail put in while organizing.

xnuke

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[MadMango]

First I say you'd have to clean up your workspace, just so you know what you have, and what position you are in work-load wise.

Use folders, 3-ring binders, etc to organize what you didn't throw in the trash during your clean-up.

Try to finish one project at a time. If you try to dig 5 holes at the same time, one shovel of dirt from each hole, you'll never get a single one dug to the depth you need.

Communicate your current workload. Let people know that if you take on other things, it will effect the due dates of previous items. Also, ask for assistance when you are in over your head.

Use and in-box for tasks (physical or electronic), first in, first out.

Ray Reynolds
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[Tobalcane]

In essence, everybody has a system that works for them; you just have to figure out what works for you. I know a guy that there whole office is a filing cabinet. You can walk in and ask for data from November 5, 1985 and he would go in and fumble around and whip out the data that you requested.

I have a three platform system. One platform is my PDA IPAQ Pocket PC. My PDA synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook, so if I’m at my desk, on the floor, or at a meeting I have all dates, telephone numbers, and tasks at my finger tips. Microsoft Outlook has a task manager where you can organize your task and prioritize as you see fit. I work across five programs so the way I have it set up is by program and under each program I list the task that has to be done to get a job done. The big plus is that my PDA has excel spread sheets. I do a lot of redundant engineering calculations using excel spread sheets. Another feature is that the PDA has Microsoft Word. I can down load parts of specs that I care about and reference them when I need them.

The second platform is my engineering note book. For every task, I allocate pages for it and write down everything pertaining to that task (notes, drawings, people that I talk to, hand calculations, rational of my final answer). For every task that is still active, I keep the important papers in that task section. Once the task is done, I put the papers in the three ring binder.

The final third platform is my three ring binder. This is the catch all. I have a three ring binder per program. Each section of my binder is correlated with the task in my engineering note book. So all of the paper work, drawings, memos, other peoples hand calculations,…etc goes in the three ring binder per task. I like the three ring binder because I can flip thru the paper work like a book on my desk when I’m looking for something versus opening up a drawer and thumbing thru the folders.

I can only work on three things at a time. So I only prioritize from 1 to 3, one being the highest. I work on one till I can’t go no more. Then I work on two till ether I can work on one again or two stalls and then I go to three. Most of the time when I’m half way thru three, one becomes workable again and continue with one. I guess you have to be set on your priority list and try to stick to it, the only person that can change it is your boss.


Go Mechanical Engineering
Tobalcane

 

[GregLocock]

I am not particularly organised, many of the ideas above are what I do as well.

1) A separate physical folder and one computer directory for each sub project.

2) I can only really work on one big project at once, with a couple of little ones to fill in the holes. If I am juggling several jobs I work on the most important one until I get stuck, ring the person who needs to find out the next piece of info, and remind them and the task originator that they are holding the baby, then go on through each folder in the same fashion. This is not ideal.

3) I don't know any general guidelines for prioritising, I know our process pretty well, so it is usually 'obvious' to me what the next high priority task is. If the workload begins to look ridiculous then I'll sit down with my supervisor and put a work plan together. He then decides whether to hire more help based on that. I don't do physical overtime, but I noodle away at interesting problems in my own time, obviously. In my experience 50% of the things I am asked to do are more due to laziness on the part of the requester, than a carefully though through plan. If I think a job doesn't need doing or should be done another way, I tell them. If they don't like the answer they can talk to my supervisor. He has yet to give the wrong answer!







Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[MortenA]

Theres many good advice here with practical tips.

But maybe you need to get to the core of the problem: You are overloaded? Maybe you should try to prioritice the work that you say YES to and decide to say NO sometimes?

Anyway a pratical advice that a rather disorganised fellow such as myself has benifitted from is a thing called "mind map".

There are a lot out there re. the subject but tits invented by a fellow named Tony Buzan. The book on the subject is just called "mind map" and you can get it at amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_2/103-9455100-8061444?v=glance&s=books

Its a rather big book considering that its a quite simple technique. It has however worked well with me in getting a task organised and in other areas.

I take you are not from an english speaking country (neither am I) - but i dont know if the book is translated into other languages.

Best regards

Morten Andersen

 

[epoisses]

It depends on what kind of person you are and what kind of job you have... but generally speaking you should:
1) prioritize
2) schedule
3) do the work
Take time for all 3 of them. Use a to-do list or an agenda or whatever you prefer. Try to avoid being interrupted by others as well as by yourself (e.g. don't open new emails as they arrive but once a day).
Get rid of any work you don't have time for. You may think this is difficult but it is easier than trying to DO work that you don't have time for...
Lastly and obviously, keep your desk organised.

 

[PSE]

Tobalcane is correct in stating that you will have to find a system that works for you. Otherwise you will not use it for long. Use a combination of tools and priorities that makes sense for your type of work.

The number 1 tool that I use either physically or electronically is the trash can. There is a lot of stuff that crosses most everyones desk that they do not even need to look at. When I look at something I have 4 choices to make.

Trash it
Read/skim it
Respond to it
Archive it

The basic priority hierarchy that I use. "Cash flow" is the true engineering work that affects the bottom line. Since I work on multiple projects their priorities tend to be in flux based upon other peoples schedules or available resources. I do create a file for each project and jump between them as needed.

Safety/Compliance
Cash flow - immediate impact first then longer term jobs
Beauracratic

Regards,

 

[schwarz]

gomirage,
"I always try to prioritize but always find myself doing things not on my to-do list."
Make a list of tasks on paper. Mark 'A' in red for highest priority immediate deadline tasks( max. 3). mark 'B' in yellow for high priority longer deadline (max. 3). Cross out everything else.

Work on 1-2 'A' tasks in your most productive & focussed time say mornings . Don't even look at any other thing , avoid phone calls, e-mail reading etc.
Work on other 'A' & 'B' tasks concurrent with interruptions handling in rest of the day.
Use trash can procedure of PSE at end of day.

Follow same procedure at home.
Keep technical data like formulae, tables easily accessible. Place /create electronic or paper doc in right folder FIRST time itself.
I use mobile phone reminder feature for critical personal/workplace tasks.

best of luck.

 

[MadMango]

Something that has helped me and may be relevant to this discussion, it has to do with how many hours you actually plan for in a normal work day. I use to be under the gun and behind schedule often. I was constantly underestimating the time it would take me to complete tasks, or so I thought. In truth my problem was I did not take into account all the “time wasters” that pop-up during a normal day.

-Walking from my desk to the prototype lab
-General “How ya doing?” conversations
-Coffee runs waiting for an analysis to complete
-Pacing the manufacturing floor for parts
-Quick, impromptu meetings

Then I was told to try scheduling things using a base 4-hour day. So if I thought a task would take me 1 day (8hrs right?), I would schedule it for 2 days (two 4 hrs days). If I thought something would take me 3 days… yup, I’d schedule for 6 days.

Of course this only works with minor projects and tasks that pop-up from time to time. It may help get a handle on the small tasks that might be thrown at you. For long term projects, I still prefer to use MS Projects, and detail the schedule as much as possible, using accurate time tables.

Ray Reynolds
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[gomirage]

It is a really pleasure to read your advices. I will print them and try to summarize the good in each one.

I am still listening....

 

[makeup]

I got a lot of excellent advice from a book about making yourself a better worker. It included the following:

Dont invite interruption:
Organise you day
8.00-9.00 answer emails then leave until next day
9.00-10.00 Non essential telephone calls (tell people to call you between these times and then switch to voice mail which will tell them that you will call back between 9.00 10.00 tomorrow)
10.00 4.00 critical projects Those things that are your KPIs
4.00-4.30 Mail
4.30-5.00 next days diary
Filing, one in tray one out tray and one small cabinet for useful data. Anything that hasnt been read or used in two weeks goes in the bin. Remember most data is electronically available from the supplier.

Try a few of these for starters, it helped me. DONT WORK LONG HOURS UNLESS YOU'RE PAID TOO. A BUSY MANAGER IS A BUSY FOOL.

 

[ajack1]

Try to minimise the time you “waste”, is your desk/ workstation laid out in such a manner that the things you use most are the closest to you? Could you save time by say sending out a lot of quotes together rather than in ones and twos?

Try not to work on many things at once, going back to the five holes if you take one shovel full from one hole and move on to the next rather than dig one hole and then the next, the time you save walking between holes could be all it takes. Obviously needs must but do work in blocks wherever possible.

What do others do who seem better organised than you? Learn from them.

Only what works for you will work for you but think laterally.