Managing Workload 3

I recently read The Managing Workload Pocketbook from the brilliant Teachers' Pocketbooks series. The book was written by Will Thomas. This is the third in a series a posts about my learning from the book.

The author goes into good practice with managing your diary.

He writes that, "Setting up your diary properly involves recording in the main body of the diary all dates and commitments including meetings, holidays and special events."

He suggests, "Once a deadline is upon you, carefully break more complex tasks down into steps. 

For example: Setting up end of term exams: (write the steps in your diary)

• letter to parents by date z, 
• needs to go to tutors by date y, 
• therefore needs to go to reprographics by date x, 
• therefore needs to be written by w, 
• therefore need information by date v."

For longer term tasks, write in a series of reminders on the days or weeks, before the deadline.

A diary is not just for recording commitments; it forms the basis for your planning as well. You will need to:

• Keep a written copy of the goals you set for the next 12 months.
• Keep a rolling record of the key tasks/projects you are working on.
• Each week, from the goals and projects, plan the priorities for the week into your schedule.
• Action plan complex goals and tasks into smaller units, breaking them down and giving them interim deadlines, allocating time to work on them in your diary.

Staying organised involves spending some time each week assessing your priorities. Once the new week is upon you it is too late to plan it. So setting your priorities for the following week is best done within the previous week.

You can read more about weekly reviews here: http://lifehacker.com/5908816/the-weekly-review-how-one-hour-can-save-you-a-weeks-worth-of-hassle-and-headache

I urgently need to employ weekly reviews as a way to plan my week. I organise my diary(ies) in a way which works for me. However, I must plan my long term goals much better, using my diary for deadlines, rather than leaving it all for my to do lists. I often leave deadlines for subtasks to memory rather than put them in my diary.