Simple project management using index cards
I developed this system in 2020 when work was ramping back up after a period of unemployment. Most of my work is projects that are done within days or weeks. They typically have less than 20 tasks. For any larger projects, I find that I break them up into smaller projects of that size anyway.
I was frustrated with my digital task managers. I realized I was spending a lot of time testing and tweaking, instead of actually doing the work that was on my lists. I remembered that paper was something that had always worked well for me. No fiddling, just capturing what I needed to do in the simplest way possible. Notes, scribble out, add a star, draw a little sketch. No trying to get the software to give me frictionless freedom to make marks.
I had a stack of index cards, so I tried making one for every active project, with a couple of the next tasks listed. It instantly felt right. And, unlike the lined notebooks I had used for years, each item was now a separate moveable thing. This made it so easy to prioritize, re-prioritize, group together, change the order, set aside, add new items to any project, and see them all at a glance.
In a couple days, a natural system emerged. Things closer were more urgent. I had a "focus" spot for the top three. I figured out a "parking space" for anything that was on hold or waiting on someone else. I could tell at a glance how big my backlog was. I could walk away from it all at the end of the day. It was the fastest path to a functional system I'd ever had.
If you're feeling overwhelmed, get your projects out of your head where you can see them and interact with them. This might not be a system you stay with, but it's a great one to use to very quickly get a foothold. If you have the supplies (pen, index cards or sticky notes, and flat surface) you could have it up and running and be feeling more in control in less than 5 minutes.
Don't worry about capturing everything in the first pass. Just make a card for each project that's on your mind. Then write the next thing you need to do on each card. When you are working and think of another project, make a new card. In a short time you'll have your full list of active project cards in front of you, ready for you to sort into any order you want.
If you're interested, I wrote a post about how I developed it using the DSRP Theory of systems thinking.
https://blog.cabreraresearch.org/solving-st
I was frustrated with my digital task managers. I realized I was spending a lot of time testing and tweaking, instead of actually doing the work that was on my lists. I remembered that paper was something that had always worked well for me. No fiddling, just capturing what I needed to do in the simplest way possible. Notes, scribble out, add a star, draw a little sketch. No trying to get the software to give me frictionless freedom to make marks.
I had a stack of index cards, so I tried making one for every active project, with a couple of the next tasks listed. It instantly felt right. And, unlike the lined notebooks I had used for years, each item was now a separate moveable thing. This made it so easy to prioritize, re-prioritize, group together, change the order, set aside, add new items to any project, and see them all at a glance.
In a couple days, a natural system emerged. Things closer were more urgent. I had a "focus" spot for the top three. I figured out a "parking space" for anything that was on hold or waiting on someone else. I could tell at a glance how big my backlog was. I could walk away from it all at the end of the day. It was the fastest path to a functional system I'd ever had.
If you're feeling overwhelmed, get your projects out of your head where you can see them and interact with them. This might not be a system you stay with, but it's a great one to use to very quickly get a foothold. If you have the supplies (pen, index cards or sticky notes, and flat surface) you could have it up and running and be feeling more in control in less than 5 minutes.
Don't worry about capturing everything in the first pass. Just make a card for each project that's on your mind. Then write the next thing you need to do on each card. When you are working and think of another project, make a new card. In a short time you'll have your full list of active project cards in front of you, ready for you to sort into any order you want.
If you're interested, I wrote a post about how I developed it using the DSRP Theory of systems thinking.
https://blog.cabreraresearch.org/solving-st
| index_card_system_v3.pdf |