As everyone I have a system to get things done my way. Working with a PA has made my life slightly easier, but nonetheless we would work through a project/to do list. Not something as advanced as the GTD process although it works quite well as rudimentary as it is in Excel where projects would be divided into tasks/actions, columns utilized for tagging and for due dates. My inbox was shared with the PA and all my mail was visible to her as well making it possible for her to action on messages that would not need any discussion with me or were already delegated. The goal is to have the email inbox at virtually zero messages at the end of each week. (Due to travel and elaborate meeting schedules it proved to be a better goal weekly than daily)
It was relatively easy to go through the process the first time as I was new into a position with a superb PA. Together we discussed the desired process and the steps/follow ups, responsibilities and frequencies. Every time I got a new job since then I've repeated the same procedure and it has worked extremely well for the PA, my direct reports and myself. It created clarity, focus, proper priority and resource (time, money, people) allocation. In my last position my PA lived a 3 hour trip away and worked 50% from her home. I travelled extensively and would only have about 3 days per month face to face contact with her. Hence it was crucial to have this system in place.
When I'll start in my next job I'll have no hesitation to implement a similar productivity planning process approach. The main difference will be to find an integrated IT solution to incorporate it and make it an even more collaborative exercise. Based on the GTD lab materials and the podcast I'll try to find out which software would be a better option for the Mac: Things or OmniFocus. If you have any input on these two applications or have an even better solution please let me know. Also, as most offices are still in a MS/PC mode I would love to know the best alternative for a PC environment. In the podcast I couldn't find much encouragement on Outlook...
I would love to have a PA! In the education world, we sometimes have a paraprofessional assigned to our classrooms to work with students. I have one assigned to one of my autistic students right now. We do collaboratively plan and I can delegate some tasks to her, however this will all disappear next year, when the student moves on to middle school.
ReplyDelete