I have a hodgepodge of responsibilities in my current position. People regularly ask me what my position entails and I typically respond “Whatever my superior would like for me to do.” I’m fortunate to have a superior that recognizes that I have a variety of skills and can be utilized in a variety of ways. I like variety – it keeps me motivated with my work because I am always learning something new or more about my agency and industry. But with all this variety comes a juggling act. Now that I’m managing a number of initiatives and smaller projects, the old traditional scratch it pad and stick it note system just isn’t cutting it. I recently moved over to OneNote (part of the Microsoft Office package) because of the ability to highlight text and flag for a task which automatically imports into Outlook, the ability to highlight something and flag it as needing to be discussed with my boss or project team mate, etc. It has also been convenient to take my running task list in with me when I meet with my boss so he can see what progress I’ve made, what I’m stuck on, where I’m waiting on information from others, and any other pertinent information about a particular task or project.
How do you keep it all together?
Whiteboards and Google. My desk back at my apartment is pretty much a giant whiteboard, it’s the ugliest thing ever but right now I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Google Calendar is also a lifesaver for me. I just wish my phone wasn’t buggy so it would stop syncing with Facebook and would sync with Meetup.com automatically for anti-trafficking and running events.
I use Google Calendars to keep the family life organized. And I love my droid which syncs it all together. I don’t know how I ever made it anywhere on time without it (although maybe I didn’t make it everyone on time).
Yeah I missed a few big meetings in college before I used Google Calendar haha. My home screen on my Android is 1/4th dedicated to the calendar so that it says the next thing I have to do right there.