Lists, oh so powerful, oh so demoralizing

We’re human. We’re also like computers in that we have memory. When a computer overflows with requests it runs low on RAM, so it reaches for the hard drive for help. Often we humans also have too many things to track. When our short term memories get stretched we reach for a pen an paper, or some digital device, and make a list.

Lists work pretty well a lot of the time. When planning a vacation, or going grocery shopping, who wouldn’t benefit from jotting the details on a list. When the goal is discrete, and the end-game is specific, lists work exceptionally well. Completed items can be easily checked off, afterwards the list can be thrown away.

When lists persist, such as in a workplace setting, they can be less effective. You get up in the morning and outline the tasks that need to be completed that day. You even take the step of circling the highest priorities, and off you go. Stuff comes up during the day though, and there’s not enough time to get everything done, but that’s life. The following day, time to plan you’re work once more, so you make another list. You move the undone items from yesterday to today’s list, add some new ones, and you’re off again. But unforeseen events again throw a wrinkle in the list. By day three, with so many items to carry-over, the list becomes overwhelming. You scratch your head, strain as you wonder should all of the items really be on the list, and feel guilty for not getting the things done that you had committed to on previous days. Agh! Let’s just throw the whole thing away. I’ll do without a list, at least for a while anyway. The same type of scenario occurs when people flag emails, with the best intention of returning to follow-up on them. The list of flagged emails quickly hits a number like 157. It’s a source of stress, but the truth is that a only a sliver of those flagged messages require further attention.

So what’s to be done? How can persistent lists leverage the power of lists that are used for discrete tasks? With WorkWyze.com we believe we’ve come up with a simple workable solution.

WorkWyze maintains 3 work lists: Current, Back Burner, Archive. When a task or work item is inactive for a week (it may be self-assigned, or assigned by a colleague) it drops from the Current list to the Back Burner (yes, you do get a notification when this happens) An item is kept active when comments are added, or when the status has been updated. If a Back Burner item is inactive for a further 2 weeks, it drops to the Archive. Logic dictates that if an item is important it will be updated more often than item that has is not important. Less important items naturally fall down the prioritization order and drop out of immediate sight. It's simple and easy, not all that original though, well architected computers operate in a similar fashion.    


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