The book Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky illustrates a method of organizing projects. This method takes the various piles of information and list of things needing done and separates them into 3 groups:
- Action Items – Actual list of work to be done
- Reference Materials – Separate batch of notes and information that we need but kept separate so they are easy to find while not getting in the way of our actual work
- Backburner Items – Good ideas that we don’t want to forget about but perhaps too difficult or big in scope that could jeopardize our successful completion of our project. This is a key part of “agile” methods which says to first do the work that gets you 80% of your desired results. That last 20% is typically what will eat up your time. It is better to get most of your success then return to the backburner items as their own project again applying the 80% rule. (This one also helps the perfectionist in me accept the new definition of the project as I know that I can always come back to these items in the future to make my project “perfect”.)
In early 2012 I started using these methods in a small two section folder with metal binder clips to organize my projects (search “classification folders” with 1 divider at an office supply web site). Beyond keeping my desk very organized, another great effect of this is when I have to pick back up a project that I was pulled off of I can quickly get back to speed on where I left off. You can download the forms that I made here: Action Steps Forms These forms are just tools to support this very effective work method. I recommend that you read the book to get a great lesson in how to take actions on your ideas.