Why 17 you ask? Because my path in IT began exactly 17 years ago. At the same time, for the last decade I have been working at the Jet Infosystems company, where my professional development took place. But today I will not talk about the vicissitudes of corporate life, but about self-education and literature that has helped me all these years.
The first need for conscious self-organization came to me when I was still working as a business analyst in the early tenths. At some point, I had a very large number of tasks, and I turned to a colleague who always went with a diary for advice. In response, he offered me a book on time management. So I got acquainted in 2012 with Gleb Arkhangelsky's book Time Drive. Gleb describes in sufficient detail how to manage time, and offers his own system of time management and planning. I was the first to read about "frogs" that you need to "eat" in the morning. βFrogβ he (or, perhaps, someone before him) called tasks that are unpleasant for you, but having done one such task in the morning and then realizing that you no longer have such tasks, you will experience incredible pleasure. He also told me that "the elephant must be eaten in pieces": that is, if you have a huge task, you need to cut it into pieces and "eat it with steaks." So paper diaries appeared on my desk (not to be confused with notepads, they have always been and are now), and there are notes in them.
In 2014, a very active development began, there was a lot of work, the company rushed like a rocket. When I had rush jobs, I still applied the methods that I somehow remembered - "frogs", "elephants", writing down tasks on pieces of paper. One day my colleague Vitaliy suggested that I set aside one day to stay late at work and tidy up everything I have. I don't know if he read books, but intuitively he used one move that I've already seen in several books: this is the "weekly review." Or, for example, my wife constantly keeps an electronic list of her tasks on her iPhone, and she never forgets anything (unfortunately =( ). Maintaining such lists is another popular (key) method.
In 2015, I had to help my colleagues for some time - I had to test the functionality and sit on the side of the customer. The range of responsibility grew: I tested, analyzed errors, coordinated several teams, decided where which errors went, kept all sorts of registries for those, for these and those guys over there too. In February 2016, my colleague went on an extended vacation and I was offered the position of coordinator between two divisions of the company. I agreed and thereby doomed myself to the search for new opportunities for self-organization.
I still kept my paper diaries (and notebooks), but I began to come to the conclusion that I needed some other electronic tool. The choice fell on EverNote. There, everything is about the same as in paper form, only it is easier to search for information, and it is available from many devices. When EverNote became paid for all platforms, I switched to OneNote, which still lives with me - solely as a substitute for note paper plus for storing reference information, which I use all the time. Its main advantages are that it is cross-platform, free and synchronizes well, despite the fact that it is a Microsoft product. And it's also cloudy.
In 2017, I began to learn how to explain my thoughts intelligibly with the help of visual tools - not so much learning how to draw, but how to fill my hand. Drawing pictures of my plan for the day - works well, and it's funny.
In 2018, there were catastrophically many tasks (a group appeared under the leadership). I again turned to my friends for advice, and my colleague from Jet Infosystems Masha advised me a cool book - Jedi Techniques by Max Dorofeev. In fact, just like Gleb Arkhangelsky, Max Dorofeev offers his own system for managing time, himself, and his tasks. Max was the first to tell me that in fact I am under a lot of stress from keeping all the tasks in my head (despite the presence of notebooks, diaries and other things). He offers simple techniques for unloading yourself, for example, βNight Claw Pullerβ - when you go to bed, instead of falling asleep normally, you begin to remember: βOh, I forgot to do that!β He suggests taking five minutes to sit down and rewind your entire day. At the moment of this scrolling, it will be remembered what you wanted to do and did not write down. I remembered - write it down in your self-organization system, where you manage tasks, or just on a piece of paper. And so it must go until the very end of the day. It really helps (try it, don't be lazy).
In addition, the author highlights the problem of procrastination: he suggests creating tasks in the form of the very first steps that need to be taken, and as simple and understandable as possible. The author also explains the tasks in a smart way: for each task, you need to answer the questions βwhat? For what? Why? When? How many?" and most importantly, to formulate the first physical action that must be done to achieve the goal (completion of the task, project). He talks about why we are lazy and about the peculiarities of motivation, and gives many useful tips for concentration. One of the tips that I have applied is to mark all incoming messages in the mail as read so that they do not distract you, but to read them at the moment when you need to. In the past, new emails constantly pulled me off the tasks I was working on. I also turned off all notifications on the advice of Max, and it was scary! I had to force myself. I said to myself: βRoma, if something really happens, they will first send you an SMS, and in a more serious situation they will call you.β I really felt the difference: it removed the first wave of stress from me. Further, I began to apply other practices that helped free the brain to think about life at a higher level of perception. But, the path to βenlightenmentβ is still ahead of me.
In addition to the books already listed, I can recommend the books: βNever Everβ, βLife Hack for Every Dayβ, βHow to Put Things in Orderβ and βUnfuck Yourself. Worry less, live more." They clarify some particular issues and support personal motivation.
Recently, I have learned to cope with the flow of tasks, although there are not fewer of them, but I still feel the need for further development.
And what helps you cope with the load and be in a good mood? I will be grateful for advice.
Roman Gribkov, Head of Service Projects Group, Jet Infosystems
Source: habr.com