[thelist] how to plan a working day?

McCoy, Alan amccoy at goodmanct.com
Thu Feb 28 08:22:01 CST 2002


:: Maybe a strange question, but I was wondering how you people
:: get your work
:: done?
:: Are there any tips or resources out there on planning a
:: working day, with
:: something so unpredictable as software developing, and
:: combining this with
:: being involved in evolt-like communities, other forms of
:: self-study, and
:: phonecalls/paperwork/housevisits.

As an 8-5 developer/project manager, I really have to make sure my day
is quasi-structured to get anything at all done. Goes kinda like this:

8:00 - 9:00 -- Email & light research
9:00 - 10:00 -- Review employee timesheets; Update project reports
10:00 - 11:00 -- Touch base with clients; Check in with sales staff
11:00 - 12:00 -- Email & a bit of browsing
12:00 - 1:00 -- Lunch (or more browsing & experimenting on silly
stuff...hey, this is *my* time, ya know!)
1:00 - 4:00 -- Development and project management (addressing client
needs and working with development staff)
4:00 - 5:00 -- Email & billing (timesheet)
5:00 - 6:00 -- FRAG-FEST with the Dev staff!!

Of course, there's always the occassional fire that needs putting out,
the occassional suprise client visit, and getting pulled into someone's
meeting. I've found that keeping a list in front of me helps keep me
focused. I tend to break up the list into "tasks", "client phone calls",
and "hot items" (bug fixes, server problems, etc.)

Even if you're the sole-monkey, it really helps to think like a project
manager. Plan everything (or at least as much as you can) and the
suprises will be minimal.

HTH,

Alan



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