Existing in Chaos

I exist in chaos at work. I'm really not multitasking, but am more interrupt-driven. I support a number of corporate applications and processes including:

• Web Publishing
  
• SharePoint
  
• Identity Management (including certificates)
  
• EDMS
  
• Mercury Quality Center
  
• Employee Life Cycle processing
  

  and other miscellaneous corporate applications, some developed in house and others purchased and out-sourced.
  

  As I'm sure you can imaging, keeping somewhat organized is vital to my sanity. I spend a good deal of time making sure something doesn't slip through the cracks. I'm going to spend a couple of blogs discussing my methods. In addition to maintaining these tools, I also have project work. I'll put that off until later and concentrate on the production aspects of my job.
  

  INPUT
  

  Most of my tasks come through e-mail. I live in Outlook. I make extensive use of
  

• Folders: to organize incoming e-mails.
  
• Tasks: I drag e-mails to the task list to create tasks and organize tasks by time
  
• Journal: I record my work in the journal so I can produce status reports and justify requests for additional overtime, budget, etc.
  

  One of the most important aspects of input to me is keeping my inbox clear. The first thing I do when I get into work is a "morning review". I go through my in box and clean it out. I create tasks by dragging an e-mail to the task list and assigning the task a category, date, and priority. I "flag" important e-mails and move them to the appropriate folder. I use the flagged view to see all the current tasks in a single place and to reply to e-mails.
  

  One of the things I have found is that, if I respond to an e-mail from a folder, I let the system store the reply in that folder. This keeps my responses organized by category and make finding out what I have done easier.
  

  The morning review includes checking the task list and reviewing some standard systems to make sure that they are functioning correctly. Once I have completed this review (usually 15-30 minutes), my in box is reasonably clear and I am ready to tackle the tasks for the day.
  

  I work from the task list. Since tasks are organized by date and priority, I know what to work on first. As new e-mails arrive, I check them to make sure that they aren't urgent (you know, from the boss) and, keep them organized as the day progresses through the same process. I keep track of things on the task and the journal. As I start to work on a task, I highlight it and use the ctrl-j keyboard shortcut to create a journal entry. I start the timer and get to work. Because some things can be done in the background, I sometimes have two or more journal entries open at the same time. I use the journals to jot notes which I may need later. If a phone call interrupts me, I use the ctrl-shift-j keyboard shortcut to start a journal entry for that event and keep track of what is happening. I find that this method works well for me as I can track what I have done and keep notes in a single place. If the phone call turns into a task, I can use the ctrl-k keyboard shortcut to create a task for later work. It all hangs together in my world.