Processing the Queue

In my last post, I told how I organize things coming into the queue from the chaos in which I exist at work. Now, it's time to look at processing the queue. Remember the basics:

• A task comes in, usually in the form of an e-mail, but maybe as a phone conversation, at a meeting, or through a direct assignment from my supervisor
  
• I create a task. I drag-and-drop the e-mail onto the task queue to create a task, categorize the task and optionally, prioritize it or create a task directly from some other source material.
  
• I optionally flag the e-mail so it's easier to find and file it in an Outlook folder. If the task came from some other source, I make notes so I can remember what it's about. I will also make notes as I work the task, especially if I have to interrupt or postpone the task to another time.
  

  The key here is to keep my in box relatively clean so that new e-mails coming in are easier to process.
  

  Now, it's time to actually DO something. Here, I'm working from a number of sources, but, I boil most of it down into tasks so I can work from the task queue in Outlook. My system is pretty simple. I place the tasks on the appropriate date and keep the list organized first by date, then by priority, then alphabetical. That last sort really isn't necessary, but it can help to group related tasks as I tend to name them pretty much the same thing for related tasks.
  

  The priority system is very simple. It's simply the high, medium, low priority flag which can be set in Outlook. High-priority are for those things that I really want to work on. Most tasks are just average. I only use low priority for things that I want to separate out of the average queue to make them stand out.
  

  I assign most tasks a date. This lets me take a look at my "day" (more on that later). But, I have a set of standard tasks that have no date. These sort into the "none" date and allow me to have some templates for Journal entries or forming other tasks. I can highlight one and use the ctrl-J keyboard shortcut to create an instant journal entry. One interesting thing which happens with these tasks is that the date and time on the journal is set to the current time, so it's easy to load-and-go with the journal entry.
  

  A look at the tasks for the day, only gives me a look at the scheduled tasks that I know about. Since I deal with 30+ identity management provisioning tasks which result in about 200 provisioning actions each day, some of my day isn't driven by the task queue. This is where the general tasks come in. I know that I will have provisioning tasks, so I start up a provisioning journal action and then work from another queue to actually perform the tasks as they become available. The priorities set for me by management is:
  

• Production support (mainly issues and problem management)
  
• Identity management provisioning
  
• Everything else with some projects getting priority as directed by management
  

  I check for those production issues and then, periodically throughout the day, check the provisioning task queue for ones I can work. In between this, I work on the other tasks (projects, enhancements, research, etc.) The task queue really helps there. And then there are the interruptions . . .
  

  My job is interrupt driven. Because my team supports production systems, we have interruptions as people actually use those systems. Interruptions can come through e-mail as issue tickets or on the phone from our help desk (1st level support). When one of these arrives, I bring up the journal and start recording.
  

  One problem I face is keeping track of what I was doing. I need to remember at what point I was interrupted and get back to it as quickly as possible once the interruption is dealt with. In the case of an e-mail, this can be relatively simple. I can usually do a quick scan of the e-mail (remember that clean in box), categorize it and, if it's more important than what I am doing currently, get to a point in my current task where I can logically break and deal with the incoming interruption.
  

  Phone calls are more difficult to deal with. If I'm really slammed with something, I can ignore the phone and let it go to voice mail. In this case, however, I'm taking the chance that they will attempt to reach my cell or come directly to my cube to get attention.
  

  If I need to deal with the call, I try to get to a point where that can happen or make a note on that journal entry which will help me get back to what I was doing as efficiently as possible. When a call comes in, I start another Journal entry with the timer going and start taking notes. I find, if I spend some time with the individual, and take good notes, I can usually take the time to get my original task to a logical stopping point before I proceed to handle the incoming interruption.
  

  I find that the key for me is to keep things organized constantly, keep the in box and other queues as clean as possible and record what I am doing to minimize the impact of interruptions. More details on my techniques in a later post.