@thesiswhisperer.bsky.social @drjd.bsky.social hi guys. If you don’t mind my asking, how do you keep track of stuff that you know is coming up in the future but you just have like a rough timeframe of when it’ll appear but you don’t know exactly when or what it will be? - ThreadSky

ksoomro.bsky.social • 80 days ago

@thesiswhisperer.bsky.social @drjd.bsky.social hi guys. If you don’t mind my asking, how do you keep track of stuff that you know is coming up in the future but you just have like a rough timeframe of when it’ll appear but you don’t know exactly when or what it will be?

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drjd.bsky.social•80 days ago

Inger is a fan of giving people the ‘illusion of choice’ - by giving 3 options they think they are in control, but really, you have reduced their options from ‘whenever’ to three specific dates.
Get in front of it and control the decisions otherwise their lack of planning will become your emergency.

drjd.bsky.social•80 days ago

Can you give me an example of the kind of thing you mean?

ksoomro.bsky.social•80 days ago

So let’s say I know that I’m supposed to be contacted by a person to discuss some upcoming curriculum revisions that I then will have to work on. I know roughly when to expect them to reach out but I don’t know exactly. Also I don’t know what the changes might entail so how much work it’ll be.

ksoomro.bsky.social•80 days ago

But I do need to factor it into my planning and how I schedule my other work.

drjd.bsky.social•80 days ago

Also, don’t wait. Create a sense of urgency by going on the front foot: “I know we need to work together, but my calendar is filling fast. I’m down to 3 available spots - which of these work for you and I’ll lock it away. The longer we leave this the less likely I’ll be able to fit your preference”

thesiswhisperer.bsky.social•80 days ago

I think this is what I'd call a 'variable dependency'. It's specifically what I have my 'nudge' tag in Omni for. It might be to nudge another person with a 'when can I expect that thing?' email. Or I might need to nudge myself to check in on whether a resource has become available, etc.

thesiswhisperer.bsky.social•80 days ago

This is also why it's good to run with 'operational slack' and buffer zones in your forward planning.

We probably should do a pod about operational slack @drjd.bsky.social 🧐

ksoomro.bsky.social•80 days ago

That makes sense. But there are many situations where it’s not possible for me to “nudge” them and I have to wait until the task is available to me.

The nudge tag sounds interesting. Is it something you discuss in your omnifocus episode?

ksoomro.bsky.social•80 days ago

I’m thinking specifically from the point of view of how you make sure it pops up when you’re doing your planning?

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