Doing What You Say You'll Do


President-elect, APLDWA
So many projects with so many clients to keep happy… how does one handle it? We're out there making promises, trying to get as much done each day as well as trying to have enough time in the evenings for family. We work hard to keep things running smoothly for our clients, even when few things seem to be going that way for us.

When I first started implementing some of these solutions, our design/build load was 15-20 projects per year. Each involved a multitude of tasks, a variety of outdoor construction materials and methods, a crew (or two) and a client (or two). Staying on top of all of that was hard and didn't happen without some serious organization and intention, especially during the transitions between

At first, I used a calendar to manage my time. It was a piece of paper that I still use to this day to track tasks and plan for the upcoming weeks. Its format, something I created, is familiar so I don't have to think about it much and being paper, I can easily refer to it as I drive around. But, a calendar is only as good as the things you add to it.
I struggled early on to make sure everything that came my way each day made it onto the calendar. The calendar was great, but I had no real system to remember the things that needed to go on it. I counted on my brain to remember it all, a brain that was often already full of the things I needed to get done just that day. The result was that I spent more time trying not to forget things (which I did anyway) than paying attention to my clients and to the problems I was there to solve for them. And lying in bed with the lists in my head wasn't enjoyable at all.
The solution came from Radio Shack in the form of a voice recorder like the one Fletch used. Because a lot of information comes to me verbally, whether from clients, designers, crew, or vendors, this tiny piece of technology was vital. I was able to stay on top of the many promises I'd make during conversations by religiously pulling the recorder out of my pocket and noting what I said I would do. Yeah, it gave me a feeling of control.
Of course, just about this time email was becoming the predominant way we communicated with clients. Managing this was challenging. Things were getting by me again, and I didn't like it one bit.
Then one day my wife came home with a book: David Allen's Getting Things Done. The company where she worked at the time was looking for ways to help their employees get organized so they could focus more on the work at hand. In the book, which I skimmed through at first, I found a flow chart which David calls a Workflow Diagram. It's a simple thing really but looking back it had a profound impact on how I get things done. I ended up reading the book (well, mostly) and have been following the method, or at least something similar, now for years. In my mind, the method involves these ideas: inboxes, the workflow diagram, a calendar, and project folders. Let me explain... No, there is too much. Like my boy Inigo Montoya, let me sum up.
Inboxes:

Workflow Diagram:

The diagram helps me prioritize and move the information from the inboxes to where it belongs; on the calendar as an action to be done on a specific day, on the calendar as an action to be done when convenient or ready, in a project folder as information to be readily accessed later as desired, or, if it's a quick action (less than 2 minutes) I take care of it as I download my inboxes.
The real trick here is that this process needs to be performed regularly. In my case, that is at the end of each work day. And the even realer trick is that all of my inboxes must be emptied through this process. That's right. Every voicemail dealt with. Every email replied to and/or filed. Every note in my recorder placed on the calendar or in a project folder. Any sketch or note on my graph paper pad placed in a project folder. All tidied up with a healthy dose of feeling in control.
Calendar:

Project Folders:

I should also note that I use an excel file for each project (bids, invoices, schedules, etc.), an iPhotos album for each project, and an electronic plans folder for each project.

I want to be reliable. (To me, that looks something like a 99% delivery on promises.) And I have a system that allows me to be so. If I tell someone I will be there for them, I like to think they can count on me.

