At 08:00 am or earlier I try to be in front of the PC and start to perform the most complex task that I have left prepared from the previous day, without checking emails or messages, as I have identified that this time is the most productive of my day, and the tranquility of that first hour helps me to concentrate without so many distractions. These tasks usually consist of reviewing and updating the schedules of the different projects in which I participate, or reviewing and completing the technical and installation documentation, which is delivered in each release of Living Apps.
Then I review the gaps in the agenda and the list of pending tasks, depending on the time I have I choose the most important ones to focus on during the day, always leaving gaps for unforeseen events and emergencies. While I have a second coffee, I clear my inbox of emails, read my Teams messages and prepare the day’s meetings. Now I’m ready to start the team synchronisations!
My tools to improve my work in Livin g Apps & Digital Experiences
I like to joke that I ‘schedule’ in Teams, as it is the tool I use the most in my daily work. Apart from meetings, which depending on the day can take up a good part of my day, it is essential to keep up to date with the progress of the different projects in our area and to communicate with my colleagues to be aligned at all times. Despite being the tool I use the most, I try to use it at specific, pre-established times, to prevent it from consuming all my attention, as I have often felt ‘hooked’ to what we call FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) for missing out on a pending conversation.
Another great ally in my daily life is the TO-DO tool where I have become accustomed to registering all the pending tasks so that none of them are forgotten. Every day I consult it at the end of the day, download the action points from my notebook and select the first thing I will do the next day. Every morning I go back to it to choose the top priorities to complete that day in the gaps between meetings. It helps me to disconnect at the end of the day, knowing that everything is written down and ordered and that, in case the priorities change, the rest of the tasks will be there waiting for their turn. It is my particular agile backlog.
And of course, as a great lover of paper, you can’t miss my agenda and my analogue notebook, for those moments when I prefer not to have a keyboard nearby that makes me fall into the temptation of not being 100% attentive to the interlocutors on the other side of the screen.
My best moment of the day
As a project manager, one of my main jobs is to make sure everyone has what they need to get their work done at the right time, so it’s a great moment when a particularly tricky problem is solved, or an issue that was preventing the teams from progressing is unblocked.
But what I definitely enjoy most is a good lunchtime conversation, either at home with my family on days I telecommute or with colleagues in the office.
My tips for getting organised
- Identify the moments of greatest energy, to dedicate them to the tasks that require greater concentration.
- Write down everything pending and prioritise it, so that you can easily choose the next task to carry out when there is a gap.
- Turn off notifications on the screen and on the mobile phone. Set specific times to read emails and Teams messages.
- Find a quiet time once a week to think and re-prioritise the issues at hand.