After completing Getting Things Done, there are probably two things that stayed with me more than anything else. The first was the process of project planning. Since I am involved with lots of projects, it helped to see in black and white the process I already follow and to also have someone else say "it works!" One of the things Allen says about project planning is that if you get bogged down in project planning, its because you have failed to follow the steps in the correct order. You can't brainstorm, for example, until you have claried the goal or the objective. Once you have clearly identified your goal, then you can go about making it happen by brainstorming and then identifiying the next action to take. Allen says we don't organize projects, we organize the next action.
Another highlight of this book for me personally was the "two minute" idea. If, while you are processing "open loops," or unfinished "stuff," you come across things that can be done in two minutes of less...DO THEM. Do not place them on a list or put them in the "in basket." Simply do them then. For those of us who like lists, we would probably go ahead and put them on our list and then do them in that two minutes just so we can mark through them!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Getting Things Done in Ministry
As part of our assignment in reading our books, we were to discover how we could use what we'd read.
For me, part of what that would mean would be applying it to my professional life-my ministry. These are my observations about that:
1. My first thought is that those in music ministry wear many hats. We are administrators, counselors, teachers, "crack-fillers," planners, writers and, yes, musicians. One of my children's choir kids asked me once why the minister of music and I had offices and desks. I think her exact words were, "What do you need with a desk?" Well, because there's usually lots of planning and budgeting and purchasing and mailouts and meetings that you don't see that happen before all the rehearsals and programs and trips that you do see. And there's an office where those things take place. In other words, there's a practical, "office" side of music ministry required to make the other things happen. And it takes good organization to make sure all that runs smoothly. After all, there's a church budget and procedures that sometimes guide what we do and things have to be processed in an orderly way. All those great events and choir tours start with good planning and that requires good organization.
2. My second thought is that although the details of ministry are able to be organized, "ministry"-everyday, hands-on ministry--cannot always be put in convenient, labeled places. I knew a pastor once who was SO organized (thanks to a book he'd read that "changed his life") that no matter what the crisis or situation, you got fifteen minutes of his time, no more. He loved the fact that he stayed on schedule. Truth is, more than one person left his office-their pastor's office-with issues just as unresolved as they were fifteen minutes before. Ministry is prone to disorganization in some ways. People show up in our office with situations and need someone to listen. Emergencies occur. Shocking things happen when you least expect them. It's great to be organized as long as the main things remain the main things. In other words, my profession is about people, not lists. As organized as I try to be--and I appreciate being organization--marking everything off my "to do" list will always come in second place to taking care of the people in my church.
For me, part of what that would mean would be applying it to my professional life-my ministry. These are my observations about that:
1. My first thought is that those in music ministry wear many hats. We are administrators, counselors, teachers, "crack-fillers," planners, writers and, yes, musicians. One of my children's choir kids asked me once why the minister of music and I had offices and desks. I think her exact words were, "What do you need with a desk?" Well, because there's usually lots of planning and budgeting and purchasing and mailouts and meetings that you don't see that happen before all the rehearsals and programs and trips that you do see. And there's an office where those things take place. In other words, there's a practical, "office" side of music ministry required to make the other things happen. And it takes good organization to make sure all that runs smoothly. After all, there's a church budget and procedures that sometimes guide what we do and things have to be processed in an orderly way. All those great events and choir tours start with good planning and that requires good organization.
2. My second thought is that although the details of ministry are able to be organized, "ministry"-everyday, hands-on ministry--cannot always be put in convenient, labeled places. I knew a pastor once who was SO organized (thanks to a book he'd read that "changed his life") that no matter what the crisis or situation, you got fifteen minutes of his time, no more. He loved the fact that he stayed on schedule. Truth is, more than one person left his office-their pastor's office-with issues just as unresolved as they were fifteen minutes before. Ministry is prone to disorganization in some ways. People show up in our office with situations and need someone to listen. Emergencies occur. Shocking things happen when you least expect them. It's great to be organized as long as the main things remain the main things. In other words, my profession is about people, not lists. As organized as I try to be--and I appreciate being organization--marking everything off my "to do" list will always come in second place to taking care of the people in my church.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Elegant? Seriously?
I am in the process of reading the last half of Getting Things . What the author is describing now is how
to process all the "stuff" (unfinished things) that were placed in the IN box to be processed. There are several options here-filing as reference material, handling immediately if the action would take less than two minutes and delegating the action, just to name a few. But one thing that has kind of surprised me is the use of the word "elegant" to describe part of this process. I am all about being organized. I have to be to do everything I do in a week. But I don't think I would describe even the finest organizational system as "elegant."
to process all the "stuff" (unfinished things) that were placed in the IN box to be processed. There are several options here-filing as reference material, handling immediately if the action would take less than two minutes and delegating the action, just to name a few. But one thing that has kind of surprised me is the use of the word "elegant" to describe part of this process. I am all about being organized. I have to be to do everything I do in a week. But I don't think I would describe even the finest organizational system as "elegant."
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