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'Dynamic' Projects - new components being added/removed constantly

This is a rather odd predicament.

My organization has recently migrated to a new credit card processing system and I'm one who developed most of the software that runs it. So, I spend a great deal of time with one- or two-step "projects" that involve investigating small glitches or bugs. These can take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour to figure out, and it's very difficult to tell how long it will take just by looking at the issue description (which makes in-basket processing rather difficult, for one thing). Here's my problem(s):

  • Do I create a new "project" for each of these items? The only reason I can think of not to is it can take a minute to create the project and folder and might only take a couple more minutes to actually perform the action.
  • I don't have my own office, so filing cabinet space is an issue. I've only got one drawer for my reference and support materials, so I have to be somewhat stingy with my drawer space.

I've considered creating a project called "Credit Card Issues" and adding/removing items from the list as they come in and are solved, but that seems somewhat anti-GTD in that the project outcome and scope aren't well defined.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

andyc's picture

Do I create a new...

inkedmn;6633 wrote:

  • Do I create a new "project" for each of these items? The only reason I can think of not to is it can take a minute to create the project and folder and might only take a couple more minutes to actually perform the action.
  • I don't have my own office, so filing cabinet space is an issue. I've only got one drawer for my reference and support materials, so I have to be somewhat stingy with my drawer space.

I've considered creating a project called "Credit Card Issues" and adding/removing items from the list as they come in and are solved, but that seems somewhat anti-GTD in that the project outcome and scope aren't well defined.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

The anti-GTD works for me in this case. I have several projects like this, which are never ending. In my case their are titled for the main areas of my job: "Emergency Issues", "Helpdesk Backup", "Systems Administration" and "Security Issues". All of them have a similar desired outcome: that things that appear under these headings are dealt with promptly and that the end-users are satisfied with the service. But the project I'm tracking never actually finishes, even though there might be nothing in a particular project at any time.

Each issue becomes a sub-project in it's own right, and I use the case tracking number if there is one as part of the project title.

If something in there grows into a project in it's own right, then I go and create the project. I have an "on-demand" approach to project filing: they get a project heading in MLO (www.mylifeorganized.net), and folders on-line and in my filing drawer are created when I need to save something for that project.

The main reason for the three headings is that I give them different priorities in MLO, so they appear at different points on the generated NA list - which gives me a head start on deciding which one to do next.

Hope that helps.

Andy

 
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