As the passing of the first third of the year is upon us, I am already breaking one of the 2 promises I made to myself at the beginning of 2023 regarding how I work. It was not a resolution, rather a small behavioral change for me to be more efficient and perhaps even more effective.
That promise was to not take any paper notes and only record things digitally.
Literally Getting Out of Hand
The genesis for this move was an ongoing pile of papers – some small Post-Its, others full notebook pages – that was becoming a bottleneck to reviewing discussions and even completing tasks. I would always have some form of paper at hand to scribble notes and manage priorities throughout the workday. I often found that taking notes by hand was more efficient in being active in meetings, an idea that has been reinforced by other colleagues and articles I have read.
For the most part this cutting out paper worked for me. I would still occasionally print a draft of a document for editing, but after applying those changes to the document file I’d promptly recycle the paper. Several times I consciously stopped myself from trying to write something down, a reaction I was able to curb by simply not carrying a notebook or paper with me. The notes I captured would go directly into my Microsoft OneNote file, which is where the written notes would eventually go as well.
Over time, there was one piece of paper I found that I needed to go back to keeping alongside me throughout the day – my personal dashboard. This is a landscape piece of paper, printed from an Excel file, with columns for projects or areas that I am working on and rows for high-level tasks or issues for each. It’s not a task list per se, rather something I refer to have everything I or my team are working on available at a glance. Thus the term dashboard applies well.
My current dashboard has 7 columns, with the last one being for “personal and professional growth.” It had 6 columns the other day, but as another project came to fruition it warranted its own column. As I am working on multiple projects with my goal to focus blocks of time on one thing at a time and avoid multitasking (as much as I can), the dashboard is a reminder of all else going on in my world.
A Break or a Bend?
Talking with some colleagues about this, there was doubt from them I was actually breaking a promise and instead bending it. To stop consuming paper was not the catalyst of this decision, but it was a nice by-product. However I consider it a break, and until I have a different system – or less going on at once – the dashboard will remain with me as I find it effective.
What was that other promise I made you may be asking? To stop asking people to turn on their cameras in work online meetings! By now, if people don’t want their camera on or realize the benefits to work culture, who am I change their minds? I have also been guilty of not having my own on as much as I used to, especially when I am the only person who turns their camera on for a meeting.
Deconstructing Breaking Promises
Looking back on my earlier decision, where I am somewhat disappointed I was not able to carry through with promise, it has certainly not broken me. Reevaluating earlier decisions or what we do is something we should actually take time out for rather than it be solely reactive and come from frustration or other emotions.
This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.
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Mike, great post! I commend your desire to move from paper to fully digital!
I have mostly done the same thing. I use OneNote to capture important notes and conversations and Apple Notes for To Do items. And I sometimes have to print a document to edit it.
That said I, I struggle with two situations:
1) On video calls, I don’t want people to think I am not paying attention. So sometimes I make a note on a sticky note rather than typing which can be noisy and distracting.
2) When meeting in person (remember IRL meetings?), I am more comfortable making notes in an old fashioned notebook. I’ve tried using my iPad and using the Apple pen but I am not yet adept enough to keep up. And trying to type is distracting. These meetings have been rare since 2020 but I am doing more of them lately. So I recently made a note after one meeting that said, “put a damn notebook in your backpack!”
There is one other area where I resort to paper and that is my personal Kanban board. I use it when I really need to crank through some work and don’t want to be distracted. Having sticky notes on a physical board does that for me. I have not found a digital equivalent that keeps me on track.
Keep up the good writing!
Anthony
Comment by
Anthony Mersino
on 05/11/23 at 08:37 AM
@Anthony - thanks for reading and your thoughtful feedback and own experience with notes.
I should have included that most all of what I do is virtual, so it’s easier to type and look at the screen in front of me at the same time. In person it is best to take notes, on paper or chart paper.
And I concur - nothing beats a real-life Kanban board!
mp/m
Comment by
Mike Maddaloni
on 05/11/23 at 11:52 AM
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