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I use a lot of checklists, mostly via emacs org-mode. Here's an example of my daily sales workflow (B2B SaaS; formatting didn't survive very well, sorry): * D

I use a lot of checklists, mostly via emacs org-mode. Here's an example of my daily sales workflow (B2B SaaS; formatting didn't survive very well, sorry): * Daily work DONE Check commission goal for EOY and update DONE Start airtable timing DONE Log in to TalkDesk (reboot, make sure active) DONE Sales startup * DONE select rotating priority of the day, tag with dailyFocus * DONE check calendar for any major events unprepared for * DONE check email and star anything urgent - skim. if you don't need to reply right now, don't * DONE check new leads in uservoice for anything time-sensitive. if you don't need to reply right now, don't * DONE rearrange plans on calendar to fit meetings etc in the day Sales general workflow * DONE Prepare for major interactions today * DONE 1bd email, including new leads * Tasks in SFDC: high, >20, or 0 (unweighted * 2 definite reply email * Tasks in SFDC: >3 * Contact all of dec/jan closes, to see if do again * Weekly goals * follow up on sammy's intros - probably a longer play * devlearn followups * Check out read receipts to see how can move along larger deals * Create jump discontinuities for future, or set up ability to do same

alexpetralia 9y ago
Interesting how much of this is strategic vs. operational. Can you elaborate on this? > Create jump discontinuities for future
- subvocalize 9y ago
  This is a very operationally-focused list, since it's meant to be a guide for what to do next in "triage" modes. I almost never reach the bottom. During this operationally-focused mode, I don't let myself innovate too much, though I'll take down notes with ideas. The "jump discontinuities" would be things like making a common sequence of responses into an autoresponder, outsourcing a common research task, or making a case to my team to add or cut a service offering. In practice, the above strategic work happens during times I allocate and protect in advance, where I focus on improvement instead of running down the operational list. Typically for me these are 2-hour blocks, about 1-3x per week.
linopolus 9y ago
Could you elaborate on how you manage this with org-mode? Do you have to manually reset the lists every evening?
- npsimons 9y ago
  Not for TODO items, but org-mode specifically has the RESET_CHECK_BOXES property which will reset the checkboxes when a repeating task goes back to it's start state (eg, habits). TODO items can be repeating and there is a way to make it so that a parent heading will switch to DONE when all sub-entries are done (and that parent heading can be repeating as well). Just to add my two cents to the conversation, it's a personal call between using checkboxes versus sub-heading TODO items, but I typically use checkboxes for physical items (packing lists) or actions with a duration that is sub-minute (eg, areas of vehicle to check for weekly inspection).
  - PurpleRamen 9y ago
    Might be better to use the checklist as a template, and use a function to create a new file/subtree from it including the date. That way you can archive it and look up later what you did or forgot at a specific day.
    - npsimons 9y ago
      This is actually pretty close to what I already do; I've found writing org capture templates cumbersome, so I just have templates in the org files and I cut and paste and then edit as needed.
  - tarboreus 9y ago
    You can also have it revert at certain times or at a certain frequency: http://orgmode.org/manual/Repeated-tasks.html http://orgmode.org/manual/Repeated-tasks.html
skrebbel 9y ago
Wow this is a very good idea. FYI if you indent the whole thing with 4 spaces (each line), then *** HN keeps the formatting ^-> see?
- majewsky 9y ago
  The code-snippet syntax needs only 2 spaces, actually. But I like the original formatting better because lines wrap on narrow viewports (i.e. phones). It's frustratingly common that people post quotes with the code-snippet syntax and the lines are so long that stuff is nearly unreadable on mobile, unless you are masochistic and like reading in a scrolling viewport that only shows 40% of the line width at each time.

alexpetralia 9y ago

Interesting how much of this is strategic vs. operational. Can you elaborate on this? > Create jump discontinuities for future

subvocalize 9y ago
This is a very operationally-focused list, since it's meant to be a guide for what to do next in "triage" modes. I almost never reach the bottom. During this operationally-focused mode, I don't let myself innovate too much, though I'll take down notes with ideas. The "jump discontinuities" would be things like making a common sequence of responses into an autoresponder, outsourcing a common research task, or making a case to my team to add or cut a service offering. In practice, the above strategic work happens during times I allocate and protect in advance, where I focus on improvement instead of running down the operational list. Typically for me these are 2-hour blocks, about 1-3x per week.

linopolus 9y ago

Could you elaborate on how you manage this with org-mode? Do you have to manually reset the lists every evening?

npsimons 9y ago
Not for TODO items, but org-mode specifically has the RESET_CHECK_BOXES property which will reset the checkboxes when a repeating task goes back to it's start state (eg, habits). TODO items can be repeating and there is a way to make it so that a parent heading will switch to DONE when all sub-entries are done (and that parent heading can be repeating as well). Just to add my two cents to the conversation, it's a personal call between using checkboxes versus sub-heading TODO items, but I typically use checkboxes for physical items (packing lists) or actions with a duration that is sub-minute (eg, areas of vehicle to check for weekly inspection).
- PurpleRamen 9y ago
  Might be better to use the checklist as a template, and use a function to create a new file/subtree from it including the date. That way you can archive it and look up later what you did or forgot at a specific day.
  - npsimons 9y ago
    This is actually pretty close to what I already do; I've found writing org capture templates cumbersome, so I just have templates in the org files and I cut and paste and then edit as needed.
- tarboreus 9y ago
  You can also have it revert at certain times or at a certain frequency: http://orgmode.org/manual/Repeated-tasks.html http://orgmode.org/manual/Repeated-tasks.html

skrebbel 9y ago

Wow this is a very good idea. FYI if you indent the whole thing with 4 spaces (each line), then *** HN keeps the formatting ^-> see?

majewsky 9y ago
The code-snippet syntax needs only 2 spaces, actually. But I like the original formatting better because lines wrap on narrow viewports (i.e. phones). It's frustratingly common that people post quotes with the code-snippet syntax and the lines are so long that stuff is nearly unreadable on mobile, unless you are masochistic and like reading in a scrolling viewport that only shows 40% of the line width at each time.