Tools for Thought

To bring a project to closure, we need not only to keep track of our own actions, but those of others. Legacy To Do lists are not designed to track external dependencies. We need a language to identify all components of a project, not just the proactive.

Whenever a project requires information or a delegated action from others, put it on a list called Waiting For.

An example of a short Waiting For list would be:

• Michael 7/21: Gantt for store remodel
• Laura 7/20: artwork for client presentation
• Amazon.com 7/20: Andrei Roublev Criterion DVD
• Frank’s Auto 7/19: status on transmission replacement

Each item contains the person or organization from which you need a deliverable, the date when the action was delegated or when the information was requested, and the action or information itself. Other information potentially helpful to include are due dates, phone numbers or email addresses of the parties involved. If you have an electronic organizer, you can paste sections of pertinent emails or information from relevant websites into the note field of the corresponding line item on your list.

The Waiting For list needs to be reviewed as regularly as other context lists — at least once a day in your daily review, but as often as you need to ensure that your projects aren’t being orphaned by the inaction of others. If you’re responsible for the project, you’re as responsible for the component actions of the project you delegate to others as your own actions.

Avoid keeping a mental account of what others need to bring to the project. A busy office culture frequently makes every attempt to stop and think seem frivolous, and it’s tempting to take the shortcut of assuming that others will do (or remember accurately, if at all) what you ask of them. If it’s important enough to be done, it’s important enough to write down and track.

Having a Waiting For list is essential for identifying dependencies that need to be resolved before you can take further action on a project. Finalizing the budget for a remodel requires Michael to present a plan that includes a timeline with estimates on labor and materials. The client presentation can’t be rehearsed until the PowerPoint file is finished, requiring artwork from Laura.

Once you get in the habit of having a current list for every incompletion, it becomes much easier to identify potential problems before they become actual.