How Do You Work on a Project?

[Christina]

When you have a big job to do, how do you go about it? Do you start with the easiest or most fun part and leave the hardest parts for last or do you get the hard parts out of the way first, or something else?

I usually start with the hardest part and get it out of the way first because after that it will all get easier and there's some mental satisfaction at getting that part done so that I can enjoy the rest more. If it's more than a one-day job and it's too physically taxing to do all of the hard parts first I still start with the hardest job for the day each morning. Sometimes for me the hardest part is hard because it's tedious and painstaking work. Slow and careful is not one of my strong points and there are times when I question whether my hands have any contact with my brain at all once I get them moving.

The exception would be when I'm learning something on someone else's dime and then I do it in whatever way will produce some results as quickly as possible.

[Lisa0315]

Great thread, Christina!!!

I always start off with a kick off meeting. I present the project, assign tasks and due dates, watch over the tasks and deadlines to see if anyone is falling behind or failing to meet the requirements. I am an organizational freak about projects.

If it is a project that I am doing on my own, then, again, organization is key. I will write up a list of everything that needs to be done, prioritize, get permissions from managers if I need it and any resources that I might need. As I proceed through the project, I document everything, how I did it, why I did it, links to documents, etc. I will keep a project notebook etc as well as soft files on my computer.

Lisa

[Christina]

:)

I was a project manager for the last decade or so but I was thinking about gardening this time. I was far more organized at work than I am now. I generally tweaked standard PM best practices to fit the size of the project at work and took it from there.

[Cath B]

I usually spend some of the time like this:-

:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused: :confused::confused:

and some of the time like this:-

:argh::argh::argh::argh::argh::argh:

[Tawny]

I pretty much work like Cath above. My bosses have realised if I don't have a huge pile of stuff to do I tend to slope off, if I have loads to do I work a lot better.

[Brianna]

I work it a little bit at a time, meanwhile starting ten other projects that I may or may not finish.

[Christina]

Since I retired I have to remind myself that it's OK to blow things off if I don't want to do them at that moment. It's OK to get bored with the sweater I was trying to make out of leftovers and set it down for a few weeks, it's OK to spend the day reading instead of doing anything productive and it's OK to change my mind about a project and scrap it and start over if I get a better idea. After a lifetime of working it's not that easy to unlearn old habits and remember that whatever I do now, it's to please myself and not someone that's paying me.