SysAdmins Time Management

I found this post by Ben Rockwood here . This is about most precious thing we all have, and this is not money or beer. It`s about time. So I urge you to read and think a little `bout this.
I started to write things I need to do, or to remember about few weeks ago. This blog is also mostly suited for this - not scheduling things, but to concentrate things I need to remember.
So, time management could really help us manage time.
Anyway, have a nice reading.

The new year offers something special and unique... perspective. Maybe you don't finish your projects prior to Christmas but things somehow feel different in the new year. New plans, new schedules, and a fresh perspective. So how can we get that perspective on a more regular basis?

Principles of Time Management

1. Write everything down:

Really, everything. Work or home, write it all down. If the thought cross your mind, it should be recorded. The thought may be "get mail", or "see new Bond film", or "implement new backup solution". If it's not written down you will think about it again, and again, and again. So get it out of your head.

I encourage you to set aside about 30 minutes to an hour for this purpose. Set aside some time, go to some place relaxing, get a cup of coffee and just let your mind flow. Things you always wanted to do as a kid. A book, comic, or movie you never really understood or only caught part of. A hobby you've always wanted to try. A skill you think would be fun and useful. A new language you've wanted to learn (programming or spoken).

In this alone you'll feel a great sense of relief and comfort.
2. Keep it all in a central place:

I'll offer some systems below, but which system you use isn't as important as simply consistantly using it. For SysAdmin's this may actually be a small collection of places, such as your company ticket system and a personal planner. If you simply use scraps of paper or a legal pad you'll innevitably loose it, so opt for a specific peice of software or organizer or note book. When your brain knows that all your projects and tasks are in a place it can easily reference it will leave your concious mind alone.
3. Keep multiple lists

You should not just have a single simple TODO list... life just isn't that linear. Rather, you should have a big "braindump" list of things to do, and then break that out into daily, weekly, monthly lists, or whatever granularlity you need.

The sad fact is that in our minds, we tend to have a hodge-podge of TODO tasks, large and small alike. We constantly are steam-rolling this in our concious mind, and eventually it becomes overwhelming. When you lay everything out, and then look at that list and say to yourself "What can I accomplish this month?", then create that list, you start making life managable.

This is key. When you have everything written down, you can create smaller, more approachable sublists to execute on it and have a greater sense of confidence that you might actually do it.
4. Create daily TODO lists:

Each day you should have a TODO list. This is the end-result of your other lists, which can actually be directly executed on. Get mail, walk dog, buy milk, install backup agents on systems 1-14, upgrade customerX's MySQL instance, close at least 4 tickets. These tasks need to be very granular... do-able.

When you have daily lists you have two big benefits. Firstly, you have a historical record of what you were doing day-by-day. What were you trying to get done on March 23rd? Now you can look back and find out. Secondly, you can "push" tasks from one day to the next. Don't have time to finish something today? Push it onto tomorows list now and move on with other tasks you can complete.

This is something paper planners do very well, but is difficult to accomplish in software task managers.
5. 'Clean the Garage' is a Project:

The key to using software management tools, such as 'Things' or 'OmniFocus', is to think in projects. A "project" is defined as any goal or objective that is not accomplished in a single task. As an example, replacing a lightbulb could be either one. If you have lightbulbs and you just need to swap it, its a task. However if your out of light bulbs and need to go to the store first, it is now a project consisting of the tasks "Buy Lightbulbs" and "Replace bulb in hallway".

I make special emphasis of this because if you don't think like this the software tools will be very difficult to manage. You'll just have growing piles of TODO's that seem unrelated and you'll spend more time digging through lists of tasks than accomplishing them.
6. Think out the steps:

It's very important to not just think about the end result you want, such as "Backup Oracle Database", but rather to think about its individual tasks and then lay them out. Even tasks that may be fairly simplistic can seem overhwelmingly complex when you mind floods your concious with all the possible permutations and unclear decisions you will need to make. If you just break it down you can stay more relaxed, focused, and objective. You may even need to create sub-projects to evaluate your options, such as "Benchmark RMAN", "Evaluate BakBone Oracle Agent", etc.