Expand "Self Organisation"

memos/self-organisation.markdown

@@ -2,22 +2,88 @@
 title: Self Organisation
 taxon: self-systems
 published: 2018-09-24
-modified: 2020-07-22
+modified: 2020-09-11
 ---
 
-I use [Trello][] to keep track of things I need to do.  Everything I
-need to do, which isn't captured elsewhere (like in a github issue),
-goes on the Trello board.
+My memory is good for *facts* but poor for *tasks* and *experiences*.
+I can recall obscure details about a programming project months or
+years after-the-fact with a little thought, but would forget to do the
+laundry every weekend if I didn't have it written down, and I
+certainly won't remember promising to do something.
+
+I've given up on improving my recall, and instead have developed a
+system to organise myself and make sure I get around to doing things
+I've said I would.  Much like my [personal finance][] system, this
+system have evolved over the years based on what's made noticeable
+improvements to my life.
+
+My ideas may not work as-is for you, but I hope they'll prompt you to
+think about how you organise yourself, and what you can do to improve.
+
+[personal finance]: personal-finance.html
+
+
+"Scrumban" for to-do lists
+--------------------------
+
+I've worked at a few different programming jobs now, and I've noticed
+programmers on small agile teams have a tendency to adopt a style of
+development I've heard called "scrumban":
+
+- Like scrum, there are fixed-length sprints, but like kanban work
+  gets added to the backlog at any time.  The sprint cadence is mostly
+  to review the pending work and prune the backlog, it's not a target
+  to get everything done by.
+
+- Like scrum, there is a product manager who is ultimately in charge
+  of the backlog, and a delivery manager (or scrum master) who leads
+  the ceremonies.
+
+- Like kanban, work is delivered continuously, but like scrum there is
+  usually an end-of-sprint show-and-tell.
+
+- Like kanban, we use a kanban board with a WIP limit.
+
+So scrumban is mostly kanban, but the backlog has an owner who
+regularly reviews it.  I view scrumban as close to the minimal amount
+of process needed to work in an effective development team: there's
+regular product oversight of the work (the sprint cadence), and
+everyone knows what everyone else is working on (the daily standup).
+
+I use a form of scrumban to keep on top of my to-do list.  I am the
+"product manager" for my life, making sure I only do relevant things,
+I suppose I'm also the "delivery manager" for my life, ensuring I get
+things done and resolve blockers, but so far I've not felt the need to
+have a daily standup of just me.
+
+So, onto how I implement this.
+
+### Trello
+
+![A screenshot of my "To Do" Trello board](self-organisation/todo.png)
+
+Everything I need to do, which isn't captured elsewhere (like in my
+email inbox, or in a GitHub issue), goes on the [Trello][] board.  And
+if it's a particularly important email or GitHub issue I want to make
+sure I don't forget about, and I can't deal with it straight away,
+I'll make a card for it anyway.
 
 I've found Trello works better for me for this than [org-mode][] did:
 the latter is very powerful, which makes it hard to use consistently;
-Trello is much more limited, so consistency is easy.
+Trello is much more limited, so consistency is easy.  It's also nice
+to have the board visualisation, so I can see at a glance how much
+stuff I have to do.
+
+The rest of my process is now more complex than it was when I first
+started, but even just having "To Do", "Doing", "Waiting / Blocked",
+and "Done" lists was a game-changer.  I *would* have got my Ph.D
+corrections done without Trello (because I had to), but it would have
+been much more difficult.
 
 [Trello]: https://trello.com/
 [org-mode]: https://orgmode.org/
 
-
-## Task States
+### Task states
 
 ```graphviz
 digraph {
@@ -55,74 +121,128 @@ digraph {
 }
 ```
 
-There are three types of state a task can be in: not yet done, being
-worked on, and done.  I break those three broad types into a few
-different more specific states:
+Each task I need to do is in one of these states:
 
-* **Routines**---regular, time-based, tasks.
+- **Routines**---a backlog of regular, time-based, tasks (see
+  [routines](self-organisation.html#routiens) section).
 
-* **Has Prerequisites**---things I can't do until I do something else
-  (which is also on the board, and linked from this thing).
+- **Has Prerequisites**---a backlog of things I can't do until I do
+  something else.
 
-* **Backlog**---things which would be nice to do, but aren't
-  particularly important or urgent.
+- **Backlog**---a backlog of things which would be nice to do, but
+  aren't particularly important or urgent.
 
-* **Upcoming**---important, but non-urgent, things.
+- **Upcoming**---a backlog of important, but non-urgent, things.
 
-* **This Sprint**---a mixture of tasks from **Backlog** and
-  **Upcoming** I've decided to do this sprint (see below).
+- **This Sprint**---a to-do list of tasks from **Backlog** and
+  **Upcoming** which I've decided to get done this sprint.
 
-* **Doing**---things I'm actively doing at the moment (this list is
-  very small).  Urgent tasks come straight here.
+- **Doing**---things I'm actively doing at the moment (this list is
+  very small).
 
-* **Waiting / Blocked**---things where I've done my part, and need to
+- **Waiting / Blocked**---things where I've done my part, and need to
   wait on something or someone else.
 
-* **Done** - things I've done (there's a new done list every month).
+- **Done** - things I've done.
+
+Each of these is a list on my Trello board.
+
+### Sprints
+
+I used to not have the **This Sprint** list, and would just pick up
+tasks from **Backlog** and **Upcoming** based on whatever I felt like
+doing.  But one day I realised that some of the **Upcoming** tasks had
+been there for over a year.  They were important, but I was putting
+them off, and still feeling good about myself because I was getting
+through lots of unimportant tasks instead.
+
+This is standard procrastination behaviour.
+
+So I decided to have a fortnightly "sprint planning" session where I
+would prioritise a small number of tasks, ensuring that nothing got
+neglected too much.
+
+I'm not terribly strict on myself: if I get through all the sprint
+tasks, great; if not, no big deal, they can either remain for the
+following sprint, or move back into a different list.  On the whole
+this change has helped me get through things.
 
-I've decided to take a concept from software development planning and
-use "sprints" to prioritise tasks.  Every fortnight I move some tasks
-from **Backlog** and **Upcoming** into **This Sprint**, and when
-picking up a new task I look at **This Sprint** first.
 
-If I get through all the sprint tasks, great; if not, no big deal,
-they can either remain for the following sprint, or move back into a
-different list.
+Calendars for routines
+----------------------
 
+I manage routines using [Google Calendar][], another integral
+component of my self-organisation system.
 
-## Tags
+Routines are recurring calendar events, for example I've got an event
+every Saturday morning called "weekly chores", and every another
+Sunday evening called "weeknotes".
 
-Every task has at least one tag.  The tags are:
+The routines which have multiple things to do (like my chores) have a
+corresponding card in the **Routines** list on my Trello board, which
+has a deadline.  When the time to do the routine arrives I make a copy
+of the card in **Doing**, update the deadline of the template card,
+and work through the checklist.
 
-* **Career**
-* **Finance**
-* **Home**
-* **Kitchen**
-* **Memo**
-* **Miscellaneous**
-* **Programming & Tech**
-* **Self**
-* a few tags for games I'm in
+Those routines which just have a single task, like "sprint planning",
+just have a calendar entry.
 
+Routines which I've got cards for are:
 
-## Routines
+- **Weekly chores**---household maintenance (cleaning, laundry, etc)
+  and checking my [ledger][personal finance] is up to date.
 
-I have a bunch of regular tasks which I collected together into a few
-different routines:
+- **Prepare game**---preparation for my [fortnightly Call of Cthulhu
+  game][].
 
-* **Weekly**---household maintenance (cleaning, laundry, etc) and
-  writing [weeknotes][].
+- **Monthly chores**---more intense household maintenance (cleaning
+  the oven, emptying the hoover, etc), updating computers, and
+  reviewing the lists.
 
-* **Monthly**---more intense household maintenance (cleaning the oven,
-  emptying the hoover, etc), updating computers, reviewing the tasks,
-  etc.
+- **Quarterly chores**---updating my CV and website and checking my
+  credit report.
 
-* **Quarterly**---updating my CV and website.
+- **Annual chores**---reviewing my habits and preparing for the next
+  year.
 
-* **Annual**---reviewing my financial habits.
+Routines on my calendar which I don't have cards for are:
 
-Each routine is a single card on the board with a checklist of tasks
-to complete and a deadline (end of last Sunday in the time period it's
-for).
+- **Sprint planning** and **Mid-sprint review**---alternating Sundays,
+  populate and review the **This Sprint** list.
 
+- **Write up session notes**---every other Sunday evening, write up
+  notes from the game I prepared and ran.
+
+- **Weeknotes**---every Sunday evening, write my [weeknotes][].
+
+I find having the Trello cards, rather than just putting the steps to
+be done in the calendar event, helps.  I'm quite visual with this sort
+of data, I like being able to look at the calendar and see when
+everything needs to be done; but I prefer the Trello card interface
+for text and checkboxes.  It's nice having everything in its place:
+temporal data on a calendar, procedural data in a card.
+
+[Google Calendar]: https://calendar.google.com/
+[fortnightly Call of Cthulhu game]: campaign-notes-2020-05-call-of-cthulhu.html
 [weeknotes]: taxon/weeknotes.html
+
+
+Going analogue for household organisation
+------------------------------------------
+
+The final component of my self-organisation system is a whiteboard and
+some pens.
+
+I primarily use this to note down my shopping list, as it's much
+easier to grab a pen and scribble something down than to open Trello
+and add a comment to a card.
+
+I also use the whiteboard for meal planning.  I have a simple 5-week
+calendar on the board, with rows labelled "Monday" to "Sunday" and
+columns labelled "1" to "5", and the first cell of each column
+labelled with the day number (the "week 1" column may not start with
+the "Monday" cell).  I tend to cook large portions of meals so I can
+freeze some of it for later, and I note down meals for future days as
+my freezer fills up.  This has all but eliminated getting to the
+evening and realising I have nothing in, which has cut down on
+takeaways and helped to optimise my food budget.