Action Programs

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We all know how useful To-Do Lists are when we get started in our careers. However, To-Do Lists can quickly become overwhelmed when we take on responsibility for multiple projects ? as many of us do when we become managers.

How to Use an Action Program

Follow these four steps to create your Action Program:
Step 1: Collection

First, make a long list of all the things in your world that require resolution. Try to collect and write down everything that you feel is incomplete and needs action from you to get completed, whether it's urgent or not, big or small, personal or professional.

To an extent, this collection is taking place automatically. E-mail requests are getting stored in your inbox, memos demanding attention are being delivered to your in-tray, mail is reaching your mailbox, and messages asking for action are accumulating on your voice mail.

But there is also other stuff ? stuff that is idling in your head, projects you want to run, things you intend to deal with lying at the bottom of the drawer, ideas written down on stray bits of paper ? that need to be gathered and put in place too. Bring all of these actions and projects together and inventory them in one place.

And ? this is really important ? make sure that your personal goals Add to My Personal Learning Plan are brought onto this list.

Tip 1:
You can experience tremendous stress if you have too many mental "To Dos" floating around in your head. You never know whether you've forgotten things, and you'll always have that terrible feeling of not having achieved everything you want to achieve.

By writing everything down on your Action Program, you can empty your mind of these stressful reminders and make sure that you prioritize these actions coherently and consistently. This has the incidental benefit of helping you improve your concentration, simply because you don't have these distractions buzzing around your mind.

Tip 2:
The first time you create your Action Program, you're going to spend a while ? maybe two hours ? putting it together. This is the up-front cost of organizing your life. However, once you've done this, you'll be amazed at how much more in control you feel. It will take relatively little effort to keep your Action Program up-to-date after this.

Tip 3:
You'll find it easiest if you keep your Action Program on your computer as a word processor document. This will make it easy to put together, update, and maintain without a lot of tedious redrafting. Alternatively, use a personal project management app, such as Chaos Control or 2Do, both of which can help you to organize and prioritize your tasks.
Step 2: Pruning

Now, process the list you made in step 1, by looking carefully at each item. Decide whether you should, actually, take action on it. A lot of what comes our way has no real relevance to us, or is really not important in the scale of things. If that is the case, then delete these things from your list.

Step 3: Organizing and Prioritizing

This step comes in three parts.

First of all, review your inventory of projects and actions. Group together the separate, individual actions that are part of larger projects.

At home, for example, you may want to improve your bathroom and repaint your living room: these can go into a "Home Renovation" project. At work, you may be contributing to the requirements for a new computer system, and may be expected to test and train your team on this system: all of these go into a "Computer System Upgrade" project.

What you'll find is that once you start sorting list items, they will almost seem to "organize themselves" into coherent projects. (You also need to make sure that your personal goals are included as individual projects.)

Second, review these projects and prioritize Add to My Personal Learning Plan them in order of importance (for example, by coding them from A to F) depending on their importance. (Clearly, your personal goals are exceptionally important projects!)

Third, insert your projects into your Action Program (using the approach we describe below). The Action Program is split up into these three parts:

Next Action List ? this shows the small next actions that you will take to move your projects forward.
Delegated Actions List ? this shows projects and actions that you have delegated to other people.
Project Catalog ? this shows all of the projects that you are engaged in, and the small individual tasks that contribute to them.
The great news is that, by this stage, you've already created the largest part of your Action Program: the Project Catalog! This is the list of prioritized projects and activities that you've just completed.

Typically, the Project Catalog is at the back of the Action Program, as you often only have to refer to it during a weekly review process.

Next, create the Delegated Actions List by working through your Project Catalog, and identifying tasks that you've delegated. Record these under the name of the person to whom you've delegated the activity, along with the checkpoints you've agreed.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_83.htm