I have always been an avid list-maker. Whether it’s through my iPhone’s Notes app or any scrap of paper I find, you can count on me to jot down activities to get done before the day’s up, groceries to pick up from Trader Joe’s, or the RSVPs of guests attending my best friend’s upcoming bridal shower.
This is why I like the project management software Trello. The program isn’t new to me, as I was already familiar with Trello in my most recent public relations job. My colleagues and I shared our Trello boards with each other to determine what digital marketing goals still needed to be met, track our clients’ coverage in the media, and curate content for our firm’s e-newsletters. The beauty of Trello is that if you make your Trello board public (or at least share it with friends or coworkers), your colleagues can track your progress on activities, or know how much you’re juggling on your plate. Similar to Google Drive, Trello can be as collaborative or private as one wants. What I also like about Trello is that it’s a digital to-do list that can always be updated and changed, no erasers or new sheets of paper necessary. Each Trello board, along with the cards in each board, can be renamed to the user’s liking. This week, I broke down all of my tasks and deadlines for each module of ICM 501: Foundations in Graduate Studies into individual cards on Trello. Each column lists the specific projects that need/needed to be completed before the Sunday night deadline of the weekly modules. My Module 5 assignments are listed in the first column under “To Do,” which has a September 30 deadline. When you click on most of the assignments under that, you’ll find a checklist of specific steps I need to take in order to fully complete a project. In the “Doing” column, I have a September 23 deadline set. Again, each project to be completed for the module is listed individually, each with their own specific set of steps. For example, under the blog post assignments, these cards have checklists that remind me to write my blog post, edit my blog post, create an image for my blog post, and of course, publish my blog post. For the blog post tasks I’ve already done, I took the liberty of adding the images I made for those blogs. For the assignments that are all finished, I’ve checked them off with big, green check mark stickers. Normally, I’d move my most recently completed tasks over to the right-hand side of the screen under one “Done” column but because there are quite a few assignments, I’m simply changing the “To Do” columns to “Done, by September X deadline” and then creating a new “To Do” Trello board every week. Another important step I took was prioritizing each task in the order I wanted to complete them. Starting each week with our Zoom meetings puts me in the right mindset to continue forth with the rest of my work. I also prefer to read every single assignment before trying to tackle any writing. Additionally, I’ve found that reading and annotating my assigned reading is extremely helpful in completing the rest of my projects, such as my annotated bibliography and blog posts. Lastly, having to separate out each module’s projects individually has taught me the value of NOT multitasking. This week, I read neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley and psychologist Larry Rosen’s article “Remedies for the Distracted Mind,” which reminds readers about the counterproductive aspect of multitasking. Rather than try to complete multiple projects at once, I am inspired to stay deeply focused on one task at a time for the best results. The authors of this article iterate how they’ve observed students multitasking while studying, which resulted in decreased work performance and lower scores. “In the office, we often juggle our work assignments...We believe that we’ll be able to manage everything at the same time, and maybe even more productively,” the authors write. As practical and user-friendly as Trello is, I’m not entirely sure if the software is something I will use outside of the workplace. While I have no issues with the software itself, I won’t always have my laptop open, and there’s always something comforting about being able to draw a line through a completed task on my to-do list with a pen.
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