Workload Management

download Download The Excel Template
download Download The PDF Instructions

Workload and Task Management Prioritization Introduction

The Excel template and instructions provided here are free downloads I have developed to prioritize my workloads in a technology environment. It has the look and feel of a project plan, but as a personal planning and productivity tool it does not conform to a strict set of rules. That being said, you will find if you become too creative with your field-input the strength of Excel’s sorting and filtering functions becomes less powerful. Familiarity with sorting and filtering in Excel tends to simplify usage of the tool.

The Excel template and instructions have been updated as of 08/23/12.

workload task list screenshot

I have also provided a companion procedure for using the productivity template and I have provided input as to how I use the tool. I would encourage you to modify the spreadsheet and⁄or procedure to meet your requirements.

It has been said that to develop a positive habit takes approximately one week to accomplish. If you commit to downloading the template, populating the fields and staying disciplined in your workload management approach I would expect a productivity gain between the 2nd and 3rd week of implementation.

Benefits

As stated above, one of the main benefits of the tool is that it provides a systematic approach to managing your priorities. My personal task list is typically comprised of 50 to 70 active tasks, however, even a smaller 30-task lists can become somewhat of a challenge to prioritize. The tool walks you through evaluating your entire portfolio, identifying priorities, assigning a unique value to a task and re-sorting based on these values.

A secondary benefit is that once a task has been completed, it is moved from an active list to a completed or archival task list. The completed task list is a record of your accomplishments and enables you to track productivity over a significant period of time.

For example, when you are eventually asked to write your performance evaluation self-assessment, most people can easily recall recent milestone events. However, corporate review and self-assessment processes usually cover a six or twelve month time period and recalling older milestones can be difficult. The Completed Task list within the spreadsheet resolves this problem by enabling you to sort your accomplishments in many ways and the data is truly fact based and complete.

Day to Day Workload Management

Depending on the complexity of your portfolio and personal discipline, evaluating priorities may occur several times a day or once a week. It is reasonable to expect your evaluation time to last from 3 to 30 minutes depending on your ability to assess your workload, typing speed and other job-dependant considerations. My workday begins by evaluating my open tasks, prioritizing what I want or need to accomplish for the day and ends by updating the task list.

Through constant evaluation and re-sorting of the list those items that are most important are always placed at the top of the list relative to other priorities. This evaluation process forces you to truly manage your workload and ensures you are performing the right actions at the right time and completing them either on or before target deadlines.

Getting Started

Download the free Excel spreadsheet template and companion instructions to boost your productivity and manage your workload:

download Download The Excel Template
download Download The PDF Instructions