All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

“There’s something else I need help with, but I forgot what it was.”

I cringe when I hear this because it usually means I’ll have to make an extra trip back to do another job that might have only taken a few minutes extra.

Now, I have a huge appreciation for agendas. Before, the only time I see or hear about agendas are with older people in managerial positions. When I was coaching, and we had division meetings, the director would pull out a paper listing topics needed to be discussed. (To be honest, I didn’t know it was called an agenda until recently!)

When I talk to my boss, and I sometimes won’t remember what questions I had until I walked out of his office. Then, I’d have to go back and interrupt him again. Sure, he’s only a few steps away, but instead of one “interruption”, I’m turning it into three or four. Annoying? Most likely.

Listen - this stuff is for everybody!

If you’re a student, dedicate a sheet of paper for each class or teacher to write down questions throughout the lecture. When they prompt the class to ask questions, or you meet with them in their office, whip out that paper and go through the questions quickly and easily. (I realize I have to actually follow this advice, so someone hold me to this.)

Last week, I had to meet with a counselor. Rather than keeping the questions in my head, I had them written down. It was so much simpler! What if this small tip would’ve shortened how much time I’ve been in college?

Digital Tracking

In my Palm PDA, I have an “@Agendas” category in the Memos section. When you have more than one topic you need to discuss with someone, create a memo with that person’s name. Below their name, list the questions/ideas you want to bounce off them.

Conclusion

I hope I helped you realize that you can use agendas anywhere, not just at work. It’s definitely made my life that much easier. How has using agendas helped you?

Reference: “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity“, Chapter 7.

For a moment, I hit a brick wall. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

I’ve been “away” since last…Thursday. You know, trying to write and keep up with my news reader. It’s been pretty crazy at work. I’ve had a lot to do, but it probably didn’t take as much brain power as it would to restore a whole system, upgrade software on the server, fend off excessive questions, figure out how to restore Exchange data for 200+ accounts to a newer version of Exchange…you get the idea.

The story

When the building was reconstructed, the contractor thought the server room needed a water pipe (since there was going to be an air conditioner inside). He didn’t know it was going to go to the roof.

Last Wednesday, a coworker was trying to turn on the dishwasher. One of the switches was for that water pipe that went into the server room. He flipped the switch, and water started flowing on top of one of the servers. (Not his fault, it wasn’t marked - it was just there.) Fortunately, the water only affected the Exchange and domain server. We have another one for ProLaw, and the other data and switches were on the rack. Something like that.

On Wednesday, Scot was able to upgrade the rack to the Windows Server 2003 and Exchange 2003. As of Tuesday, I think everything is basically back to normal. Everyone has access to their data, email, calendar, and contacts. The rest is just minor issues here and there, and updating the lesser-used computers to the new domain.

For me, the feeling of crossing off the names of the staff one by one kept me going. Plus, everyone was so nice and understanding. Through it all, Scot didn’t lose his cool. He might have gotten close, but I never saw it - he kept it together.

What can I learn from this?

Some of the staff commented how much they missed everything. The files they were currently working on, plus their calendar, contacts, and email.

• Print your calendar for the upcoming week regularly. You can make changes on this paper by hand, then update the calendar when you get back to your computer.
• Print important email. If it’s really that important, this is a good idea anyway.
• Print your contact list periodically. You put this off, but when you lose it for a period time, you realize how valuable this is.
• Use a PDA. This is fragile, too, so I backup to a SD memory card using BackupBuddyVFS. I sync this to my home and work computer, so I think I have all the angles covered.
• Sync frequently used files to a USB flash drive. Try running PathSync from that drive, too. I love it.

The main one that deserves it’s own section: delete email. Have you read Inbox Zero? I’m happy to say I practice what I preach. (Well, Merlin preaches those articles, but you know what I mean.)

That’s it for now. I’ll be going into work tomorrow as well, with hopefully everything settling back down. Four days this week - amazing!