Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Genealogy Do-Over ~ Cycle 4 ~ Week 4: Managing Projects & Tasks and Tracking Research


We are now in week 4 of the Genealogy Do-Over and topics are (1) Managing Projects & Tasks and (2) Tracking Research.

Managing Projects & Tasks

In my other life I was a travel agent. I kept track of my clients itineraries, tickets (issuing & delivery), deadlines for deposits or final payments etc. using a daily calendar. I have watched Thomas MacEntee's project management video a few times now. With that in mind, I have incorporated Thomas's project management techniques onto my calendar. I was already using green for completed assignments, yellow for projects that have been started but not finished. I use red for projects that have titles but that I have not started to write about and I use turquoise for projects that the writing is completed but that I need to add photos, sources and/or documents to that post. 

I had been using Google Calendar for 6 months for my projects and tasks until I found it posted on my Google+ along with my personal calendar. Apparently, it was an issue with my phone that caused this to happen according to Samsung. I know use a great calendar I purchased at Target. It is a monthly/weekly combination calendar.


 The above picture on the left is of my calendar for this month. The only thing that is not showing completed is this post. At the beginning of each month, on the to do list side I put down the posts that are regular from month and the number of times I will have to post that series for the month. I also list posts that were not originally planned once they are completed. About half of my posts for October were done back at the end of August and early September.

I try to do Tombstone Tuesday's, Surname Saturday's and my Family Photo Friday's in advanced for three months at a time. As I complete each item, I draw a green circle around it showing that all posts for that subject are now complete. Red means I haven't started but there 3 more days left in October and I will get them done.

My color coding system is this:

If the proposed post has a red triangle it means that I have not started the post. If a post is highlighted in yellow it means that I have started the post. When the post has a turquoise box it means that I need to get pictures uploaded, list my sources and double check them. Finally, if the post has a green circle it means I have completed the post and it has been scheduled to post.


This is my November calendar and as you can see there are quite a few red triangle's at the moment. The picture on the right is my to do list for November and there is a lot to do. I do not currently have any projects other than my research and blog.

Tracking Research

If you were to look at certain profiles in my master tree at www.ancestry.com you will find that I use their weblink function, a lot! This is It where I store whatever sites that pertain to that person from web searches I have done on Google, Bing, FamilySearch, Findagrave and other websites. Unfortunately, the weblink function is missing elements such as adding a dates, notes or even a reminder to try the search again at a later date.  

I tried using Evernote to track my research but I kept forgetting to open the program especially since it is so much easier to cut and paste to the weblink on Ancestry and Family Tree Maker. My calendar technique works for me but I know that using Thomas's Research Tracker in Excel or using Evernote is a better way to keep track of my research. I will once again try them both and see how things go this time around. You can find my research tracker and planner from last here.

 

Sources:

Day Designer Planner, Weekly/Monthly, School Edition July 2015-June 2016, personal calendar.

 

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