You Don't Need Magic....: ugly duckling beads

Showing posts with label ugly duckling beads. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Staying on Task

I came into the new year with certain expectations for me....Less talk, more do. But what does that really mean? Here goes: Less talk, more do... LOL

I have a terrible habit of spending hours planning and organizing. I create beautiful time lines , well defined goals with extremely detailed sub-goals. Anyone could pick up my notes and do what I do on a daily basis. That's agood trait, right?? NOT!!! By the time I finish and looking at everything that needs to be done I am totally overwhelmed, and tired!! So nothing gets done!!! I mean nothing!!

The only thing that gets me through, are the deadlines that are still looming. So once I can get my head wrapped around my well defined goals and extremely detailed sub-goals, I'm doing the "panic" dance. Fortunately, my "Muse" tends to show up, gives me the energy and direction I need, and I'm able to complete multiple assignments meeting all my deadlines. But it's exhausting...!

This year I've tweaked how I plan to do things. I found this program for my IPad2 that allows me to keep all of my details in one place. It's actually a visual gantt chart. It has a few things missing that would be helpful, but all in all, it's a fantastic means of breaking everything down in small tasks in a format that doesn't overwhelm me. This fabulous program... iScope- Project Management. I love it! Let me say upfront, I am not a spokesperson, at least not a paid one ;-)... but it's a really comprehensive Gantt chart for humans...thier term of course ;-) It has so many features packed into a small frame...but perfectly capable of managing multiple tasks efficiently. Check out the screen shots below.

This is the home screen. It browses all of your projects at a glance (left column). You can see a global status of each project, number of tasks completed, number of tasks outstanding tasks outstanding, responsible parties, etc.

To see the specific tasks, you would tap on the specific project which will take you to all the information associated with that project. Imagine everything with just one tap! See the next screeen....

Everything at your fingertips! I can see each task for a specif project. The due date.. and all notes for that project. Behind the note section is the attachment tab. I've been able to plan my class schedule really easily. I build my project one task at a time and be able to find everything quickly. In many cases with just one tap. I love the "visual-ness" of it. Anyone who has ever worked with Gantt chart knows, they utterly boring and difficult to read... at least mine were ;-) . This program is interactive so I'm never bored. I keep adding tasks, 'cause it's so fun.... Imagine that...

This is how I add/change task due dates. Just roll the date into place...It updates the global screen automatically. One benefit... the hierarchy goes three levels deep... (satisfies my detail "jones").

Once I complete a task it adjusts all the sub-tasks automatically... Easy, peasy. Oh, and I can "drag-and-drop" to reorder all my tasks.

All tasks and sub-tasks with attachments tab (the note pad is now in the background, just click to bring it forward).

And..... the responsibility tab. I call it the "finger pointing validation" screen. This tells you the responsible party for each task, the home screen (where the global information is) will tell you how "on task" each person is...these days that would be me! This would have been great when I was working as a Marketing Director, how easy managing would have been if I could see at a glance where my team needed help making deadlines....
The best part... the app was only $4.99...how great is that! ;-)...

What do you use to stay "on task"???

Saturday, July 9, 2011

A Little "Diva" Shopping!

It's July! Yippee!

July is one of my favorite months. Not just because it's my birthday month, but it's also in my opinion, the epitome of summer..., my garden is "lush" and in full bloom, my neighbors and I spend time drinking frozen lemonade and sharing "grilled" treats. But July is special in another way as well. It's also the beginning of all my best fine art fairs, all the way through Labor Day! I'll be in full jewelry production mode! Yippee!

Don't get me wrong...as a Lampworker, I love making beads, but what I love more??--- putting my beads into a lush-and-fabulous one of a kind work of art. It's the pushing the envelope for that "big bang", for the "atta-girl" or " you rocked that boat!" compliment that drives my creative juices. So today, instead of focusing on just beads....we're oogling beads and jewelry from the Fire Divas Etsy and Artfire Shops! And then??? Shop our beads, make it yours, and then produce your own "you rocked that boat" masterpiece!