Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

When it comes to getting things done, we need fewer architects and more bricklayers - Colleen C. Barrett

I think task management is the most important skill anyone that works in a PR consultancy needs. You have to balance the demands of multiple clients with journalists’ deadlines and service providers’ requirements.

One of the ways I achieve some semblance of order is I keep a checklist of all the things I am doing. I combine this with using three different colour pens and some symbols to prioritise items and update my progress. During the course of an average week I go through about two A4 refill pad pages.

I’m sure everyone has their own little system, but this style of document is something that I would recommend to people. In general, I’m not a fan of what some task management experts suggest. The systems they recommend require you to spend the time you save cutting clutter out of your day on managing they system that they proposed. However I read a book on mind mapping before and that’s where I spotted the idea of using different colours.

The theory behind it is that it helps your brain differentiate between the different tasks and rank them subconsciously. It may sound stupid, but it works for me.

I talked about how Social Media tools like wikis will impact on the PR profession a couple of weeks ago. I’d love to incorporate my task management system into a workplace wiki not only to help myself, but my co-workers also. In my opinion the end result would be a more efficient organisation and a healthier working environment as people would have a better understanding of the demands on their fellow employees.

Technorati Tags: Piaras Kelly, PR, Public Relations, Task Management