As a career IT project manager, it probably comes as little surprise that I enjoy mulling over topics such as this.

It becomes your goal to just get them off your list as fast as possible, which can cause the level of attention and quality of output to fall. When you can become overwhelmed with an unmanageable list of to-dos and follow-ups, you naturally become stressed and lose focus on individual items. What happens if they don’t follow through? Does it become their fault that you did not accomplish what you agreed to? Other issues you inevitably face is how best to prioritize your work, and how to prevent becoming overwhelmed with what is in front of you.

The issue here is that you have now placed the burden back onto the person who was asking in the first place. You might say to someone, 'Sure, just shoot me an email as a reminder!' which you plan to flag as a to-do when it comes in. The other problem is how to manage tasks that do not come in via email – I see those get lost all too often.

So, pretty soon you have your inbox filled with to-dos and follow-ups, combined with incoming emails and it quickly becomes overwhelming. Why Email Doesn’t Work…Well For a long time, I relied heavily on my email inbox, flagging items, setting reminders etc… The problem I had with this is that, well, your email inbox should be for email. The harder it is to manage, the more likely you will fall behind. Regardless of the method used, being successful at this requires a consistent discipline. There is without question no right answer to this age-old question, as it boils down to what works best for you. As the list always seems to grow faster than you can complete them, the challenge becomes more than just getting them done, but how to manage it all! In my experience, I have seen people try everything from using their email inbox, to spreadsheets to scribbled spiral-bound notebooks, clutched to one’s chest as if an unnatural extension of their body. It’s a given that any working professional has a never-ending list of tasks, to-do’s and follow-ups.

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