Getting Things Done: Make Time to Make
I’m not sure how many times I’ve recently told people that “my job has changed dramatically” and “all I do” now is answer e-mail and attend phone calls, whence my comment on twitter about being able to do 90% of my job on my new iPhone 3G (which continues to amaze me).
I have definitely felt off my game, unproductive, and am staring down the barrel of managerial irrelevance. If I’m not able to continue sharpening my design and development skills, and spend all of my time on project management and people management, then very soon I will no longer be a Web designer.
Having read Merlin Mann’s recent series “Make Time to Make”, I don’t think my problem lies in the phone calls and project-related e-mail. It’s all the e-mail requests for help and ideas, Twitter, and incessant IMs that keep me off my game.
Now I just need to figure out how to manage that.
Constant, short, queries from my team via e-mail and IM are a constant part of my day, and an important (?) part of my job. Many of these require a near immediate response. Maybe I need to accept my fate as a manager. Thoughts?
