Essential Workflow Habits
December 2, 2008 in Time Management by Richard

When you meet with a client for the first time, you might talk price and project specifics, and perhaps even a time frame for when the work is to be done. You go home or to your office, draft up a contract and receive the down payment. Now the clock is ticking, the creativity has to start flowing and you must start somewhere. This article is a general layout for one effective work flow habit that I follow as well as several tips from other people I have talked to. So whether you are a writer, designer, or developer, read on.

Setting the Playing Field with Behance

The start of an effective work-flow needs to begin at the first meeting or phone call with the client. Now if you generally use your laptop or computer to take notes when talking to a client, I highly suggest  actually writing down thoughts, ideas and sketches in a notebook, for two main reasons.

1. It allows you to look more professional and attentive to the client.
2. It also allows them to pull the notebook over and sketch something they might want.

Recently to help me achieve effective note taking during these meetings Ive adopted Behance’s Action Method . The notebook I use is their Action Book, it has all the essential areas including writing to-do lists, paragraphs for descriptions and a dot grid area for sketches and jots. Also on Behance’s site they have an online version of the notebook as well, which is a fantastic web app, but I will demonstrate later why I don’t use this for my entire workflow process.  This tool is best left to a collaborative project in my opinion.

Get All Your Ducks in a Row with Jott

Now that you have all your information from the meeting with your client, or from an email, or whatever the case may be, it is time to organize it effectively. This step may seem daunting but it is a big plus compared to overlooking a single important detail in any project that might cause you money or valuable time. The task management system I use in sorting everything out and putting it all on record in my computer is JOTT. Jott is a fantastic tool simply for one main reason. The reason being is it doesn’t just live inside my computer, or just floats out in the Internet, it lives wherever I can take my phone or have access to one for that matter. Jott, to me is the most versatile to-do list application because it has fantastic voice recognition, and that matters if you cant stop to type something, or write something down. It also beautifully integrates with Google calender (I can imagine at having read that your already trying it out now). If you ever had an idea spring into your head, Jott has been the fastest way for me to make sure it is recorded right away. Usually Jott works as the “master list” for the current project I am enthralled with.

See Whats Important Now with NowDoThis

Great now you have a huge list of things to accomplish. You open your browser to jott (or your own task list) and see the 8, 10, or 20 things to do. You might start skipping around or rush to do 5 things in one day. This is the mental part of staying on top of things. I have discovered nowdothis.com. The website is extremely plain and only has one option to edit you list and displays them one at a time in big bold letters, so you can stay focused on one thing at a time. Personally I suggest to always keep it visible, so if you are using Firefox, bookmark nowdothis.com and right click on the bookmark, go to properties and check off the box:  Load this is the sidebar. Only put 3 tasks at a time. You will find a do less per day attitude will actually improve your work-flow allowing you spend more time on individual tasks doing them the right way the first time around.

Find Your Own Path

These are just a few programs that might help you get a little organized if you have no system in place already. Feel free to just integrate these into a system that work for you already. I can go into tons of other programs that are specific to each freelancer, but I will save that for another post. I will of course leave you off with a list of other programs/sites that will help simplify your work-flow.

Dropbox- You can read an article about it here-Dumbing Down the Cloud.

Typetester- If you can’t choose the right font this utility will help.

Html-Ipsum- For quick filler text.

Browser Shots- View your site in any browser on (almost) any OS, decreasing time for the testing phase.

Colour Lovers-The best I have seen so-far for finding quickcolour schemes .

Adobe Lightroom- The ultimate work flow program for photographers.

What are your own solutions?

All of these tips are all well and good, but I find everyone has their own unique way with dealing with workload, share you tips and secrets with us here below.