In Monday's post I went through a process of recentering myself, and identified four areas to focus on and track. The trickiest one was DESIGN AGENCY, because there are a LOT of different tasks.
I just finished creating a "process diagram" that outlines a high-level roadmap of agency operations; just about any task I can think of fits somewhere the diagram. You can read about and download the PDF over on the Agenceum Blog, which is where I am running my "open design agency" experiment. Although this diagram is labeled for Agenceum, it really is for ALL of my design-related business activities.
Read more about the diagram on the Agenceum blog.
This year's Compact Calendar added "automatic holiday calculation" when the year is changed in the Excel spreadsheet. Holiday calculations are terribly tricky, though, and a bug in the Easter Calculation was reported by Mike Kennedy with OpenOffice. The Easter calculation I'm using, he pointed out, assume date entry in a certain text format which is not universal. I went back and looked at it and saw he was right, though I couldn't duplicate the other reported bug. Anyway, I've uploaded a more robustly-coded version of original Easter calculation, which substitutes the locale-specific date string with the Excel DATE function.
UPDATE: After downloading OpenOffice and cross-checking the calculation with Google Spreadsheet, it appears that the cause of the bug is due to a difference between in how the DAY() function works for values under 61. So if you are using Excel you are fine, but OpenOffice users should probably use the EASTERSUNDAY() function.
UPDATE2: Here's an explanation of why Excel's DAY() function is buggy; it was originally to maintain compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3, which used to be the dominant spreadsheet.
In Excel 2007, Easter appears to be calculated correctly for the next five years. If you are outside the USA, you can re-download the ZIP file from the Compact Calendar Page for the more robust version of the calculation.
Pursue Tangible Results to Achieve Greater Goals
The Concrete Goals Tracker (CGT) is the original Printable CEO™ form, created one evening in 2005 to alleviate my desire to have a "trusted personal CEO" that would tell me what to do. I figured since I couldn't hire anyone to do the job, I might be able to go the cheap route and print one up on paper :-)
Designed for Minimal Tracking Effort
The idea is pretty simple: every time you complete something on the "worth doing" task list, you award yourself points. ONLY things you've done that produce tangible benefits are worth points, and the point scale is weighted so the most goal-directed criteria earn the most. Goal-supporting achievements, which tend to happen more frequently, are weighted less. It's up to you whether a task "counts" or not toward your goal. You can even award multiple points for a single task if it makes sense to you...try your best to optimize!
The list shown here is designed to create a successful freelance practice, based on the idea that "showing and talking about your work leads to more work". It lists categories of tasks that can be framed as being productive relative to your overall goal. For a freelancer, that's making stuff and showing it to people, and also talking to people constantly so you are on their mind. It all pays off when you get that check. There's a small business version too in the downloads section.
As you accomplish various goal-related items throughout the day, fill in the appropriate bubble to log the points. At the end of the day, you will see how well you did (or didn't). Each CGT form tracks an entire week, so you will see how you did every day, and week-by-week...and most importantly, what you did to move yourself along your path. Since the items on the task list award points only for tangible results, you will have made actual progress.
The theory behind the form itself is described more in the original 2005 post on the Printable CEO and the followup Making of the Printable CEO; there is a good bit of video game design psychology embedded in this paper form.
Overall Application
The CGT has evolved into a bunch of other forms that help visualize different aspects of my workday, and I no longer use it daily because it actually did its job: it got me focused on some processes that actually deliver meaningful result; all I had to do was focus not on what they were, but how I could tell if I was on the right path or not, and whether my daily output was really helping me forward. The idea is pretty simple: by focusing on making things that people can see and counting what you've done in a simple daily manner, you plant the seeds for daily progress. This is a high level guidance tool, much like the way a good manager will tell you what she needs and you pick your own way of making that happen without a lot of micromanagement. With luck, this is a form you use to get started in a new direction, and then you will pretty much know what you need to be doing. I haven't heard much feedback about it lately, but the general impression I have is that people use it for 2 weeks to six months, then move on.
The concept is translatable to different fields too. For example, there was also some interest from a magazine, so I created a small business edition based on that.
Make New Year's Resolutions Printable Lists with the Editable Versions
There are "write-your-own" PDFs with suggested methodology for how I put together a good "worth doing" list, which is an art in itself. I've written instructions on how to create new year's resolutions using these forms. By using the make-your-own printable versions of the CGT, you can put together a pretty decent goal tracking kit using either 8.5x11 paper, index cards for you Hipster users, or mini-book formats (pocketmod compatible, even). There is also an editable Excel version.
Note: You'll need to use Acrobat Reader to modify the text fields in the editable PDF versions.
Download 2010 Concrete Goals Tracker Printable Forms
3x5" Index Card Printable Formats
PocketMod / MiniBook Format
Editable Excel Goals Tracker
- Download Editable Excel version. It isn't pretty, but it gets the job done. Use to create your own variations in points. Note that this is not an interactive calculator or tracker spreadsheet as is.
For an overview of all the forms available, visit The Printable CEO™ Series Page. Enjoy!
SUMMARY: While the Concrete Goals Tracker, Emergent Task Planner, and Emergent Task Timer PDFs are being updated, the more obscure forms may not get an update unless I hear that someone needs them. The current roster of forms is listed in this blog post.
>> READ FULL ARTICLE
The Compact Calendar is a printable calendar based on an Excel spreadsheet, designed to be easy to use in impromptu planning by yourself or with a group of people.
>> READ FULL ARTICLE
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