Why Lo-Tech Is Often Better

Technology promises so much, doesn’t it?

Do more in less time leaving you more time to….i’m not sure. But whatever it is we often buy right into it.

I know for sometime I had been searching for some kind of tool or method to keep track of things that I’ve delegated to others. I researched BaseCamp, an online tool to help you manage projects online. I experimented with various forms of to-do lists and other ways, but some of them are costly and require quite a few steps.

That’s why my eyes perked up when I read the post that Michael Hyatt wrote a few weeks ago: “How to Better Track the Tasks You Delegate to Others.” It’s a great post where he outlines several methods for keeping track of these kinds of tasks. But one of the methods that he says he prefers is that of using a simple notebook. He’ll leave some pages at the end of his Moleskine notebook and delineate what has been delegated out.

He says:

Divide each page into three-columns. In the first column, note the date you made the assignment. In the second column, note the first name of the person to whom you delegated the task, then the task itself. In the third column, note the due date (if any). I don’t use a due dates unless a specific date is mission-critical.

When I read this I felt an odd sense of relief and rebuke. After all, here’s a method that a CEO is using and that works for him, and it doesn’t involve some really fancy hi-tech solution. Sometimes I need to remind myself that hi-tech does not always equal better. In fact, the search for a hi-tech solution sometimes takes more time then just putting some ink on paper.

Sometimes you just can’t beat old-school, I guess.

So what about you? What do you use?

[image by Amir K]

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