Systems in Music Therapy: Task Lists and Project Tracking - in my BOOK!!
I am a bullet journaler. I am also a decorative planner user as well as a project tracker. I am a journal hoarder. I have a different book and different style for each book that I use on a regular basis. I have many more journals that do not have a use yet - they just sit on a shelf in my office, awaiting their glorious purpose in my organizational quest.
A couple of months ago, I told my boss that I was bored with my job. I asked if I could get some funding to make task boxes for some of the classrooms. I started thinking about the types of projects that I wanted to make, and that led me to my journal shelf. I picked a bright yellow journal that I will never use for one of my work or personal planners because it has lines. I prefer dot grid for the other planners, but this project series worked well with lined paper. So, I took the book and started my system.
One of the tricks that I use in books like this - specifically focused to specific projects - is color-coding (of course). I use dot stickers to indicate different project elements. I also use an index - that I keep in the back of the book so I can find different projects quickly. The system, though is not just about color-coding. It has to do with what I do with the information that I develop.
This type of project management meets my origins in music therapy quite nicely - it is very much based in task analysis and structure which correlates really well with behaviorism. I know how to write task analyses!
When I start a new project, I start with a brainstorming session where any and all ideas are welcomed, recorded, and set onto the page. (That is a blue dot, by the way.) I use Pinterest and my own thoughts and resources to come up with ideas. After a bit of time engaged in brainstorming, I move into task analysis. I figure out what steps have to happen to reach my end goal - this includes design, making the box, figuring out how to find materials without spending my own money, coming up with the task analysis for the actual task, translating that analysis into something my clients can access, and then figuring out what I need to do when. For my current project (which I think is almost finished - I just have to take pictures), I had to make a sorting tool so my clients can make numbered groups of things to deliver to different classrooms. The sorting tools that I found on Amazon were about $30 dollars each. I don't want to spend that much on something like this tool, so I made my own. The first one was functional, but not attractive. The second one was attractive, but I came up with another idea that I will put together on Monday. I think it will be more functional and sturdier as well. That is a consideration that I think many designers conveniently forget - sturdy is good and makes things worth a bit more, ESPECIALLY with my students!!
My book allows me to put together timelines and "first this, then that" sequences. I can check things off. I can scribble things off the page completely. I can annotate notes as I try things out and see what happens. I can keep all those thoughts in one place and compartmentalize that part of my existence to that book use. When I am finished with the thought process, I can close the book and move on.
The important part of any system is that it has to work for you. I know people who would never consider using a book to do anything. They prefer their phone. Great!! If it works for you, then you never need to apologize to someone who does their thing in another way. I do best when I can write something down - it sticks more than just typing it into my phone does. That's just what works for me.
I am a dedicated pen and journal person. That's my system for keeping my ideas organized and compartmentalized so they aren't scattered all over the place. My yellow journal will continue to serve me as a project management system until it is all filled up. After that, I will head back to my journal shelf to select a new, lined book for my next project journal. That's the way these books work for me. I use them until they are filled with my thoughts, and then they get archived.It is wonderful to look over my shelf of used books - I haven't mentioned that shelf before. I can also use them when I need some inspiration. The system works for me.
Enjoy your Friday, all.
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