Getting started
I don't know what I'm supposed to do now
Nearly always the answer is: nothing. What is waiting on someone else needs nothing from you until they reply.
**If what is open is waiting on someone else, you have nothing to do.** It sounds obvious and it causes half the feeling of being lost: people hunt for a task of their own when all that is missing is a reply from outside.
How to tell whose turn it is
| State | Is it yours? |
|---|---|
| Requested and awaiting a reply | No. Wait, or chase |
| Something uploaded and unreviewed | **Yes. This one is yours** |
| Complete | No, unless you want to close it |
| Stalled for a while | Yes, but the action is a reminder, not a redo |
Important
**There is only one question you need to answer each morning: is anything waiting on me?** Everything else —what is in progress, what is closed, what someone else has to send— does not need your attention today. If that question is hard to answer at a glance, that is the problem to solve, and it is not a personal organisation problem: you are looking at the wrong list.
If you have just started and do not know where to begin
- 1
Finish one whole thing before opening a second
One small completed process teaches more than three half-done.
- 2
Send it to someone friendly first
A colleague or a supplier you know well: mistakes surface at no cost.
- 3
And look at what reaches them
Nothing else puts how it works into your head faster.
Watch out
What throws people most at the start is not the tool: **it is waiting for a confirmation that is not coming**. Many things finish without ceremony — it sends, it uploads, it saves, and that is it. If you are stuck waiting for a «done» that never appears, check the state in the list: it is almost always already done, and what is missing is a reply from outside.
›How do I know if I am forgetting something?
Look at what is waiting on your side. The rest is not yours.
›Do I have to review everything daily?
No. Only what changed since yesterday.
›What if nobody ever replies?
Then the action is yours: chase, and by another route.
A real case
The situation
Someone reviews all twenty open files each morning looking for something to do.
What you do
- Looks only at what is waiting on their side and lets the rest run
What you get
The daily review drops from half an hour to two minutes without missing anything.
The situation
The first process goes to an unfamiliar supplier who does not reply for a week.
What you do
- Tries it first with a colleague or a supplier they know well
What you get
Design flaws surface in a day without burning a client's patience.
The situation
There are twenty open files and none seems to move.
What you do
- Filters by what is waiting on your side
What you get
You are left with a short list of things that really depend on you.
The situation
A file has not moved in weeks and nobody noticed.
What you do
- Lets it flag anything stalled too long
What you get
What is stuck surfaces by itself rather than being hunted.
The situation
A reminder is resent by hand just in case.
What you do
- Checks whether the automatic reminder already went
What you get
You avoid chasing the same supplier twice in one day.
The situation
A file is closed without knowing whether something was missing.
What you do
- Looks at what is outstanding before signing it off
What you get
Closing rests on a list rather than an impression.
The situation
Somebody new joins and does not know where to start.
What you do
- Shows them the view of what is waiting on their side
What you get
They know what to do on day one without a full explanation.
This article answers
- what do i do now
- i created the process now what
- im lost and dont know how to continue
- what is left to finish