Comments on: Project Taking Longer Than Expected?

By: Aluminum Extrusions

Aluminum Extrusions — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:31:31 +0000

Don’t lose hope. I find myself at this point with almost every project I attempt. It’s a sign of having more responsibility than a stack of lumber. I appreciate knowing that I am not alone in my feelings.

By: Jeremy Kriewaldt

Jeremy Kriewaldt — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:51:27 +0000

I agree entirely with your post. For the amateur who is holding down a full-time job and dealing with real life , a list is very useful for a number of reasons. I keep my list in the form of Notes in Outlook. I have 2 main lists – Projects and Shed. The former is stuff I want to make and the latter is tools and shed furniture. When I decide that something needs to go on the list, it goes on as a one line entry, and I try to keep the list in the order in which I am going to attempt it.

Once an item comes up to the top of the list, I start adding to the item by setting out the steps for that project. If a step will take more than 1 hour, I try to break it into smaller steps both so I know where I will get up to and so I can cross it off (using the delete key) once it is done. Sometimes the steps are even smaller – they remind me of the order in which I want to do things – many of my mistakes come from forgetting what I did and why in previous sessions, this way I know what I thought I would do next and that usually reminds me of the reason I chose to adopt a particular order of work.

I find going from the more general to the more particular and detailed a very useful practice in trying to get any project done.

Cheers

Jeremy

By: Larry Marshall

Larry Marshall — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:09:03 +0000

Great post, Shannon. My work history required that I learn to use lists in the ways you suggest. In addition to the virtues you point out, sub-dividing ‘to-do’ items makes it easy to start, pick up where you left off, AND to use small time blocks to move the project forward.

Personally, I do this while being very lax about strking things off my lists. The reason is that I don’t want to feel that accomplishment is related to drawing lines through items. Rather, to me, it’s about moving the project(s) along.

Cheers — Larry

By: Torch02

Torch02 — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:44:36 +0000

I commented on a similar post over at Mike Lingenfelter’s blog (http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/wordpress/2010-woodworking-new-years-resolution/) that I find lists invaluable to progressing on projects – I feel quite aimless in the shop if I don’t have a list of what I need to accomplish. I probably fall somewhere between “Workbench Leg Vise” and the list you posted as far as detail goes, but I think the level of detail in the list is going to be a purely subjective matter – varying from person to person.