A recent study concluded that the average executive has more than 200 to-dos lying around (not centrally located) his or her office. That same person has work coming in at a pace that easily leaves them somewhere between 16 and 20 hours short of completing all of their tasks. Sound familiar? All predictions indicate that the inflow of information and the pressure to keep up with expanding knowledge areas will increase, e.g. no relief in sight.

At PST our research suggests that we all go through the same five phases in working to keep up with the 800 pound information gorilla. Each phase represents a tool of some capability… and limits. Let’s review them.

• At first we start by working off of our short and long term memory. For us baby boomers that becomes less and less of a reliable tool. Short term memory is quite susceptible to interruptions. As the pace increases, and multi-tasking expands, it’s easier for short term memory to drop details before storing them into our long term memory.
• As memory gets overwhelmed we shift to using visual aids. They serve as a reminder function to prompt our memory or recall system to action. Visual aids range from post-it notes, to calendars, to detailed lists. Almost all lists are a combination of key words and prompts to our memory to fill in the rest of the required action item.
• In the third phase we go to stacking. I like to think of it as building paper condo’s on our desk or table (sometimes even the floor) real estate. Here we use location, location, location, as the real estate people put it to organize information, and associated action items. Folders or stacks serve like floors of a building to separate information groups. As this information management tool gets overwhelmed our paper condo’s become more expansive, more sprawling, and eventually look as if a 7.6 earthquake has just rearranged the landscape.
• In the fourth phase we move to a formal system to catalogue ever increasing amounts of information. These range from address books to personal planners, from lists in a word processor or spreadsheet to software PIMS (personal information management software). In our culture, we tend to organize such systems around the alphabet, dates or a heirarchy (priority, cost, etc.).
• The fifth phase for must of us is a state of varying degrees of being overwhelmed. It’s either details slipping through the cracks while we run fast, or it is selective in-attention ("I just don’t have time to deal with that").

In using ManagePro, you have a tool that allows you a new fifth gear, or at least a robust extension of the fourth level. You will find that ManagePro has a number of information management capabilities. It cross references to-dos to both projects/goals and people. It prompts the entry of progress notes on goals and allows for the attachments directly to project goal entry’s. All of which is designed to enhance your management of information.

The theme underlying ManagePro, which may not be evident at first, is that ManagePro challenges you to organize your work around the structure of goals. Having defined work demands in terms of goals, it is much easier to link related information and recall it, as compared to using a simple list. In addition goals usually have positive motivational qualities for us, whereas we learn early in childhood that tasks or projects represent stuff we have to do but aren't going to like. So consider exploiting the power of goals in managing information, and leave some space for your brain to do creative thinking instead of memory and information management.