Amir Salihefendic is the founder of Doist, a company that specializes in productivity software. The company's two flagship software products, Todoist and Wedoist, help more people manage their personal tasks and collaborative projects. Below is an excerpt from a longer interview I did with Salihefendic about organization and efficiency.
JD: Your product Todoist aims to help people take control of the tasks they need to do. In developing the app, what have you learned about what most people need in terms of help and guidance in accomplishing their tasks?
AS: People are really bad at creating their tasks. Most people create tasks that are really hard to complete. For example, "lose weight" isn't a task; it's a longer project that includes hundreds of tasks. Yet, most people will add "lose weight" as a task.
What's better is to see "lose weight" as a project that has tasks such as eat ten fruits each day, go to the gym every other day, etc. Understanding the complexity of the task and breaking it up into manageable and actionable chunks is really important for your organization and productivity. It's also motivating since you can complete sub-tasks along the way and feel like you are getting closer to the goal.
JD: Can you share with us two or three tips or tricks for increasing productivity?
AS: I think email is really a productivity killer. I get hundreds of emails per day, and I manage this in following way:
- I only check and process email three times a day (morning, noon, and afternoon).
- I answer an email if it will take less than one minute.
- I archive if an email isn't important.
- I delegate email [that I want to answer later] as a task to Todoist (via our Chrome plugin) and specify a due date to not forget it.
- In the afternoon, when my energy levels are low, I answer longer emails.
JD: Would you share an image of your workspace or a screenshot of your desktop? AS: Here's a screenshot of my Todoist account, including a new feature called karma, which gives visual feedback and tips on how you can improve your productivity.
Next: Mikael Berner, CEO of EasilyDo
Source: pcmag.com
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