How can I work offline more?

September 11, 2024 1:11 PM

I've been experimenting with using notebooks for to-dos and meeting minutes and I have noticed definite improvements to my productivity. What are other ways I can move more of my work processes offline? Please suggest some tools or workflows that could work just as well or better on paper, with the understanding that I will not be able to change the way my organization operates.

I have the sort of job where everything can be done remotely; I work for a large organization and we use Teams, DocuSign, shared files, etc, and we are all on hybrid schedules. Obviously, some portion of my work life will have to be online, that is not negotiable. But if there is a way I can minimize the time I spend looking at screens I would like to do that. (I am too young to have ever worked in an office without computers and don't know how things used to work.)

posted by epanalepsis to Work & Money (8 answers total)

I find a paper calendar a much easier place to put important deadlines, appointments, leave dates etc than my Outlook one (though some overlap is of course necessary).
posted by Lorc at 1:14 PM on September 11 [8 favorites]

+ one for a paper calendar! I like monthly ones that give me a broad overview of what's upcoming. If you need more granular timekeeping weekly ones with the week on two pages were good for me. Looking at the outlook calendar or the one on my phone doesn't give me the same outlook, I think because it's too small.
posted by Art_Pot at 1:19 PM on September 11

Do you have a white board? Or, better yet, multiple white boards? When I'm feeling super productive, I will write my daily to-do list on a smaller one. And a bigger one is great for doing a general brain dump of everything that's in my head or for mapping out a process or timeline.
posted by dawkins_7 at 1:46 PM on September 11 [6 favorites]

Trello and its competitors are all basically digital post-it notes. Sometimes I like to map out projects on post-its rather than lists, so I can move tasks around as I think of them or organize into phases. I use the back of a foamcore mounted poster, but you could use a piece of poster board or a window.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 2:00 PM on September 11 [1 favorite]

Anna Havron's blog analogoffice.net has some good ideas, and gets me excited about living less digitally.

Something I've started doing in my personal life is writing larger tasks on index cards and breaking them up into smaller steps on the other side. It helps me to break it down without losing sight of the end goal. And then if I have free time and don't know what to do, I can shuffle the cards and pick one at random to make progress on.
posted by extramachine at 2:40 PM on September 11 [9 favorites]

You don't say what kind of work you do, so some of this may not be relevant, or there may be things that would make a lot of sense for your job but don't occur to me. I'm a software engineer, so almost all of my actual work output has to happen on the computer. I used to be a heavy paper notebook user (now a heavy paper-replacement e-ink tablet user) and try to do as much as I can in a workflow that feels analogue. What I do with paper:

• Daily planner: my digital calendar is the source of truth, but every morning when I sit down at my desk I draw out my schedule. It helps me make sure I'm prepared for whatever meetings I'm going to have, and to find specific times in the day to do any prep that still needs doing. It also helps me to be a lot more conscious of when during the day I'll have big or small chunks of time available. That info is obviously available in a digital calendar, but drawing it out makes me engage with it more. Throughout the day, I use that same page as a rough to-do list and scratchpad.
• Reviewing documents: I often have to review things like product requirements, implementation plans, or system architecture proposals, and I've found that any sort of critical reading is much better done away from a screen. Grab a red pen and highlighter, then read through and jot down thoughts/reactions/questions. For things where I need to provide feedback, I'll go back and type up the questions and comments that might be useful for the author.
• Strategic work: If I need to plan something at a high level, figure out timelines, understand a large system, or something like that, I'll do it on paper. I made a lot of outlines and messy diagrams while I'm thinking, then type up whatever deliverable based on the ideas I worked out away from the screen.

For me, basically anything where I need to think and don't need to type while I'm doing it, it works better on paper. Some of that is easier since I'm on a tablet now (so I'm not actually using up printer paper on some long document) but for really complex stuff, I did used to print it out when I was using actual paper. I probably take 2-5 pages of notes on a productive workday just to keep track of context and next steps as I'm working at the computer. For things like document review and drafting, I usually go somewhere else in the house so I'm fully away from the temptation of the screen. Even though I'm on a tablet, it's still something that's not connected to the internet and has no apps/games/notifications. It feels like paper, just with infinite pages and the ability to link things together. On a regular tablet with apps, it's too easy to get sucked back into screen-world.
posted by duien at 2:56 PM on September 11 [6 favorites]

I've been studying and working the same topic (landscape architect) since 1991 and have most everything (that I've found usefull) on my system. So before I go online and search for something I search my system first - usually using Agent Ransack (freeware), and I often turn out to have what I need locally.

Google had a tool to search the web and locally but they killed it.

Another time-saver is NOT having a file cabinet. I have my jobs in name-tagged sleeves in a vertical rack so things don't go out of sight out of mind. (used to work for hyper 'efficient' German guy who insisted everything in file cabinets ... and then they'd be out of sight and get forgotten).

All my file sleeves are transparent (with current topic on top) which gives me a constant heads up on approx. content. I still do concepts on tracepaper and keep some for decades as successful concepts have great pedagogical and $ / time-saving value.

I have three stackable transparent plastic boxes [labelled: Survey, Go, City] for upcoming sales and site visits and I chuck stuff in them as relevant.
posted by unearthed at 3:16 PM on September 11 [3 favorites]

Like Duin, outlook is my source of truth, but I map out my week on paper every Monday morning. I use a GTD (getting things done) type system, but mostly I list out my task list for the day or week on paper, and take paper notes. I do scan my notes into OneNote, but a lot of my day is on paper. Except email. I can’t escape that.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 5:33 PM on September 13