SkedPalWorkflows: The Satisfying Feeling of Closure
Welcome back. We've talked about starting tasks, managing interruptions, and keeping your schedule on track. Now, let's talk about the other end of the process: ending your work and closing tasks. It's not just about finishing; it's about the satisfying feeling of closure. In this module, we'll explore how to properly end your work sessions using the SkedPal Status Tracker, ensuring you experience that sense of accomplishment and keep your workflow organized.
There are several ways to end a focused session of work in the Status Tracker. If your activity was an ad-hoc activity or an interruption, you can simply choose your next action or click 'Stop' to go on a break or end your day. We'll discuss ending your day in more detail later.
However, if your activity was focused work on a specific task, you have a few more options. First, you can mark the task complete directly on the Agenda.
This will not only mark the task as complete but will also change your status from 'Working on Task' to 'Away'. Second, if you're ready to jump straight into your next action, simply start that next task. This will automatically change your status from the previous task to the new one.
And third, you can click the 'Stop' button to stop the task and go into the 'Away' status.
Each of these methods provides a clear end to your work session, allowing you to move on with a sense of completion.
Now, remember that when you're done working on a task, and you still have more work to continue later, there are two key things you need to update: the remaining time of the task and its deferral. We'll cover how to do that shortly. But first, let's talk about when this is actually necessary.
When you have a long task—say 10 hours—and SkedPal has scheduled 1 hour of that task for you today, your time spent on the task using the tracker automatically deducts the actual time spent from the total duration. For example, if you spent 1.5 hours and then stopped working on the task, the remainder will automatically calculate to 8.5 hours. Marking that task as complete on your agenda doesn't mean you're marking the entire 10 hours complete. It simply means you've completed your session for today. SkedPal is smart enough to adjust the remaining balance. In addition, if your task's plan was spread across several days, there's no need to defer the task. The remainder is automatically scheduled in future days. You only need to defer and update the remaining time of a task if it was meant to be completed in the single session you were working on today.
Here's a handy tool to update the remaining time and defer the task, and more. When you stop working on a task, you'll notice this popup appearing.
You can use the fields available directly on the popup. Or, if you need more options, you can click these three dots to open a larger form with more detailed settings.
This gives you greater control over how you manage your tasks and ensures your schedule remains accurate.
On this popup form, there's also a 'Mark Complete' checkbox. Ticking this box means you're marking the entire task as fully complete. This is different from marking the task complete directly on the Agenda, which typically only marks today's scheduled segment as done. However, there's a subtle but important point here: if the only scheduled segment of the task is the one on the Agenda, then marking it complete there will, in fact, complete the entire task. So keep an eye on how much of the task is planned when deciding where and how to mark it complete.
And here's a unique feature: a star rating!
Maybe you're not used to rating yourself, but this is a great opportunity for self-evaluation upon closing a work session. You can rate yourself on how focused you were on the task or how much you managed to get into a flow state. Was it an interrupted, mostly distracted session? You'll be able to see these ratings in the reports you can generate. Remember, the first step to managing and improving is measuring. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. This star rating allows you to track your focus and identify patterns in your productivity, helping you make informed adjustments to your workflow.
Let's now understand the 'Away' status. 'Away' basically means you're doing something that's outside the scope of what you want to manage in SkedPal. For example, if you don't want to schedule and track your personal activities during the evening, you'd set yourself as 'Away'. Or, if you're taking a break, that's also an 'Away' status.
There are a few ways to set yourself as 'Away'. When you stop an activity, you're automatically set to the 'Away' status. If you look at the estimated time for the 'Away' status, you'll see it's set to 'Indefinitely' by default. This means your 'Away' status doesn't have a specific estimated duration. Of course, you can override 'Indefinitely' and set a duration. There are two major benefits to doing so. First, your schedule is rearranged based on your estimated away time. And secondly, you'll get a notification before your 'Away' time is up, both highly valuable features you don't want to miss.
Note that when setting the estimated duration for the 'Away' status, you can choose a date in the future. For example, if you're away for a few days and don't want SkedPal to schedule anything or send notifications, simply set the date and time you'll be returning to work.
The other way to get into the 'Away' status is to click the 'Break' button. This sets the estimated duration of the 'Away' status to 10 minutes by default. You can, of course, override this estimate and update it to your actual break time.
Now, if you set the Away status with a duration of Indefinitely, SkedPal assumes you're unavailable for the foreseeable future. This means it will stop adjusting your schedule as time passes during your away period, and it won't send you any notifications. It's a great option if you're stepping away unexpectedly or for an unknown length of time and don't want your schedule constantly shifting behind the scenes. When you're ready to return, simply resume your work from the current status tracker.
That's it for this module! You've now seen how to properly stop a task, update it, reflect on your session, and smoothly transition to what's next. These small habits go a long way in helping you stay intentional and productive throughout your day. Up next, we're going to take it a step further and explore how to edit your activity after the fact—just in case you forgot to log something or need to make corrections. Let's jump into how to adjust past activities and keep your records spot on. See you in the next one!