PDS and BTS Hacks by Danielle Picot

Time Blocking

dpicot — 2024-06-11 15:39:12 UTC

Dedicating seperate times of the day to follow ups, reach outs, and on-demand replies to educators. I also schedule these blocks around when I have educator calls scheduled.

Outlook reminders throughout the day to make sure things are getting done

2024-06-25 19:38:30 UTC

Reverse Planning

2024-06-25 19:38:40 UTC

Taking the due date of a project and planning backwards and blocking small chunks time off during the days/week leading up to this due date. My attempt at avoiding procrastination lol

Email Flags

2024-06-25 19:38:41 UTC

Flag emails that I have read but have to go back to by EOD

Google Chrome Tab Groups

2024-06-25 19:38:48 UTC

Keep support cases and implementations organized by grouping tabs together in Chrome

sticky notes (on PC)

2024-06-25 19:38:53 UTC

sticky notes to write random notes and things I have to come back to the same day

Google Tabs

2024-06-25 19:39:09 UTC

Utilitzing Google tabs when you're working on more than one account so you can keep track and not get lost!

Sticky Notes

2024-06-25 19:39:22 UTC

Utilizing the sticky notes app to store frequently used notes/replies/templates

Excel Shortcuts

2024-06-25 19:39:25 UTC

Excel shortcuts can make it easier, quicker, and more efficient to onboard!

Set outlook calendar reminders for when I should be in office hours, work on case assignments, support queue work, and iExport requests

2024-06-25 19:39:44 UTC

Personal BTS tracker

2024-06-25 19:39:45 UTC

Im still rocking my day 1 method of using my own BTS Excel. It has links to each implementation, tells me what they are doing for ss, any expected changes, and all the important dates. I color code the crap out of it lol

Self Care!

2024-06-25 19:40:04 UTC

Sometimes BTS is so crazy, I forget what time of a day it is. I try to schedule move breaks/walk breaks/water breaks/lunch breaks to make sure I am able to perform my best with the high volume.

Chrome Group Tabs!

2024-06-25 19:40:29 UTC

I always use chrome tabs to group the many pages that need opened when addressing an account or issue I'm working on. This is helpful because if you're pulled away from what you're working on you can collapse the tabs and hop back to it when needed. The most satisfying part is that you can close the group and it closes ALL of the tabs at once so CASE CLOSED.

Task Tracker

2024-06-25 19:40:31 UTC

This is a copy of a task tracker I created last BTS to stay on top of everything. You can add your planned and unplanned tasks, follow ups and to dos. ✅

Detailed Notes!

2024-06-25 19:40:32 UTC

Detailed notes help in every area of PDS! During BTS and throughout the school year, detailed notes will help you stay on top of accounts you're reviewing and help others stay up-to-date with the status of accounts.

Focus Time

2024-06-25 19:40:48 UTC

Put in practice the Pomodoro Technique

Keep it Moving

2024-06-25 19:40:48 UTC

If I'm stumped on something, I move onto another task rather than creating a logjam with tasks piling up. I then revisit the initial task a bit later with(hopefully) a fresh outlook.

Old-fashioned to-do lists

2024-06-25 19:41:46 UTC

Nothing like putting pen to paper. Every morning making a physical to-do list and prioritizing each task can be incredibly beneficial during the high volume BTS days

Clear your Inbox!

2024-06-25 19:47:40 UTC

Leave only important things or "to-do" items for your inbox, and organize all finished and closed emails in folders.

You can also use tags in Outlook for emails in your inbox! E.g. "Follow up", "Need to do", "Reference", etc.

Use Slack DMs to yourself

2024-06-25 19:51:18 UTC

Keep information (custom email templates, reminders) in the Slack DM conversation with yourself so you can easily search for it later