On holiday recently I realised that the primary mode of parenting is round-the-clock logistics. Getting our kid on a plane, planning new activities at 5 minutes intervals, figuring out where we need to be with what equipment by what time so she can get a good nap in. It’s a whole lotta logistics.

And logistics means lists.

I seem to wait until I have so many to-dos my brain might explode before I get them on paper. For those moments of to-do catharsis, I started using a to-do list app that is super clear, easy, and fast. (Called Things for those interested). It’s basic but great.

But, then I started using it for work things and I noticed a pattern.

I would capture ideas or notes that could be in a ‘list’ but they weren’t to dos.

And then over time my to-do lists became a list of things that were there to give me context but not action items.

And then it became a useless mess of brain murmurings.

I was into the idea of capturing thoughts and action items, so I moved to Evernote.

I felt great about all the context I could add.

But then I had the opposite problem.

Even though Evernote has nifty to do lists you can embed, I never quite knew what I had TO DO.

The swing between our desire to capture TASKS and our desire to capture KNOWLEDGE is one that plagues remote teams.

If you use a task management system (think Asana) as the backbone of your remote information management, people end up feeling stuck in a flat universe with no context and brusk top-down orders.

If you use a knowledge management system (think Notion) as the backbone of your remote information management, people end up feeling disoriented and unsure of what needs doing, by who, and by when.

What to do?

If you are a task-oriented team, you need to systematically add texture.

You can do this by creating rituals at each stage of a new project to capture the background, goals, roles, assets, and progress.

When a new project comes online, fill out a template one pager that captures context so anyone on the team can get a sense of things without asking loads of questions.

When a project hits a milestone, record a Loom or host a short huddle to share what you’ve learned, what has happened, and what happens next.

Create an updates channel where you can share week notes and reflections as you go for people that want to stay in the loop.

If you are a knowledge management-oriented team, you need to systematically add structure.

We use Notion so are very much knowledge-oriented.

I set aside 10 minutes at the end of every day to make a list of the priority things I want to get done tomorrow. It helps me step into structure and feel oriented to my day.

We set up fortnightly task reviews so everyone can review team level commitments, roles, and responsibilities for the coming week.

I try and record a Loom every Friday afternoon with what happened this week, and what I want on everyone’s radar.

We do these things to add structure and enable clarity around what needs doing.

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Do you consider yourself a knowledge management or task management centred organisation?

How do you manage the swing between the two?