Juggling Multiple Projects

Some indexers prefer to have more than one index at a time, and others don’t. No matter what your preference, you can’t always avoid slipped schedules and project pile-ups. There are several ways to handle the balancing act of colliding deadlines, and no one way is better than the other, although you’ll find that one probably works best for you.

Your flexibility and options are also dependent on the length of the deadlines, the complexity of your texts, and the complexity of your life — other jobs, family, friends, and community and household duties influence your schedule, too. The tighter any of these are, the tougher it will be. In that case, you might want to check out this post on focusing on deadline.

Here are some of the ways you can tackle multiple projects.

Simultaneously

By this, I don’t mean literally simultaneously, although that would be a feat. I just mean tackling both projects every work day. Typically, I assign the harder one to when I’m thinking best, and use the easier one for a break or later in the day, after lunch and some time outside to clear my head. If I have a proofreading job, I do that one later in the day.

Sometimes, I set up a custom timer and switch back and forth more frequently — sometimes every 11 or 16 minutes. This works best if I’m just not getting into a text, and at the least, this allows me to chip away at it and at best, the promise of a break soon forces me to get into it for long enough for it to take hold, and then I can work for longer stretches. Task-switching isn’t the best use of cognitive ability, so I reserve this for the toughest days.

Back-to-back

Work one all the way through, then the other. But how to decide which one to do first? Other than soonest first, which I definitely recommend if you have a very tight deadline for one, the decision is really up to what works for you.

Easiest first

Are you someone who has to ease into a project, or who needs a warmup? Maybe you like to index all the names first, or when editing, you go through and delete orphan subheads before you even think about the bigger problems. Easiest first probably will work for you.

Hardest first

This is for those who just can’t concentrate if there’s something looming. If you say things like, “I just want to get this out of the way,” you likely will do best with hardest first.

There’s no right or wrong way to attack multiple projects at once — except for missing a deadline! Do you have any other methods?

And finally: Whatever you do, ignore the laundry.