Week 4 (April 24-30 2015)

This weeks topics:

1) Managing Projects and Tasks
2) Tracking Searches

1) Managing Projects and Tasks

Thomas MacEntee suggests that using a project management system is optional.  He personally applies a system he developed for his work to his genealogy research.  He finds it beneficial to be aware of the time he spends doing certain tasks with the intent to improve efficiency and productivity.

I don't plan on monitoring my time.  Reminds me too much of the time evaluations done at work for job evaluations - usually leading to redundancies.   I do my genealogy during spare time, so efficiency probably isn't essential - although that does go against my nature.  I have always tried to streamline repetitative tasks and will continue applying that to my genealogy research.  But I do that only fly, not a formalized record keeping.  Why spend time updating a spreadsheet or chart when I could be searching more records? :)


2) Tracking Searches

MacEntee suggests tracking each and every search criteria entered in an online search form such as Google or Ancestry.  Rationale being to repeat the criteria on another site and compare results.  Or repeat the process at some point in the future to see if new records are found.


Summary

Maybe it's my academic library background, or maybe it's the way my brain works, but I don't understand the need to spend the time recording what you are doing.  I automatically search for an individual name.  If not found, I try spelling variations and add more search criteria to narrow results, or remove some wordings or broaden dates if hits are few and not successful.  If I find a relevant record, with image, on Ancestry I don't see the same to redo the search on another site to find the same record.