Managing Resources for Different Project Needs

🧵 Bioinformaticians: Drowning in multiple projects? Here's why context switching is killing your productivity—and how to fix it. 1/ Too many projects = too little progress. When your attention is scattered, your output drops. Context switching is the silent killer. 2/ Each project has its own biology: 🧬 Different TFs 🧪 Different cell lines ⚙️ Different pipelines Switching eats mental energy. 3/ Example: Jumping from CUT&RUN on H3K27me3 in mESCs to ChIP-seq on c-Myc in HeLa = full brain reboot. 4/ You spend time recalling: • QC parameters • Genome version • Where peaks are saved • Which scripts and tools you used 5/ And if the project isn't organized, you’ll waste even more time digging through old folders, scratch files, or rerunning commands. 6/ Solution 1: Ruthless prioritization Pick ONE project each day. Focus. Finish. Ship it. Half-done science doesn’t help anyone. Multitasking is a trap. 7/ Solution 2: Use consistent folder structures Example: project_name/ ├── raw_data/ ├── fastqc/ ├── trimmed/ ├── alignment/ ├── results/ ├── scripts/ 8/ Solution 3: Add a README to each project Include: • Data source • Goals • Key results • Analysis steps • TODOs This saves hours when switching context or collaborating. document as much as possible. it may seem to be a waste of time, but it saves you time long term 9/ Solution 4: Keep a running log Markdown or plain text. Example: ## 2025-04-10 - Trimmed reads with fastp - Aligned with bowtie2 (hg38) - Called peaks with macs2 10/ Key Takeaways: • Switching projects costs time and focus • Finish one before hopping to another • Structure + notes = less rework 11/ ✅ Action items: • Choose 1 project to focus on this week • Create folder structure & README • Start a daily or weekly log 12/ Deep work leads to deep insights. Prioritize. Organize. Write it down. Make future-you thank today-you. I hope you've found this post helpful. Follow me for more. Subscribe to my FREE newsletter https://lnkd.in/erw83Svn

Here's a thought experiment: Could you improve your productivity simply by applying the principles of software development to your desk job? Turns out people have actually been trying this, and it works. Cal Newport is the author of many bestselling books including "Slow Productivity" and is a professor at Georgetown. For anyone looking to be more efficient at work, he proposed this simple process: • Create a shared document of your workload • At the top there is a list of things you're actively working on right now - only 2-3 items max • Underneath there is a queue of other projects in your backlog which gets prioritised once a week • When someone comes to request your time to work on something new, you point them to the shared doc and invite them to add their project to the queue • They can check back in and see when their project moves up the list towards being active - no point chasing you or asking for status updates • It manages expectations and tradeoffs - when someone senior prioritises their project over others, it forces a conversation about what needs to be deprioritised to make space for it It shouldn't be a surprise that this works; software developers have been using this method in scrum teams for over a decade in order to ship the products we use everyday. Three lessons: 1. By working on fewer things at once, you actually boost your productivity 2. By forcing yourself and others to manage tradeoffs, you focus your attention on the most important tasks 3. You'll notice that the "not important, not urgent" tasks start to fall out of your workload, making you more effective at your role Do you use something like this to manage your workload?

In this episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, host Michael LeJeune dives into the art of managing multiple RFPs simultaneously. Michael shares practical strategies to help you prioritize proposals, allocate resources effectively, and maintain quality under pressure. From understanding your team’s limits and using time management techniques to automating routine tasks and fostering team communication, these tips will help you streamline your proposal process and avoid burnout. Learn how to implement tools like master calendars, SOPs, and after-action reviews to continuously improve and scale your efforts. Whether you’re a solo operator or managing a team, this episode provides actionable insights to help you win more contracts while staying organized and focused.

STEAL THIS!! Week 10! S10. Managing your project pipeline and resource forecasting [Note: This is a series to share HRUR - How Rocketlane Uses Rocketlane. So you can borrow from our ideas and configurations!] Knowing which deals are about to close and budgeting your delivery resources for the future can help relieve the stress of having to frantically look for the right resources when a new project suddenly comes in. It will also help you understand if you need to hire new resources or give a partner the heads up ahead of new incoming projects! Here’s how we do this at Rocketlane: Leveraging Rocketlane’s native integrations with our CRM, we specify conditions at the CRM level to create projects in Rocketlane automatically when the deal reaches the negotiation stage. We also set up sync at the field level to maintain consistent data across Rocketlane and the CRM. Choose a stage before the "closed won" stage helps us - we have 2-3 weeks left for closing. Our recommendation would be to use the stage where the probability of deal closure is 80% or above. Here is a breakdown of the pre-requisites that you’ll need to have in place: - Your CRM integrated with Rocketlane to automatically create projects and sync fields. Rocketlane provides Out-of-the-box integrations with Salesforce and Hubspot, but integration with any CRM is possible using APIs with the workflow/automation modules on both systems, or through Zapier and Workato! - Placeholders and Resource Allocations at the Project Template level. Specify the different personas involved in your project, and the typical hours/day allocation corresponding to each placeholder. Rocketlane also has an ‘Auto-allocate’ feature that creates these allocations for you automatically based on the ‘Effort’ hours recorded on the template tasks. - Sync the ‘Deal/Opportunity Stage’ field with an identical custom project field created in Rocketlane.  This needs to be in place so you can filter out Projects in the pipeline vs. Projects that are Won and ready to kick-off. We can also use this field to run a ‘Scheduled automation’ on Rocketlane to check for ‘Closed-Lost’ projects every day and automatically archive those projects so they move out of the resourcing view and free up your resource availability. When the probable projects start flowing in, you can view them on the ‘Resource Management’ tab to understand your pipeline. If you are using ‘Soft allocations’, you can also substitute the placeholders with actual users based on their current availability. On the ‘Capacity Planning’ tab, you’ll be able to view the demand vs. supply for each persona and plan for the future accordingly! Check out the screenshots below for examples. Feel free to let us know if you’re interested in setting this up for your Rocketlane account, and someone from our team will be happy to help you out!