Welcome Wednesday: Spring Cleaning!

[#1]

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

In Canada, it is currently March break, which is a week off for Elementary school children. My wife and I have also decided to take some time off and use some of this for some deep cleaning that doesn’t always happen as regularly. We are doing some light renovations. We had someone come in to refinish our hardwood floors and we have done a bit of painting.

My question for everyone this week is: Do you set a side some time to focus of cleaning and/or maintenance tasks that are a lower priority as any point during the year? Do you have any projects in progress? Bonus points: Are you using any Atlassian tools to track some of this work?

Let me know in the comments below!

Have a great rest of the week!

p.s. for my own bonus points, my wife and I are tracking these items on a Trello board

[Amer Al kaki]

Hello

[Amanda Barber]

When the weather starts to get nicer, we definitely get the spring cleaning bug. This tends to mean more specific, focused cleaning on the weekends. Now that it's light outside later, sometimes tasks are done in the evenings, too.

Taking the week of our kids' spring break sounds like a lovely idea for that in the future. This year, we'll be traveling to Chicago for a few days and then I'll be working the remainder of the week. So, this year - I'll just be hoping the kids don't make the need for a deep clean much worse. :-D 

Love the idea for using a Trello board!!

[Barbara Szczesniak]

I do tie some home maintenance tasks to when we change to Daylight Savings Time:

• Do the showers/baths need caulk? This is a yes this year, so I'll be doing this when the caulk arrives from Amazon
• Clean all the outdoor furniture—in Florida this involves determining whether the yellow pollen has finished falling all over everything yet
• Go through my closets to determine what I can give away, remind myself of clothes I forgot I have (may be given away or brought back into use), and organize/throw out items that have been thrown in the closet to get them out of the way when company was coming 😉
• Similarly, go through the kitchen to find items that can be given to the food pantry

[Eric Scheberl]

Funny you mention this, last night I was just thinking of I would be 'crazy' to use Confluence or Trello to track some of our house hold chores that are not done weekly but on a seasonal rhythm. Maybe I'll give it a try! Right now it is old fashion paper lists of, "what haven't we done lately?" around the house to make sure it is clean and decluttered. 

[Taranjeet Singh]

That's a wonderful post, @Jimmy Seddon !

With 2 small kids at home, my wife and I have to thoroughly clean our apartment almost every week on either a Saturday or a Sunday.

Have a great Wednesday and rest of the week, everyone!

[Miguel Ramon]

Hello!

[Denis Paul]

Definitely cleaning up around the house and garden at springtime. 

I use OneNote to organize myself and a google calendar to sync with my wife but nothing too fancy. 

I heard a colleague if mine saying that he is using OKRs to track goals with his son but I don't think he is maintaining it digitally.

With my band I use HubSpot to keep track of gig requests and Nextcloud to store song ideas. 

[Ben Mullard]

I set aside time for gardening, from March until October.  Though I hate gardening!

[Betty Clayton]

Hello, I have never thought to have a trello board for cleaning.  I may have to give it a go!

[Deleted user]

I hadn't really thought of using a Trello board for tracking my spring cleaning, but I do like using this time of year to convince folks it's time to clean up their documentation spaces :) 

[Walter Buggenhout]

I have a physical board stuck to the wall of my home office where I try to look ahead for the coming 2 weeks. Using color coded sticky notes (actually stattys), I track work, community and home items through to do / in progress / done columns. And yes, at some points of the year some cleanup activities pop up there as well.

[Leo]

Good suggestion might have a look at using trello in the house. Will have to make a list of tasks to do in the yard for sure!

[Valentine P_Elements]

Happy Wednesday to you too! That sounds like a productive and refreshing way to spend your time off during March break. It's always nice to hear how others manage their time for those tasks that often get pushed to the back burner.

To answer your question, yes, I do set aside time to focus on cleaning, maintenance, and even some minor renovation tasks that don't always get attention during the busier times of the year. It's usually during the transitional periods between seasons, like spring and fall, that I find it most convenient to tackle these projects. It helps to maintain the home and also gives me a sense of accomplishment and renewal as we enter a new season.

Regarding projects, I'm currently in the planning stages of reorganizing my home office and upgrading some furniture to make the space more ergonomic and conducive to productivity. It's exciting to think about the improvements these changes will bring.

And for the bonus points, like you and your wife, I'm also using Trello to track these tasks! It's incredibly helpful for organizing projects, setting deadlines, and keeping track of progress. The ability to share boards and collaborate makes it even better when tackling projects with someone else. Trello's visual layout and flexibility make it easy to manage everything from minor tasks to major projects.

Enjoy your renovations and the deep cleaning! It sounds like you're making great use of the break. Have a fantastic rest of the week!

[Rajinder Singh]

@Jimmy SeddonThanks for sharing your productive March break plans! It's inspiring to hear how you're tackling cleaning and renovations. Personally, I do set aside time for similar tasks, usually tied to seasonal changes. Currently, I'm organizing my home office. While I haven't used Atlassian tools for home projects, your mention of using Trello for tracking has piqued my interest. Thanks for the inspiration, and enjoy the rest of your break!

[_A9_ William Kennedy]

Automatic housework tracking is the #1 smart home feature I would look for.

I remain analog for now, having completed the live oak leaf roundup.

[Harsh]

Hello!

[Megha Khangarot]

Hiii !

[Meg Rotondo]

Yes, we mark the first weekend in April as "Tax Filing Day + Window Washing Day"  - 2 tasks no one like but we get them both done like this.

[Ingo W_]

Just a thought about cleaning up Jira Sites:

While setting up new JSW projects is easy and changing the configuration and associated schemes, old artifacts still remain. Copying workflows, change a little bit and continue with a quantum of change will create lot's of similar workflows.

Time to clean up. There a different triggers.

1. after each new project setup, it's time to check if there was sth generated which could be merged or deleted

2. periodically (each 2nd month) check what has changed since last time "What have PMs configured so far?". And clean up

3. periodically (apx. monthly) check the user accounts (last login) if there are silent exits

4. periodically check site configuration (2-4 times p.a.)

5. periodically check Mail handler in JSM projects (weekly up to daily)

6. periodically check global automation (1-2 times p.m.)

We don't use external tools for this actions.

Those apps we have reviewed have not passed our tests.

Hope there will be some more Admin Tooling in the future.

Have fun

Ingo

[Jacqueline Eichberger]

In any case, I do a big clean every year, both privately and professionally! :)