A designer carrying three jobs shut the laptop and opened this instead. Three clients, three stages, the status they kept holding in their head. What was said in passing, what they decided, and what is still waiting.
A worked example · seeded note · not your data
Captured Wednesday 7 May · 6:40pmprivate
Studio, where the three jobs actually are
Shut the laptop and opened this instead. Three live jobs, all at a different stage, and I keep carrying the status in my head. Writing it down so I stop doing it at 4am.
Maeve, bakery rebrand:
• She wants three homepage hero options by Friday, not one. She said it in passing on the call, not in the email. It's still the job.
• Logo's signed off. Don't reopen it. If she asks for “one more tweak”, the answer is a change request, not a yes.
• Print pack, the menu and the window vinyl go to the printer Monday. Miss Monday and the opening slips. That's her money, but it's my name on it.
Tom, restaurant site:
• Waiting on his photos for nine days. The build is done. I can't launch a food site with grey boxes. Chase once more, then park it and bill the milestone.
• Deposit invoice still not paid. Eleven days. Last time it ran to thirty. Don't start the next stage until it clears.
Studio, mine:
• Q1 invoice still not sent. The work is done and delivered. Not sending it is just losing my own money politely. Send it tonight.
• Portfolio case study for the bakery, only worth doing while it's fresh. Two hours, not a week. Block Thursday morning.
Reading it back: none of these are stuck on the work. They're stuck on me, the invoice I won't send, the chase I keep softening, the change I should price instead of absorb. The three Friday things are decisions, not tasks.
Where this fits
One evening note becomes three tasks. The studio workspace in Tasks holds them. The shared timeline is what each client sees without an email. The Monday briefing surfaces the invoice you keep not sending. Four tools, one job.