Angie the Apex Persona

Wolfgang is the founder and head of Mozartiana. He also has a number of leadership or advisory roles outside of Mozartiana (e.g. Chairman of the Godzilla Foundation, board member of ABCD and Lawrence Olivier Labs, etc.) Wolfgang's involvement in these organizations varies over time depending on what's going on in each organization (e.g. important milestone dates, events) and his availability. His participation can range from detailed, day-to-day management to high-level guidance on matters involving strategy and long-term planning to intermittent advice-giving.

In many areas of Wolfgang's work, Wolfgang relies on a team of people to provide him with the context he needs to insert himself usefully into the daily operations of the organization.

Wolfgang works closely with his executive assistant Nannerl, who manages his calendar and coordinates his meetings and trips. He delegates the details of day-to-day operational management of Mozartiana primarily to the members of the Mozartiana Operations Group.

Wolfgang is married to Constanza. While they collaborate closely on many projects (e.g. WHAT'S THE DEAL Scholars, Mozart Foundation, EKE Operations) and attend many social events together, the bulk of Wolfgang and Constanza's time is spent in separate spheres. This results in a need for careful coordination when scheduling joint activities, since their respective areas of responsibility do not progress in sync.

Wolfgang receives a huge number of emails which he processes himself. He receives 40-60 personal emails and sends out over 20-40 emails a day. Wolfgang also subscribes to 15-20 mailing lists and RSS feeds, 3-5 of which he feels obligated to stay on top of on at least a weekly basis.

It is helpful for Wolfgang to organize his communications in 2 different ways:

1. Actionable vs. FYI Examples of actionable emails are ones where decisions are needed (or isuses raised that require action), requests for Wolfgang's time (phone calls, meetings, speaking engagements), tasks Wolfgang delegates out and status updates which require new follow up actions. Examples of FYI emails are internal & external mailing lists (a very few are actionable requiring Wolfgang's reply), general office-wide mail ("lunch is here"), status updates requiring no action, etc. A large third category would be junk mail, which Wolfgang gets a larger share than others given his fame and popularity on the web.
2. By projects Given the wide range of projects Wolfgang is involved in, when he needs to zoom in on any one project, it would be useful to group just the emails, notes and tasks related to that project to get the full context of the project. Projects are divided into roughly two spheres: Within Mozartiana and Outside of Mozartiana. Project areas within Mozartiana include: Operations, Product strategy and Business development, Design, CSG and Board meeting updates, Press relations, Community development. Project areas outside of Mozartiana include: Leipzig Conservatory class, Foxhats, EKE Administration, political reform efforts, WHAT'S THE DEAL Scholars, Mozart Foundation, Third Eye, Conferences, etc. At any given point, Wolfgang has 25-50 active projects across his various Project areas. Overall, he has 250 open projects.

His daily calendar is coordinated by himself and Nannerl. He attends over 20 planned meetings weekly, mostly internal but >20% are external. Since Nannerl coordinates his calendar, Wolfgang needs to share with Nannerl his calendar on a read/write basis. Wolfgang also shares his calendar with Constanza and her assistant Leopold, while Wolfgang and Nannerl have access to Constanza's calendar. Wolfgang also occasionally views the general office calendar to figure who is where and the major events for the week.

Wolfgang uses his own customized Word document for task management. He transcribes action items from legal pad notes taken in meetings into the word document. He has a section in the document for unprocessed tasks. The rest of the document is sectioned by individuals he works with and projects.

Wolfgang's PIM usage scenarios are special in the following respects:

• He's an exceptionally busy person, receiving a lot more emails and requests for his time and attention than "the average knowledge worker", so much so that he requires a personal assistant to help him manage his time.
• He is involved in not only more projects than average, but his projects span a much wider range of subject matter and industries. Wolfgang is often juggling 10-15 projects at once, as opposed to 5-10.
• Wolfgang is at the apex of several different organizations and as a result relies heavily on the people who work for him to help him with different aspects of his projects (e.g. gathering background research, pulling together rough drafts, etc)
• He communicates and coordinates with many different parties through Nannerl his personal assistant.

All of this means that Wolfgang has very few peers that he collaborates with on equal terms. He doesn't report to anyone. There is no one else looking to make sure that he spends his time efficiently and in the best interest of the organization. There is no one else who needs to track his tasks. His work is not reviewed by others. Wolfgang makes these time management decisions for himself. In many respects, his collaboration needs are very different from the "average knowledge worker" who is a hub in a flat organization (as opposed to an apex).

What Wolfgang needs:

• A task management solution that is equal to or better than the Word document he uses today.
• An information procession solution that is equal to or better than the Email client he uses today.
• A way to collaboratively manage his schedule with Nannerl.
• A way to keep track of tasks he's delegated to others (especially Nannerl).
• A way to coordinate scheduling, tasks and resources with his wife Constanza.

-- MimiYin - 16 May 2006