Why The Grumpiest Person Is Your Best Friend

"Who is your grumpiest, most irritable, most frustratingly difficult IT guy?""Can you introduce me to him?"

Sounds crazy, but let me tell you why I wanted to meet this person so much.

I was running a software development team at the time.We were building a data visualization software for a government client--which posed a number of challenges.They were using old technology, which meant that a lot of the cool new features we wanted to add wouldn't work. We had to do things very differently if we wanted to get our customer these new features.They were also prone to a lot of needs for approvals, which meant it was slow to implement anything new.We also were up against personalities and politics, so we needed to make sure that the decision-makers were on our side.

So how do you get this new technology past an IT department so furiously vigilant to foreign antibodies?

You call the IT department and you ask for the most irritable, most frustratingly difficult IT guy who could possibly say "no" to your project.I'm dead serious--I've done this.

You ask for that person and you review your concept with them.

The point is that by winning over a decision-maker (or a decision-influencer) like this, you've done 90% of the work up-front. You didn't build out any code, but you solved a ton of problems before they happened.Make them your best friend and you will have a much better chance of success.On a single phone call, you have now increased outcome quality, decreased cost, and dramatically increased speed-to-market.

2 Minute Action

A call like this probably won't take 2 minutes, but that doesn't mean it won't take 2 minutes to schedule it.Who is someone who could say no to your project? How early on can you get them into your process?If it's not a person, what will happen at the last second that will prevent you from achieving your goal? Budget? Timeline?Take 2 minutes to call that out into the light and schedule the meeting, call, or workshop to address this head-on.By frontloading the work you get to solve problems before they happen.You will have a happier team, a lower cost, and higher quality output.

Is It Really Your Fault For What You Don't Know?

It's not your fault.Well, wait that's not true.It wasn't your fault at first, but it's slowly becoming your fault.

You weren't given the right skill set in school.

You didn't learn how to use a spreadsheet or to balance an operating budget or how to negotiate the scope of a project.It's not your fault that you didn't learn, then.It's just that now, now that you're out there in the real world, it's your fault for not knowing.

Of course, this isn't fair--but it's the way it is.

You have to deal with the pain of not knowing these things and so does your employer.

Here's an example:

Let's just say that by not being good at Excel, you lose 1 hour per week of time.That's not a lot out of a typical 40-hour week. It's 2.5% of your total work week.But now let's just say that the same is true for most people.There are about 3 billion workers in the global workforce.Multiply that times a typical hourly rate like $10/hr.1-hour x 4 weeks x 12 months x $10 rate x 3 billion workers = $1.4 Trillion

Let's look at that with all the zeros.

$1,440,000,000,000Yeah. That's a lot of work waste.

2 Minute Action

You're not responsible for what happened, but you ARE responsible for what happens next.Your expectations and standards are up to you, but consider that you might not be the only one paying for them.

• Take 2 minutes to watch a YouTube video on something that could improve your work.
• Take 2 minutes to read a Harvard Business Review article that could give you a new perspective.
• Take 2 minutes to schedule time with a mentor or expert in your field and present them with the biggest problem you're facing.

It won't take 2 minutes to be a different person so don't expect that.

It takes thousands of minutes, and you can only clock thousands of minutes if you're doing it consistently day after day.Today is no exception.It's another Wednesday.Let's make it a good one.

Multitasking Is Bad, Here’s How You Should Do It

I’ve heard a lot of people say that they are good at multitasking.In fact, some people insist on hiring employees based on this trait.Let’s be really clear about what multitasking means:Multitasking does NOT mean doing two things at once.Multitasking DOES mean managing multiple projects.Multitasking DOES NOT mean juggling rubber balls, sending an email, pouring an espresso shot, washing the car, and talking on the phone at the same time.

We have really clear data that show a huge reduction in work quality when you take on multiple tasks at the same time.

Multitasking DOES mean negotiating deadlines, following up with prospects, and getting new leads in the same work day .

So we’re talking about the task-level and the project-level.

Task-level multitasking is a disaster.You will fail.Project-level multitasking is a requisite skill for any valuable job.

2 Minute Action

Take 2 minutes to map out your day.Look at your tasks and categorize them by project.Multiple projects, deadlines, budgets?No problem.But if the only time you have to send emails is while you’re peeing . . . you may want to look more deeply at your workload distribution.