How To Know If Your Project Is Broken And 3 Ways To Fix It
When faced with a workload, there are basically 3 ways to address it.
You can slash tasks and agree to get less done.You can increase your capacity to do the tasks, which may mean hiring people and taking on overhead costs.You can automate and streamline processes to make work with existing resources get done faster.Thats it.
When facing crises, this might mean the stakes are high.
If that’s true, you may need to involve stakeholders to “pick your poison.”If you can’t hire more people and if you can’t decrease the workload, you’re going to have to increase speed or work extra hours to get it done.
This means your project might be broken!
If you’re working extra hours, something is broken.If your work requires heroism or martyrdom to get finished on a regular basis, your project is broken!
2 Minute Action
Take your pick of these three options. You may fine that a hybrid method works, too—using two or all three at the same time.Reply here with your hunch and let me know how you plan to execute!
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.
How To Actually Do Less Stuff And Get More Done
Productivity is not about doing more work.
It’s not about turning gears faster in a gearbox.And it’s not about the hours you put in.
In fact, it’s just the opposite.
It’s about figuring out how to do less work.It’s about shifting gears to apply better leverage.It’s about reducing the time and resources required to get the job done by deadline.
2 Minute Action
Where do you spend 80% of your day or effort?What causes 80% of the headaches, pain points, or dollar drainage?If you can take 2 minutes to identify it, you can measure it.If you can measure it, you can alleviate it.Don’t try to fix everything at once, just focus on one big problem at a time.