Too Much To Do?

Is your inbox growing faster than your outbox?

There are two roots to this problem.

First, your desire to produce something great, even world-class, as quickly as possible is counterproductive. Pursuing excellence too rapidly only leads to poor decision making. In your impatience you are likely cobbling together an infrastructure which will fail to serve you long term. Do you feel like a car rushing headlong down a mountain without axles and a frame?

Second, taking on too much before you are ready quickly leads to chaos and disorganization.

Achieving a state of slack in the system and peace of mind requires three things: the completion of tasks, the rejection of new work, and the optimization of your workflow.

Start finishing.

• Do only one type of task, or better yet one thing, at a time. Multitasking is a myth.
• Focus on meeting commitments made to others, and catch-up on postponed high-priority projects.
• Complete the work items in progress, before doing anything else. Finishing work saves resources and improves productivity, thus reducing the overall cycle time.
• Master the workflow improvements that you have already incorporated into your work.

Stop starting.

For those who are either addicted to learning or driven to achieve something which is world-class, rejecting new work will feel impossible. However, to meet commitments and maintain the trust of your colleagues, customers, and stakeholders, you will need to become a master at declining opportunities.

• Limit the number of work items in progress (WIP). Reduce the number of committed work items in the backlog.
• Stop accepting new projects until you have completed the projects currently in progress.
• Either say “No thanks” to prospective clients/guests or tell them that you will contact them in the future when you have time.
• Utilize a system, like the time management matrix, to sort activities for either execution, planning, delegation, or abandonment.
• Clarify your vision and purpose. Create and use a potential project scorecard, to ensure that you are only accepting projects which align with your purpose and offer the highest long-term value.
• Limit the number of workflow improvements, learning opportunities, and new tools or processes attempted with each project iteration or work cycle.

Develop an improved, more efficient workflow.

Bring order to chaos

• Visualize your workflow. Use a physical Kanban board, or an online tool like Trello or LeanKit.
• Try out the MyLifeOrganized App, a flexible task management tool.
• Try out Beeminder App to ensure that you are meeting goals. The tool can be set up to charge your credit card you when you fail to meet your goals.

Keep workspaces clean and ready for work

• Clear your desktop.
• Declutter your office or home office and ensure that your supplies are stocked.
• Use external hard drives to ensure that you have sufficient memory storage to do your work.
• Ensure that you have plenty of cleared SD Cards on hand to capture video, images, and audio.
• Ensure that all batteries are charged.

Eliminate unnecessary work

• Reduce non-valued activities from the workflow.
• Identify the repetitive tasks, and reduce the time spent on them. Hint: consider reducing the time spent preparing for repetitive tasks.

Acquire the necessary tools

Ensure that you have the tools necessary to do the job. This could include hardware or software, or audio and video equipment, if you are producing videos.

Focus on what you do best, and outsource the rest

• Delegate tasks which others could do much better.
• Delegate tasks that will provide more options in the future, like activities that will speed up cash flow.
• Delegate tasks that slow the growth of the operation.
• Delegate tasks that have already been understood, defined, and streamlined.
• Delegate projects which block forward progress and become bottlenecks in the operation.
• Delegate the stuff you do not like doing.

About Dan & Agile and Beyond:

Dan Feldman is the creator and host of the Agile and Beyond podcast. With Agile practitioners, design thinkers, team builders, organization designers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries, he explores the future of work, education, and society. With the digital age demanding greater collaboration, enhanced creativity, and heightened agility, he examines avant-garde, responsive, collaborative team and organization designs as well as the shifts in our individual and collective perception of experience and purpose. Tune in!

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