Ask Debra

Question: I have so much work on my desk. How do I tackle all this work?

Answer:  Every time you start working, you have a choice to make.  You can just plow ahead, starting with what’s on top and working until you’re either finished or exhausted.  This is a very common approach, but it’s tactical rather than strategic and it will lead to wasted time, frustration and less than optimal productivity.

The better approach is strategic.  It will without fail make you more efficient and productive and lead to a higher quality result.  Use The 5 Ds approach to work strategically instead of tactically.  Here’s how The 5 Ds work:

Instead of simply plowing into that pile of work, spend a few minutes before you start doing to examine each piece of work, each task, to see if it can be:

Dropped.  Does it need to be done at all?  If it’s not necessary or valuable, drop it.

Deferred.  Does it need to be done now?  Is it a top priority in light of the rest of your work?  If not, put it aside until it is a priority.

Downsized.  Does the work need to be done as presented or is it really a smaller or different task when you think about it in the context of project deliverables and goals?  Do what needs to be done, not just what presents itself.

Delegated.  Are you the right person to do the work?  Would a subordinate with better computer skills do it better?  Would a boss with more organizational power get the result faster?  Would an outside service provider have more bodies to throw at it?  If someone else can achieve the right result more effectively, enroll the someone else and delegate.

Once you have dropped, deferred, downsized and delegated work as appropriate, what’s left is what you do.

Click here for more information on The 5 Ds and how they work.

Question: How should I organize my day to get things done?

Answer:  You need to find an organizational system that works for you and then stick with it.  Here are a few tips for getting organized that work for everyone:

Use a tickler file.  Get the paper off your desk – if you don’t need it today, put the right date on it and file it in your tickler.  First thing each morning, drink your coffee and review the items in your tickler for that day.  For each item, either act on it or redate it and return it to the tickler.

Prioritize items for each day.

Don’t schedule back-to-back meetings all day.  Leave time between meetings to check email, make calls, think, recharge.

Batch routine tasks.  Update your calendar, return phone calls, read mail and email 2-3 times per day in blocks of time set aside for these purposes.

Block out time on your calendar every day for meeting preparation, catching up, following up, and thinking – and then honor the blocked time.  Consider it as important as any other scheduled meeting and don’t schedule over it.

Write things down.  Free your brain and reduce anxiety by leaving nothing to memory.  Keep a running projects list and, if you need it, a daily to-do list.  Carry these and your calendar with you always and use them to help you focus on what matters most.

Click here for more organizational tips and here for some time management basics.

Question: How do I prioritize my work?

Answer:  Work is comprised of functions and functions are comprised of tasks.  Some task matter a lot, others matter less, and some don’t matter at all.  At work, we all have a tendency to do what we’ve always done or what the person who had the job before us did or what we think the boss wants – as opposed to what makes the most sense in light of what the organization is trying to accomplish.

Prioritizing is essential to achieving both sustainable productivity and lasting job satisfaction.  But it cannot be done in a vacuum.  In and of itself, no one task is inherently more important than any other.  What makes prioritization possible is a clear understanding of mission, purpose, goals and strategy.  Only with a common sense of purpose and an understanding of how each task fits into the whole can you focus on what matters most.  Click here and here for more on mission, purpose, goals and strategy.

What you want to do is focus your limited time and efforts on what matters most.  Here are some tips:

Think about why your work matters in terms of what you’re trying to accomplish.

Prioritize on the basis of what’s important, not only what’s urgent.

Make a to-do list, then use The 5 Ds approach to cull the list down to what you really should be doing.

Categorize the remaining items by urgency and importance.

Recast the list so the most important and urgent are at the top.

Estimate the time it will take to do each important item.

Look at your calendar and make a realistic plan for the day, week, month.

Click here and here for more tools and tips.

Question: Meetings take so much of my time. How can I make them more productive?

Answer:  This is a common problem.  Meetings are like a black hole that swallows up time, patience and productivity at most companies.  Here are some ground rules for making them more effective and productive:

Limit meetings to those that are truly necessary to accomplish specified goals.  Standing meetings that happen too frequently, information-sharing meetings where no discussion will occur, “face-time” meetings, and the like are often poor uses of everyone’s time.

Instead of spontaneously scheduling meetings every time something comes up for discussion, consider establishing a standing meeting on whatever schedule works for your group.  A one-hour meeting once a week to go over everything that’s come up since last week’s meeting is far more productive than several 10-30 minute meetings during each week.

At every meeting:

            Start with a shared goal

Have an agenda (distributed in advance if possible) and clear, relevant topics

Have all needed participants present – and no one else

Start and end on time

Stay on topic

Speak openly

Listen carefully

Don’t let people disappear – check out silence to get all views

Challenge ideas, not people

Use the last 5-15 minutes to summarize, recap, conclude, assign follow-up tasks and, if necessary, schedule follow-up meetings