Quick Hack to Make Your Boss (and you) More Productive
Many people start important tasks late and
then motivate with a huge wave of productivity and inspiration driven by
deadlines and commitments to others. In the comments section Bill
DAllesandro offered some
insight that he had seen from Microsoft on “interruptions”
“A study by Microsoft
showed just how lethal interruptions are to productivity. The researchers taped
29 hours of people working in a typical office, and found that they were
interrupted on average four times each hour. Sounds like a day at most offices.
Here’s the kicker — 40%
of the time, the person did not resume the task they were working on before the
interruption. The more complex the
task, the less likely the person was to resume working on it after an
interruption.
That means most of us
are getting derailed from our work four times each hour, maybe more if you work
in a high email traffic office.”
He also write a nice post on limiting email and managing on the important / urgent
matrix from the perspective
on a recovering ex investment banker.
This comment and blog post prompted
me to write a post that has been in my queue for a long time. I often write
that I learned more than I care to admit from working at Andersen Consulting.
Compared to being an entrepreneur it feels like I didn’t learn much there but
on reflection I learned much more than I think even I realize.
One of the earliest lessons we
learned was how to make our bosses productive through a very simple tool called
a “point sheet.” The premise is simple: whenever you have a question or get
stuck on something you’re tempted to quickly ask your boss or your colleagues
for help. This solves your immediate need but it greatly interrupts the
productivity of others.
So the solution was that any time
you had a question you had to write it down on these pre-printed tablets of
paper called “point sheets” and once you had accumulated enough questions you
could bring them en masse to your boss (everyone who worked at Andersen in the
early 90’s is giving a small chuckle from nostalgia about right now).
And the funny thing — by the time you were
ready to walk through 7–8 issues
with your boss you realize that you had already figured out 3 or 4 of them on
your own. With a bit of patience it’s surprising just how many times you find
answers to your own issues if you just try (seems like a lesson I’m trying to
teach my 7 and 4 year olds these days). Now imagine in the world of email, IM,
Twitter and mobile phones imagine just how much worse this problem has become.
So if you’re managing a team why
not ask them to all abide by the PSP (point sheet policy) and save yourself
from all of the distracting productivity drains. Set aside one block in the
morning and one in the afternoon for going through your team’s issues. Of even
if you don’t have a team I’ll bet you have a boss. Why not tell them you’re
implementing a new tool designed to make THEM more productive. Chances are
they’ll love you for it.
https://bothsidesofthetable.com/quick-hack-to-make-your-boss-and-you-more-productive-cdd6208cd471
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