Data Management and the Rent v Buy Model

Ownership and possession was once the goal.  This was at the time that possessions were hard to come buy and very hard earned.  As the 'wealth' of the average person increased the goal of possession became easier to attain.

However with the ownership of items came the relative devaluation of those items and in fact a negative aspect; clutter, disruption (potential loss) and lack of focus.  More items mean more work to manage them. (There are some noticeable exceptions to this such as home ownership in the UK where ownership fulfils a deeper security and stability need).

More and more people are now rejecting this model in favour of renting an item or service.  You only need to look at services such as Spotify for music or Netflix for movies.  Why own an item when, for a relatively low monthly charge, you can have access to whatever you need whenever you need it.  And most importantly, no storage, clutter and disruption for the other 364 days of the year that you don't.

In addition, the delivery of this information is through the web which arguably is available from almost anywhere rather than wherever the physical item is stored.

Is there an equivalent of this in the workplace?  I think there is and it centres around documents, data & information.  Working in an HR department, I have and need access to a whole host of information.  That used to mean cupboards and cabinets full of folders of information all neatly filed and stored for years to come.  It meant purchasing market data in books chocked full of raw data to be used once (if at all) for one off jobs.

Ownership meant management and potential distraction.  What I really want at work is an answer to my question, whatever question it happens to be at the time.  That answer will come from the information at hand.  I want it:

Unrestricted - Whatever data I need, is available, not just some of it
At point of application - wherever I happen to be at the time
In a timely manner - Accessible (& searchable) quickly enough to efficiently find what I want

(Some readers might find parallels in the above to the mantra, Right People, Right Place, Right Time)

This idea has the airs of "Paperless Office" but is more to do with "Online Document Management".  Although I don't think it will work in the corporate environment just yet, Evernote is a service I use in my home life which is accessible online, on a programme on my computer (for offline use) and on my mobile devices through an app.

This convenience is about unburdening yourself and therefore acting quicker and getting things done.

Have a think about it, do you really need to possess everything? Is a little bit of freedom and loss of burden in fact what you need right now?  What might you active instead!

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by spykster via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

How best to start your day

I'm on holiday this week and can more easily reflect on the activities I do in a normal working week without the pressures of actually having to do them.

I'm a GTD'er and use products such as Omnifocus and techniques such as Pomodoro.  I also work in a global company so inputs come through to me 24hours a day even though I don't work 24 hours a day.  So how does it actually work for me.

My work email inbox is my primary inbox.  I also have a physical inbox on my desk but nowadays less and less come 'in' to me through this.

So what do I actually do when I first get into the office in the morning.  If you've read Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy, Rule 1 is to do the most difficult thing on your list first (before even reading your email).  In a similar vein, Tim Ferris states in his blog; One piece of advice for improving self-discipline: Spend the first two hours of every workday working on outstanding projects, before you check your e-mail.

I have to disagree with both.  Although I agree with the intent, I disagree with the fact that ignoring email is the right thing to do.  Based on the GTD methodology, you process all your inputs to ensure you are focussing on the right thing right now with no distraction.  With emails coming into me overnight, I can't be truly focussed until I have processed those overnight emails.

I have two rules for this method though:
1. You must only process, not jump into tasks based on those overnight emails.
2. Spend no more than 30 minutes on this activity.

This 30 minute rule is actually quite manageable if (and only if) you have processed your email at the end of the previous email to zero (See Merlin Mann's Google Talk on the subject here, essential viewing in my opinion).

I have a daily checklist that I try and adhere to as much as possible.  It goes:

8am: Turn on PC laptop and wait 15 minutes for it to load up and run all security checks, (all the time wishing I had an apple computer at work)
8:05am: Make myself a coffee.  Might as well do myself a favour to help my brain get into gear
8:10am: Process overnight email
8:40am: Write up a paper based todo today list (I use the downloadable Pomodoro one here) based on my Omnifocus lists and anything last minute or from the overnight email that is urgent
8:50am: Turn off email and do the work

I do turn the email back on periodically throughout the day (every hour or so) but having it off helps me to focus on the tasks to be done.  Having the paper based todo today list helps by avoiding the need to reference the computer unless it is required.

I don't look at Twitter or Facebook at all during the day but I do check my personal emails on my iPhone at lunchtime to give me a distraction and mental rest.

I try and stick as best as possible to the todo today list and get the activities completed.  I find that this is only achievable if I have completed the steps above at the start of the day.

Do I do this every day?, No.  Sometimes things just don't go right even at 8:01am but these are the exception rather than the rule and I reap the rewards because of it.  See if this commitment to starting the day the best way you can will help you.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Give a Due Date for everything

This is one of the simplest techniques I think I have every learned in management.  When assigning a task or discussing it, make sure you assign a due date to it right then and there.

Now it might need reviewing or modifying later but that will be a conscious decision.  Not setting one on the other hand leaves things open to interpretation and inevitably to slipages and missed expectations.

It also has two additional benefits:

1. It reinforces that it is important.  By giving a due date you are implying that it is important enough for you to set a follow up date up front.  Don't underestimate these unspoken messages.

2. It simply makes it very easy for you to plan your follow up and takes it off your mind.  You don't need to put any more thought into how and when to revisit the topic.  Just put a reminder in your diary, and forget about it.  Not doing this will mean that it is always on your mind worrying about when the right time is to follow up.  That's not time well spent in my opinion.

These are such simple (almost insultingly obvious) things yet we fail to do them and make our lives harder time and time again.

Do yourself a favour and try and remember this one thing this week.  I guarantee you'll see some results immediately.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by Claude via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

Checklists (People still aren't realising their value)

I wrote a post a little while ago in a blog entitled Managing the Standard Work about the power of checklists and I recommended reading of a book called The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.

Whilst scanning the news online this week, I saw an interesting question on this very subject by the BBC writer, Michael Blastland entitled Go Figure: Tick box v check-list.

You can read the whole article but to summarise it, you've got to get past the idea of a checklist being a way to have to stop thinking.  You're probably sick of me saying this but Begin with the Outcome in Mind.  Answer this first, what is the purpose of using a checklist; what is its value?

The purpose of a checklist is to compliment and aid the thinking process, not replace it.

Until this is understood and bought into a don't think people will ever get past the idea of 'tick box'.  Tick box suggests doing following the list simply in order to satisfy its own purpose.  A checklist however has a measure of value in it.  It is a check.  That check is the value add.

Be really honest with yourself and ask how many simple mistakes you or for team made this week.  How many? 1, 2, 10?

I used a checklist today and stopped 4 mistakes becoming issues which would have come back to bite in about 2 weeks time.  15 minutes to save about a days potential non value added work to fix the issues (let alone the grief and loss of reputation)?

Do yourself a favour and think seriously about how (with the right focus) checklists can help you and avoid becoming another tick box activity in your life.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by AlanCleaver via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

What and How in order to Why - 2 Stage Development Planning

I've spent much of the last month working with various managers at all levels in a business to focus on development planning of their employees.

Much of the time, it is seen as a simple box ticking exercise in order to 'fill out the paperwork'.  The reason for development seems to have been forgotten by all but those who are actively focussed on progression and promotion.  Of course, everyone can develop and improve.

Stage 1

Drivers for your Development

Begin with the outcome in mind. The goal is the activity in which you are trying to deliver a result.

What you need in order to deliver that goal is both the technical skills required for that activity and more importantly the behavioural competencies to help you be more effective in delivering that great result.

Your development should focus on satisfying a need for one or the other of these things, either the technical skill or the competency to help you make a success of it.

This is the first stage; identifying why you are doing it.

Stage 2

Stage two is to figure out the mechanism in which you are going to 'develop'.  This is the second stumbling block to people creating a good development plan.  A simple thought process to this however is to follow the model What and How in order to Why.

What?

What is the actual need, the specific thing that is required?  Is it a strength that you want to develop to greater effect (yes, development doesn't need to be focussed on a weakness) or perhaps plug a gap?

Is it a skill required or a competence?

Some examples might be develop presentation skills or learn how to type.


These are not the activities themselves (the How) and they are not the rationalle for doing it (the Why) but they are an essential part.

How?

How really starts to get into the interesting part which requires you to truly get into the specifics of how this can be achieved.  This will likely be more than one action step.

For those followers of GTD, this taps into the idea of a 'Next Action'; what actually needs to happen to turn the 'what' into reality.

Continuing the examples above, it could be read Garr Reynold's book Presentation Zen or complete tutorial from online touch typing class.

Why?

Lastly, the Why.  This actually brings us all the way back to the starting point in Stage 1 of beginning with the outcome in mind.  What goal are you ultimately trying to reach some kind of output on?

When you couple these three things with the transition phrase 'in order to' then you get:



Develop presentation skills by reading Garr Reynold's book Presentation Zen in order to have a more effective communication style when pitching ideas to senior management.
or
Learn how to type by completing the tutorial from the online touch typing class in order to become more efficient in creating monthly technical reports.

Now these are relative simple development plans (if only skills and competencies could be gained so easily) but I hope they give you the idea.

Development planning does not need to be complicated but you do need to step back and get back to basics.  Why don't you try this two stage model with something you want to achieve this month.  Good Luck.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

('What' photo by judepics, 'How' photo by ivanwalsh, 'Why' photo by theeerin via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

Checklists and OmniOutliner

A few weeks ago I talked about the use of checklists in the post Managing Standard Work and the use of them came to mind again yesterday with the release of OmniOutliner for iPad.

It occurred to me just how useful this new software is on the iPad.  Ignore its functionality, its integration with the desktop version and its simply great design that makes you want to pick it up and create something (any software that makes you want to work is great in my mind).

What struck me was that I now have the ability to have all my checklists with me at all times now with the 3G iPad.  Simply put all your checklists in an online folder using MobileMe iDisk or WebDAV and they are accessible to you wherever you are.

So next time you find yourself with some unexpected Standard Routine Work, no need to put it off, deal with it then knowing that you have the checklist at your fingertips to get it right first time.

Note: Although I am a huge fan of the Omni group and their products, I am not affiliated to them in any way.  I started using their products with OmniFocus, then the excellent OmniGraffle, OmniGraphSketcher and now OmniOutliner.  With their free trials and educational discounts on offer, its easy to give them a go.

Organising your work & OmniFocus

A few posts ago, I talked about the idea of organising your work in order to have clarity over what you need to do.  One such way is the simple paper and pen.  To be honest, I still revert back to that when I need to be free of distraction and get an idea, sketch, text or mind map out of my head and recorded somewhere.  Give me a yellow legal pad and pen and I'm happy.

On a side note, people always ask my why I use the more expensive yellow pads rather than cheaper white; its so that I can find my written notes amongst printed materials (which are practically always on white paper) when I'm working with hard copies. Call it a simple visual management system.

However when you need to organise this material, things get a little more complex and I really need a system to help me control it all. An online system gives one simple benefit; it's ability to edit the data within it and always show a 'clean' version. This is the downside of pen and paper, when you edit something, you can't clean up with original. A piece of paper fast becomes a clutter of ideas, scored out notes and modified sketches.

This clean data is what you want to see when you are in a position to act and do your work.

I use the excellent software programme OmniFocus (http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus) across my Mac, iPhone and iPad.  It allows you to filter it all down into your next actions organised into categories that are relevant to you, giving you the prompts to act in the right place at the right time.

And the other advantage of it being on the computer, it is transferrable between all of your devices.  If you are like me, the phone never leaves your side so you'll always have the data to hand.

So do yourself a favour, have a system and most importantly, use it.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Managing the Standard Work

I said in an earlier blog that you really need to find ways to minimise the routine Standard Work and focus on the non-routine Project Work as this is where the real value lies for you and your team.

Think of Standard Work as routine work that you know needs to be done regularly (either scheduled such as a weekly task or ad hoc such as a process triggered by an employee action).  You want to spend as little time on this type of work as possible but you must get it right.

Poor quality routine work gives you a poor reputation, decreases motivation of your team and possibly most importantly, creates more work in fixing the issue.  In my experience the size of the work will also have increased by the time you get it right as it will have led to further issues.  In effect, you have created more work for yourself.  Do you really want to spend your week fixing your own problems?

One effective way to manage this is through checklists.  They are often frowned upon by the 'educated' as something too simple and perhaps insulting to their intelligence.  Do pilots lack intelligence, doctors, astronauts?  They all use checklists every day, and frankly, I'm glad they do.  I'd hate for the quality of their work to not be good enough especially if I'm their customer that day.

Checklists have the advantage of ensuring two things:
1. You feel in control as you don't have to rely on your brain to remember all the steps (efficiency)
2. You don't forget a step whilst being distracted by the 20 other things on your mind or in the room (error proofing)

I recommend the book The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande that goes into this subject in convincing detail.

You need to accept that intelligence does not make you infallible, you are human after all.  So why not make things easier for you especially on the routine standard stuff.  Save your mental energy for the really tough challenging non-routine project work.

How to manage workload clarity

I talked last week about the need to get clarity on your work.  I talked about the types of work in order for you to try and group them into meaningful categories.  You can find the post here.

However how are you going to actually get control over this?

One way that has worked for me is the GTD, Getting Things Done methodology.  It follows a 5 step process:

1. Collection - Collect all the inputs into one place
2. Processing - Figure out what is means to you
3. Organising - Collate it into packages of actions with that vital "Next Action"
4. Reviewing - Keep on top of it all regularly with a weekly review
5. Doing - Focus on doing the right things, in the right way at the right time

This is a standard process for controlling your workload.  In being in control you have clarity, and with clarity, you can better choose what you want to spend your time focusing on.

I've been using this process for over a year now.  It took a few days to learn and implement.  However its scope and depth is great enough for me to still be developing and adapting it for my needs even today.

The best place to start is by buying the book, Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity by David Allen.  Alternatively check out his website www.davidco.com

You have to start with yourself and get clarity, get this right and you'll have the basis to better manage others.

Get clarity on the work you (and the team) have

Get clarity on the work you have.  Most managers are ineffective when they don't manage the overall workload.


You should start thinking about this in terms of the output of the team.  This is because your primary role as a manager is to manage and be responsible for the overall output of the team.  This should cover the activities themselves (the what), the manner in which they are delivered (the how) and the motivation to do so (the why).  More on the how and why later but today I just want to focus on the process on managing the what.


Work can be defined in two ways, standard work and projects.


Standard Work is the repetitive tasks and activities which should be expected and in most cases predictable.  This is the type of work where processes and checklists are invaluable in simplifying the job to be done.


Projects are the pieces of work which tend to be one offs or new initiatives.  Its the area where it's more challenging (less safe) to be and where the potential for motivation of your employees lies.


Guess where you and your team can add value to the organisation?  (Hint, its not doing the same stuff you did yesterday.)  


Get clarity on the work you have in order to consciously work towards reducing the time spent on the standard work where possible and increasing the valuable time spent on the projects.  I guarantee your employees will thank you for it and you'll thank yourself.


More on this topic next time.   


Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.