Friday, August 17, 2012

Course Correction

Dealing with Managers who need ‘Course Correction’




Course correction.


In this sense I am referring to dealing with Managers that do not appear to know quite where they are going with work. It’s a polite term for the Manager who doesn’t have a clue, who hasn’t got things straight with *their* manager and is therefore firing work blind or the Manager who is working in an environment that is changing rapidly but hasn’t managed to tell you the goal posts have moved

You know you’re in this situation when one or more of the following situations occurs:

  1. You do a piece of work and your boss whips out a tonne of obstacles you knew nothing about but they knew about for months
  2. You do a piece of work but your line manager argues over very small details that were previously not identified as critical to success
  3. You do a piece of work but your line manager is not interested


Why call this ‘course correction’? In the ideal world you, your manager, your team, your business etc would all be going in the same direction aligned to those objectives that we all spend so much time avoiding
In the real world. There is never perfect alignment (correction there is rarely perfect alignment) and the best thing you can do *personally* is chase after those people that are responsible for your end of year rating and make sure you’re at least going in the same general direction as them

I'll publish a series of posts:

  • Setting the Course
  • In Flight Course Correction

Bottom line. No matter what the cause - the best way to protect *yourself* is to plan to ‘Course Correct’



The principle is as follows:
You increase the number of times you check in with your manager and say quite explicitly ‘Hey Boss, this is what I’ve got on, this is where I was thinking I was going with them and by the way are you happy with this’

Note. This is arguably little different than you normal practice... The emphasis here is consciously *increase* your normal good practice to the point where the risk of getting

The following method is based directly upon the GTD model. But I include specific examples of the tools (and why I advocate you do it this way)



Let’s start with a worked example


I’m in a meeting with my Line Manager about something terrible interesting. During this meeting there is a tangental conversation and the following conversation happens
Line Manager: Hi, yes this sounds like a great project and I’ll allocate Howe to do that. Howe - you ok with that
Me: Yep sure

This is what I do next.

I add ‘Project X’ to my Project List
I totally forget about Project X

Every day I have a list of actions that I complete. They are:


  1. Action: Review my Calendar
  2. Action: Review my ‘Waiting for ...’ list
  3. Action: Review my list of calls / emails / texts that I needed to make.
  4. Action: Process my ‘Action Log’
  5. Action: Review my ‘Project List

Action: Review my Calendar

What meetings have I got in my diary today (that’s where I spend most of my time/ attention and what meetings are up coming)



Action: Review my ‘Waiting for ...’ list

Who and what am I waiting for to come back to me? Do I need to stop waiting and chase them? Is what I’m waiting for still relevant / important (if it’s not - I delete it) Basically do I need to chase anything



Action: Review my list of calls / emails / texts that I needed to make.

I don’t make those calls or send those emails.. I’m just making sure the list is good so that I can plough through it all later. I add or delete to these list quickly and move on



Action: Process my ‘Action Log’

This is my ‘inbox’ of actions assigned to me. Do I need to do them? Can I drop them? If they are really REALLY quick (i.e. it will definatley take less time to do the action than file it) then do it
If these actions are not really, really quick I file them onto a separate actions list that relates to the ‘why the hell am I doing this’ i.e. I move them onto the project actions list



Action: Review my ‘Project List’

This is a list of projects that I am committed to (Ideally I want to do them, but in reality they include those projects allocated to me)
I review this list and check:

  • Do I know why I am doing this project? No really - why am I doing this project?
  • Do I know what this project will look like when it’s finished? i.e. Umm. When does this project STOP?
  • Is there a next action. There only needs to be one, there could be more and I might jot a few down but I am not spending my time planning the perfect project. I’m simply making sure that if there is a project that I’m resonsible for I know that at the very least I know what the NEXT thing I need to do about it is

Why Is It Here?


It’s at this point that I probably stumble accorss Project X again. I hadn’t thought about it since that meeting it was allocated to me
There are NO next actions. I havn’t thought of any... It’s at this point I do need to ask myself

  • Do I know what I’m doing this project? Where does it fit into my objectives?
  • Do I know what this project will look like when it’s finished?

The answer could very well be ‘No’.
That despite a lot of head scratching and navel gazing I conclude that I don’t have a clue why I’m doing this. The next action is simple
Speak With my Boss about Project X re the objective and what this project will look like when it’s finished. I’d probably (because it’s really really quick) send the following email:



Hi Boss, hope you’re good

I would like 20 mins of your time to discuss project X. I was just reviewing my active projects and conclude I’m not totally clear on the objectives or the deliverables for Project X. Would like to have your thoughts before commencing work.

Does this time suit?

Thanks and Regads

Howe


The answer could very well be. I totally and utterly understand what Project X is and why I’m doing it. The next action is simple
Speak With my Boss about Project X re the objective and what this project will look like when it’s finished. I’d probably (because it’s really really quick) send the following email:

Hi Boss, hope you’re good
I would like 20 mins of your time to discuss project X. I was just reviewing my active projects and have a very good idea on the objectives and deliverables for Project X. Would like to have your thoughts before commencing work.




Does this time suit?

Thanks and Regads

Howe



Yes. Practically the same email. The process here is to think about and documemt these questions:

  • Do I know what I’m doing this project?
  • Where does it fit into my objectives?
  • Do I know what this project will look like when it’s finished?
  • Speak With your line manager to ‘Set the course’ i.e. clarify both of our perspectives and to document the outcome




The Course is now ‘Set’


It’s immediatley after the course is set that you need to think about how much defense against course correction should you plan for

Factors that might influence this:

  • The culture of the company. If it’s a ‘stab you in the back every chance we get’ I’d advocate turn the dial to 12 on course correction planning - if it’s gregarious and trusting turn it down to a number that’s less





Some observations:


Course correction is NOT:

  • Lazy. It takes more time and effort to implement
  • A method for not doing work. I am NOT advocating being the ‘Teflon’ Manager here - this apporach is not about delegating all work up or throwing work into committess to allow it to stall. It’s about being fast, making decisions and delivering high quality work with the extra focus upon designing IN protection to make sure that the rug isn’t pulled out from beneath your feet by others
  • “Wasting your bosses time”
 

Friday, August 3, 2012

Secret Sauce

I'm working on getting myself into a state where my workflow is integrated into several key aspects of my life

My professional life


  • Really locking in all those templates and check lists into a solid workflow
  • Cracking the 'secret sauce' of 'cooking' strategy and presenting strategy ideas 
  • Capture and process with zero friction

My personal life


  • Minimising the friction between any of my areas (work, personal, fitness etc)

Almost there...  I'll write up some thoughts on this in more details later but this blog post was a personal test in a few areas:

  1. Am I actually going to find the time to type these thoughts down?  (yes - looks like it)
  2. Will my workflow work (OSX, iOS)
  3. Will my workflows pipes work (Will that tweet trigger?
Oh and this system needs to be flexible.  Can't become a domed city (I'm looking at you Apple)


I love the dome but I will take a walk in the forrest (See The Ihnatko Almanac 35 for context)