Improving Efficiency - Tips and Techniques

1. Improving Efficiency- Tips and Techniques Kevin Stever February, 2010

2. Where does the time go? • How do you keep lists of all your tasks? • Do you constantly face challenges of updating the list and keeping track? • Does the list go ‘out the window’ whenever a crisis comes? • Do you forget things? • Do you live in perpetual crisis? • Does it have to be this way?

3. What Will I Learn? • What should I avoid? • Multi-tasking • Procrastination • What ARE YOU DOING? • Planning • Tracking • Communications • Next steps

4. Multi-tasking • “I’m good at it, it’s in my DNA!” • Reality: For each task after the first one, your efficiency drops 10 – 15% • If you are working on 6 simultaneous tasks, you’re only 20% effective overall • Example: Think about texting while driving! • How many things are over-engineered? • Dreaming: We need a webcast with music! Yay! • Awakening: A memo with talking points! Cool! • Reality: Um, okay, I’ll shoot back something from my Blackberry. “GR8, what U say B OK! TTYL XOXO” Why didn’t we just start with the simple answer?

5. Eat That Frog! • Imagine that the first thing you had to do each morning was eat a live frog! • After that… everything else would seem a whole lot easier! • Use this method to attack your task list! • If you procrastinate, the task won’t get any better, and you’ll be more stressed out Time to eat the frog! Time to eat the frog!

6. Planning • “But I’m too busy to plan…. I just need to get this next thing done… and then, like after that, then I’ll be able to get organized” • But you never get ahead • And the reason is because you don’t plan • 5 Ps - Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance • Planning means taking time to think through the changing inputs and priorities that affect your work • Plans are useless, planning is essential. -- Dwight Eisenhower • Planning does not end when the task or project begins, it is a constant activity

7. Annual Reality • There are only 52 Weeks per year • 4 week long trips to visit programs • 4 weeks vacation? • 2 regional conferences • 1 week trip to training • Annual planning / budgeting meetings • All hands events • Other multi-day meetings • Operational commitments (total up day to day into weekly equivalent) • Allocate your tasks / activities across the year 

8. Example Individual Plan / Schedule Creating an Annual Calendar can help you keep stay committed to your annual goals.

9. Example Group Annual Plan You might also put together a high level plan for your overall team.

10. Keeping track – executing the plan • How is your work aligned with your annual plan? • How many of your tasks do you actually finish on time? • How do you communicate priorities among your team?

11. Tracking Action Items • Item – what is it? • Priority – High, Medium, Low • Category – what part of your mission is this? • Due Date – when does it need to be done? • Date Complete – when did it get done? • Notes • Complete – Yes, No, or OBE (Overcome by Events) Use a spreadsheet to keep up with task and activities

12. Example task list as of January 1st: 134 items Results Key issue closure: good  On time completion %: not so good  Closed, Open or OBE? Complete – 25  Open – 98    OBE – 11 (Overcome By Events)  Review your task list periodically • Why is 11% of my task list related to actions I never completed? • Isn’t 11% of a year almost 5 weeks effort? • How did I become so overcommitted?

13. Tasks vs. Value • Do your tasks follow the 80/20 Rule? • 20% of your tasks usually have 80% of the impact • Those 20% SHOULD take 80% of your time Priority does not always equal “value”, but it may be a good starting point

14. Checking alignment with your plan • PARs track your actual effort • You can run reports and determine your actual effort across your projects • Compare actuals to the “plan” • Look for variances • Analyze why things changed • Is it timing? • Was the estimate wrong? • Re-plan or take corrective action as needed

15. Tracking Effort / B2A • Useful: Use PN Fund Codes to track effort Effort / Time(Cost) Tasks / Priorities Task List / Categories • What’s your Budget-to-Actual? • Should you make adjustment? • What should you plan for next year?

16. We have to multi-task!!! You can change! • “Multi-tasking is a necessity” • FALSE, it is a choice you’re making • It is possible to arrange your work in a more effective and efficient way • Planning • Task list • Priority system • Dedicated time for planning / updates • Communication

17. Next steps • Write down your task list • If you get above 15, quit (you need to prioritize!!!) • List by category and priority • Hold a short meeting with your team to identify the “must do” items for this week • Defer the rest • Meet again for a short status update • Adjust if necessary • Repeat

18. Over commitment • No matter how hard you try, there is always more work available than what you can do. • We talk about “work life balance”, but don’t “walk the talk” • Over commitment is caused by: • Not planning • Not having priorities • Seeking perfection when OKAY will do • Not saying “no” when the plate is too full