Priorities, no’s and being busy

Ever heard a few busy colleagues, a department, or maybe even larger parts of a company, confirming each other in “we should be better at saying “no” as we haven’t even time for our current tasks”, or “We need to be better at prioritizing”?

 Well, assuming that (accepted) incoming tasks are founded in customer requests and business strategy, I would find a firm “say no to new opportunities” policy rather awkward. It would never be more than a “now-that-we-missed-a-deadline-we-know-who-to-blame” goal that no one should spend time updating. Some might, however, (as argued in a previous post) want to be better at saying, “Yes, IF ...” in order to ensure that preconditions (including timeline) for a task is firmly agreed.

Neither do I expect that many (at least in Consumer Packed Goods industry) would take the privilege to prioritize themselves out of a busy everyday. The problem is more that when the need for priorities is stated, it is often too late: The task IS at the desk and it HAS a deadline. It’s not a matter of what to do, but merely when to do what.

So, in order to serve your market without wearing down your colleagues, just a few proposals to help them:

 Firstly, help them to be realistic about time estimation. For example, you could agree in your company that you will beat time-optimism (which is usually triggered by a great deal of pressure) without getting soaked in worst case scenarios by using PERT as the rule for time estimation: Estimated activity time = (Optimistic estimate + 4 x most likely estimate + pessimistic estimate)/6. This takes into account not only that “most likely” IS the most likely, but also that the distance from “optimistic” to “most likely” is often shorter than from “most likely” to “pessimistic”.

 Priorities are harder, because something always turns up: In general, I hope that your colleagues have clear overall priorities of the job. If not help them get it – for instance suggesting to use Stephen Covey’s “important/urgent” time management matrix.

 But what to do when having two or more “important/urgent” tasks at the same time? A customer request with short deadline and “just two slides for the board meeting tomorrow”; an already postponed product trial in production and a crisis stopping another part of the production; two important projects with similar deadline of which only one can be completed in time. Now we’re back to square one… Or are we? Have we delegated all that could be delegated? Have we asked for help? And if so: Do we – really – doubt what is the right thing to do? Would it be right to go to a customers saying “sorry, couldn’t do due to an important internal presentation”? Would it be right jeopardizing launch of a new product to secure the service level tomorrow and the day after? And how often are two projects actually equally important?

 Most importantly: If you know the right answer, help your team, your colleague or your manager to stand up for it. If you don’t, ask your team, your colleague or your manager for help. Or as Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO at LEGO is quoted for saying:

 “Blame is not for failure, but for failing to help or asking for help“