Read this week’s article on Medium:
How I Lead 45 Direct Reports in Only Four Days a Week (with Four Fundamental Habits)
INSIGHTS behind the article
In this week's article, I share four fundamental habits that are the force behind my productivity.
While they form the foundation of my leadership effectiveness, I use many more productivity hacks.
One of them is the tremendous time-saving habit of chunking my tasks. The primary purpose is to save time by performing similar tasks consecutively, increasing my flow and reducing switching costs.
“If the beat is time, flow is what we do with that time, how we live through it. The beat is everywhere, but every life has to find its own flow.” - Jay-Z
There are different ways to chunk your tasks. I chunk my tasks around people, actions, and meetings.
PEOPLE:
During any week, my direct report, Jennifer, might send me an email, call with a request and send a WhatsApp. I will collect these tasks on my to-do list. All tasks that require me to interact with her start with JENNIFER:
JENNIFER: ask if she needs help with client A
JENNIFER: give approval and feedback on report B
JENNIFER: …
Instead of communicating through different mediums back and forth with Jennifer at different times, I will go through all tasks when I speak to her in person at the office or schedule a one-on-one.
This increases the impact of my interactions with my direct reports.
ACTION:
It can very well be that I need first to complete some other tasks before I can give Jennifer approval on report B. In that case, I will make a todo that starts with the corresponding action:
CALL: Robert and ask the following questions regarding report B
CALL: …..
EMAIL: ….
EMAIL: ….
INCIDENT (make an incident report): ……
INCIDENT: ……
That way, I prevent losing valuable time and energy switching tasks. When I pick up the phone, I will go through all tasks starting with CALL for that day. When I write an EMAIL, I will use my flow and pick up all tasks starting with the action EMAIL, etc.
MEETING:
Many tasks are not urgent but do need to be discussed. Points of discussion belong in a meeting. I have multiple monthly recurring meetings, and each has its list on my to-do list.
This saves me a lot of time by spending less on ad hoc discussions.
CHUNKING TASKS
Chunking your tasks simplifies your workflow and saves you time by reducing switching costs. You spend energy on the transition whenever you switch your attention to a different category of tasks. Reducing these transitions saves time and energy.
For the habit of chunking tasks to have optimal effect, you must have your fundamental productivity habits in place. You can read about mine in this week’s article:
How I Lead 45 Direct Reports in Only Four Days a Week (with Four Fundamental Habits)
Best,
Angelo