A few weeks ago, I read a report that Ray Tomlinson, the man credited with the invention of email as we know it, as well as the @ symbol, died at the age of 74. It gave me pause to think about the impact that email has had on our lives and our work. While the great man is dead, is email also about to shake off its mortal coil any time soon?

Mark Twain was famously reported to say “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated” in relation to some confusion regarding his gravely ill cousin.  I often have clients ask me if email is dead, or at least, dying. There is much discussion on the interwebs about the impending death of email, and about it being replaced by other, more suitable collaboration tools.

Well, in my opinion, the inventor might be dead, but his legacy lives on and will do so for some time in the corporate workplace. But is that really such a bad thing? I am not sure. I believe email to be a fantastic communication tool. It is we, the emailer, that use it poorly and in the wrong situations. When it does finally get replaced by some other tool, I guarantee we will sabotage that as well, and use it in turn poorly and in the wrong situations!

If you think about all of the frustrations we have about email, they are caused by our own behaviours.

• Email was designed to be an asynchronous tool. I send it now and you deal with it in your time. But we have subverted this and made it a synchronous tool. I send it now and call you in 5 minutes if you have not responded!
• I don’t think Ray ever envisioned that we would get more than twenty emails per day. Yet some of my clients are getting 300-400 per day.
• Maybe Mr Tomlinson thought that email would reduce noise levels as we could quietly tap away at our keyboards and send a communication without distracting anyone. But maybe he did not foresee the amount of noise generated each day by our colleagues and sent into our inboxes.
• I am sure the big man never thought that most workers would end up with an additional part-time job managing, filing and searching for this email information he enabled. Yet many of us spend way too much time trying to wrestle with our mailboxes and filing systems.
• Did he ever imagine that most people would end up using their inbox as their priority management system? I don’t believe so. That would be crazy!

Ray did not invent email with these issues in mind. Like climate change these issues are man-made. While there are some sceptics that might refute that climate change exists, I reckon no-one could refute the issues that we have created with email.

So take a moment to reflect on what this great man has achieved, and make a promise to yourself to honour his memory by using email a little more wisely.

What could you do this week to change the way you use email?

Do you recall the trick our Grandparents used when they needed to remember something? They would tie a string around their finger. Then, when they noticed it, they would remember the thing they needed to do. Unfortunately, for this strategy to work today we would need a very large reel of string and a hundred fingers!

We have so much to remember every day, and so many things clammering for our attention. It is not surprising that some of these just slip through the cracks, or become urgent before we get to them. I believe that this is leading to increased reactivity and stress for many workers. It also means that we are less likely to have time to proactively work on the meaningful work that really makes a difference.

When it comes to capturing our activities, we often just leave the work in a pile (your Inbox is a good example) or capture it on our ‘To Do list’. When you only have a few things to do, these strategies work. Just like the string on our Grandpa’s finger. But when you have multiple competing priorities on top of a busy meeting workload and a steady flow of incoming emails, you need more robust strategies that help you to focus.

Electronic tools like MS Outlook, Lotus Notes and Google Calendar allow us to capture actions in a number of ways. These powerful scheduling tools have built-in functions designed to schedule both time-specific activities and more discretionary activities. We need to choose the right tool for the job depending on the activity, it’s deadline, and it’s importance.

Here are five ways that you can capture work using these tools so that you get the right work done at the right time:

Consideration List: Sometimes you will think of things that you should do at some stage, or you would do if you ever had time, but they are not a priority for now, this week or even this month. They are worth capturing on a ‘Consideration List’. This list should be reviewed on a weekly basis to decide if anything is worth scheduling time for this week.

Scheduled Tasks: Lots of work that comes your way needs to be done in the short to medium term, but has a loose deadline. It is worth scheduling these actions into a date-based task list. Many electronic calendar systems allow you to schedule tasks for specific days. These tasks can be scheduled roughly over your week. This helps you spread your workload and ensure that your priorities are visible and don’t slip through the cracks.

Date-Specific Tasks: Some actions need to be done on a specific day. Commitments you have made, work that is time-sensitive, critical priorities for that day. These can also be scheduled in a date-based task system, but should be highlighted in some way so that they stand out from the non-critical tasks for the day. Be highly selective with these, as less is more in this case.

Blocked-Out Task Time: Electronic tasks are generally the best way of managing task workload, as these activities are usually discretionary and need a certain amount of flexibility as your priorities change. But sometimes, a task should be locked into your calendar as blocked out time. This works best for those bigger, more complex concentration tasks. Blocking it out in your calendar will protect your time and reduce procrastination.

Meeting & Appointments: Probably the most time-specific activity you will schedule is a meeting. Meetings are very specific when it comes to when they need to be done as other people are involved. We need to choose an exact time and schedule it to ensure we all turn up at the same time. These of course, should be scheduled in your calendar.

As you see, there is a continuum of action tools, ranging from very loose to very tight. They work together, allowing you to capture and schedule a range of activities that will help you to work in a focused but flexible way.

Or, you can just buy some string and tie it around your finger.…
 

My most important priority today was my hardest priority. I had set myself the task of starting a complex whitepaper, which held enormous value but needed some deep thinking and writing. I had a couple of meetings in the morning, and a few emails to send, but had blocked some time over the lunch period to work on writing.

Because I had blocked the time out in my calendar, I stopped what I was doing when the alert popped up, opened the document, and set to writing. The first thing I needed was a quote to open the paper. As I went to search for a good quote to use, the Procrastination Pixie came to visit!

Forty-five minutes later, I found myself on the floor putting together an office stool I had bought over the weekend. As I screwed in the final leg, I realised that this is not what I should be doing. I was meant to be writing the whitepaper! How on earth had this happened?

As I sat there, I ran through what I had done in the last forty-five minutes. It seems that on looking for the quote, I saw an online post worth reading, and commenting on. I then realised I needed a coffee, so I popped next door for a takeaway. I then made a quick call, and on hanging up I decided to put together my new stool. All without once being aware that I was procrastinating. It was like a Procrastination Pixie had come and taken over my mind, and mischievously diverted my attention to less important things. I was honestly gobsmacked at how easily I had been diverted from my most important task.

How often does the Pixie come to you?

Procrastinating is human, and happens to all of us. The most productive people catch themselves and manage the procrastination.

If you want to avoid procrastinating about hard, complex or distasteful work, try the following:

• Schedule this work in your calendar and be specific about when you will do it

• Work for short periods on complex work. They reckon 45 minutes is optimal

• Turn off interruptions – email, phone and people (book a meeting room and hide)

• Recognise the work you are likely to procrastinate about and actively commit to staying focused

• If you catch yourself being diverted, stop the other work immediately and get back on task

This is a true story. It happened today. Many of you will be pleased to know that I am human!
 

Regards,

Dermot

A recent question from a participant in our Productive Leadership program got me thinking about a solution to managing more the complex tasks on our list. You see, he had a fairly busy meeting workload, but was pretty organised and managed to stay on top of most of his simple tasks all the same. What was killing him were the few more complex pieces of work in his role that he invariably procrastinated about and left until the last minute. These tasks were highly valuable but also highly stressful.

Every task, simple or complex, has three stages – Deadline, Planning and Execution. A simple task, like sending an email or making a phone call, will usually roll all three of these stages into one. With a simple email, we try to get to the task before it is overdue. We then open the email, have a think about what we need to say, write it and then send it. The deadline, planning and execution all happen at once.

Complex tasks, such as preparing for a presentation, writing a report or finalising a budget are a different beast. With complex work, there is a much greater risk that we will procrastinate, leave it until the last minute, and run out of time. This drags down the quality of the task and increases the stress levels. It also puts pressure on those around you if you then need to pass it downstream at the last minute.

So, next time you have a complex task to manage, break it down into the following three stages, and manage each with the appropriate tool in your action management system.

Deadline – Make it visible
Even though this is the final stage, it is where we should start. Clarify the deadline, and make it visible in your schedule. All Day Events in your calendar are a great way to show upcoming deadlines. As deadlines are zero duration milestones rather than activities, we just need to be able to have them in our line of sight, and be aware as we draw close to them. It is a good idea to review your upcoming deadlines as a part of your weekly planning and make sure you are still on track.

Planning – Create a thumbnail sketch
Now that the deadline is in place, we need to come right back to now and start planning the task. Schedule no more than 20 minutes to roughly outline the scope of the task – quickly brainstorm the key components, stages or points involved. This is what I call a thumbnail sketch. It is a very rough outline, and it will help you to estimate how much work is involved, and clarify your thinking about how to approach the task. This planning stage can simply be scheduled as a task in your action list, and it should be prioritised to happen as soon as possible.

Execution – Block out time
Once you have roughly planned the task, decide when you will protect some time for the actual work. You should now have a better feel for how much time will be needed. This is best blocked out in your calendar, ideally far enough ahead of the deadline to provide some wriggle room. Other things will invariably come up, and it always takes longer than we thought. Plan for this. When you block this time out, protect it and view it as being as important as any meeting in your schedule. The beauty of having created the thumbnail sketch before you do the work is that your mind will begin working on the task in the time between planning and execution.

So, what complex tasks are you procrastinating on right now?

If you follow this process, you will find that things are rarely quite as complex as we first thought!!

My phone is ringing more and more with requests to help organisations that have moved, or are moving to an Activity Based Workplace or ABW. This exciting style of workplace goes beyond open-plan and hot-desking, to create a workplace where workers can book the appropriate space for the type of work they are doing that day or week, from single desks to project tables and collaboration spaces. Originally pioneered in the Netherlands, ABW’s are catching on with some of Australia’s top companies. They are cost effective for the organisation, boost productivity and collaboration, and are extremely flexible for the workers.

But do they really improve productivity? That is my focus, and my biggest concern. After working in a number of ABW’s, I believe the answer is yes. But only if implemented well, and some key productivity principles are kept in mind.

The common concerns
I must admit, that most people that I have talked to about their experience working in an ABW overwhelmingly love it. But there are those that don’t like it, and usually share the concerns below:

• A loss of control for managers, who no longer have the team in their line of sight.
• Keeping everybody focused and motivated when the team is fragmented.
• The logistical drama of having to book the workspace you need every day or week.
• An increase in the volume of email as the main form of communication. 300 email per day can be standard in an ABW.
• For senior managers, the loss of the traditional corner office can be a massive challenge, both from a status point of view, and from a concentration standpoint.
• The need to reduce baggage – paper piles, folders and the stuff that used to be kept on our desk no longer has a place in an ABW.

 
Strategies for boosting productivity in an ABW
If you are working in an ABW, or will be moving to one in the coming year, keep the following productivity strategies in mind.

At the team level:

• Develop email guidelines to reduce the volume of email and ensure productive communications.
• Agree on meeting protocols to ensure that meetings are timely, focused and effective.
• Discuss the issue of interruptions with the team, and work out strategies to foster collaboration without constantly distracting people from important work.
• Develop strategies to communicate your location to others in the team. Using tools like Microsoft Lync can help with this.

At the individual level:

• Centralise all of your work electronically so you are highly mobile and have access to your schedules, action lists and emails in any location.
• Reduce your reliance on paper tools to stay organised, as you just cannot carry or store everything in this sort of workplace.
• Synchronise your mobile tools such as smartphones and tablets with your laptop. You should be able to enter it once and see it on any device.
• Stay on top of your inbox, and use email productively. The positive impact of an ABW is quickly lost when workers are drowning in 300 emails per day!  

I am all for this exciting change to the modern workplace, and believe that this way of working is appropriate for the type of work that the modern knowledge worker does. But it is a change, and it needs new tools and strategies to make it work.