Thursday, January 27, 2011

Every to-do list needs a schedule

Every to-do list needs a schedule.
One thing I have learned:  A to-do list without a schedule  is simply a wish-list, not a to-do list.   You will WISH you could do those things, and they will never get done till you find time for them.
On my last engagement, the company had a vision.  It identified strategies to implement the vision.  And it had goals for how to execute the strategies.   All very nice.
Our department had a list of list of projects necessary to accomplish the goals.  We must have had 200 projects on that list.  Most projects would take weeks.  Some would take months.  How could we get all the work done?    
The project managers and department leaders would get together every Monday morning at 9:00am.  We reviewed our progress from last week, and planned for who should work on what next. 
The beautiful thing was that we didn’t just say WHAT to do.  We ALLOCATED TIME for the staff to work on it.  
If we didn’t actually ALLOCATE TIME to work on something, then clearly it must not have been a priority.
It wasn’t always  perfect.   “No plan of battle survives the first shot.”  Nevertheless, it did make sure that projects with priority always continued to get sufficient resources to keep moving forward.  And it went a long way to make sure that management didn’t have unrealistic expectations for what the staff could do. 
When the staff knew what the priorities were, AND were given time to work on them, they always stepped to deliver, on time, with good quality.
The same has been true in my own life.  I can list dozens of things I’d like to do.  The only tasks that actually get done are the ones that I specifically allocate time for. 
You can ask yourself, what have you specifically allocated time for today?
Best wishes to always find time for the things that are actually important to you.
~ the hard-working DBA