PRODUCTIVITY: What is the one small step you can take within 24 hours?

http://www.legalandrew.com/2007/04/24/
get-your-motivation-moving-with-small-steps/

http://tinyurl.com/ytar45

Get Your Motivation Moving with Small Steps
productivity ideas, blog consulting – focused on the legal world
by Leagal Andrew aka andrew flusche

***Begin Quote***

Now think back to that nagging goal or project you’ve put off. Come up with one small step you can take within 24 hours. Don’t just put it on your trusty GTD action list. Go do it!

***End Quote***

Interesting productivity tip.

BTW in one of my projects at work a while ago, which wasn’t going well, the exasperated honcho directed me to assume the role of devil’s advocate. I was to, for every problem itemized, record who reported it (hurting) and who was to solve it (stuckee). Every day, I was to talk to every stuckee and get a status. BUT, not just any old status. The stuckee had to three choices:

* {#1} solved (which was to be immediately verified with the “hurter”;

* {#2} what was done in the last 24 hours to solve the problem and what would be done in the next 24 hours to solve the problem; OR

* {#3} a project plan to get to the solution.

Anything else, was to be escalated to him in real-time while the stuckee was on the phone.

Needless to say, stuff started being solved with AMAZING hustle.

For my part, every time one of these was “declared”, I just went to outlook and set up a five minute meeting at 730AM Eastern (I like to get an early start!) and sent it. People could propose a new time, which was fine with me.

He also added one more rule at the following week’s project meeting. When some problems didn’t “belong” to the stuckee, they could be relieved if the proposed replacement accepted the assignment. And, no throwing it over the transom. He officiated at the “wedding” (i.e., do you joe give this problem to sam? And, sam do you accept this problem from joe to have and to hold from this day forth?). If he was unavailable, I was allowed to sub in but I had to prepare a “wedding announcement” copying everyone involved. Needless to say, replacements were hard to find. The stuckee had to PROVE that it was the replacement’s problem.

Now those were some fun problems. Capacity, intermittent, bugs, blunders, suppliers mistakes, anything, and everything. As I recollect that when we shut the implementation down as completed, we had about 800 items all total led. MTTR was all over the place. But, there was a trail of “notes” about actions. The maintenance team used that as “as built” documentation.

I’ve never forgot that lesson. Attention and a 24 hour clock.