Seeking Efficiency

Recently I loaned a friend my copy of the book, "Cheaper by the Dozen," by Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.  I claimed, perhaps with some exaggeration, that this was the book that defined my whole approach to life.  In fact, it did have a big impact on my thinking about efficiency.  The book is about a couple, both of whom are time and efficiency experts, with twelve children.  The book is written by two of the children, and it is a series of tales about how their parents, mostly their rather eccentric father, applied efficiency methods to the running of the household.  In one story, father sits, fully clothed, on the living room floor, surrounded by children, and demonstrates the most efficient way to take a bath.  You might enjoy either the book or the movie.

This book's impact on me was to get me thinking about the most efficient way to approach most any task.  I like to get things done as quickly and efficiently as I can, and I believe that giving some thought to the method enables me to do this, at least most of the time.

It is possible for this emphasis on efficiency to backfire, though.  For me, the down side of the emphasis on efficiency comes when I try to rush through something that really requires a more careful approach.  Rushing often results in mistakes, which then take more time to correct.  Rushing and mistakes mess up my efficiency.  I have to watch myself and remind myself to slow down when this happens.

On a somewhat larger scale, I have observed many improvements in our departmental processes over the years.  Often these improvements result when a team puts their collective minds to process improvement.  Process improvement requires looking skeptically at the steps in a process and asking what is the purpose for each one.  Many times, a step is there for some historical reason that no longer applies.  Once it is removed from the process, things move more quickly.  Another strategy is to look for roadblocks in the process and to revise the process to remove or minimize them. 

Spend some time thinking about efficiency, and you may be surprised by the positive outcomes. 

Making Continued Progress

It is summer, and those of us in higher education IT generally enjoy the extra time to focus on projects.  Most students and faculty are gone from campus, and there are many fewer meetings.

I have really been enjoying having the time to dig into projects that take more thinking time than I often have during the academic year.  However, it can sometimes be difficult to stay focused on making continued progress.

The article "3 Motivational Mind Tricks Designed to Power Progress," by Janet Choi, offers some useful suggestions.  Her three tricks are:

1. Seeing progress boosts your performance.
2. Even the illusion of progress spurs motivation.
3. A lack of progress isn't the end of the line.

I encourage you to read her article for some interesting research, examples, and expansion on these ideas.

For my own part, I know how easy it is to procrastinate when a project seems too large and complex.  I've noticed that sometimes just starting the job, without holding the requirement of finishing it over my head, can help me make progress and get to the goal.  Just starting the job demonstrates to myself that I can make progress.  Choi's article made me realize what a motivator this is.

So next time you are feeling stuck, try starting!  You might be surprised how starting gets to ending more quickly than you had imagined.  And for those really long and arduous tasks, break them into smaller tasks and start the first one.  Then start second one.  Before you know it, you'll be done.

Push and Pull for Change

I have been thinking about implementing change lately.  Change often requires some push and pull between those who want the change and those who object to it.  Frequently this seems to be management pushing and staff pulling, but I have been pulled by other managers or customers, too.

Often I find this frustrating.  I have this great idea, so why can't these other people see how great it is and jump on board with me?  Why are they trying to slow me down?  Why do I have to hear all of these objections and detailed concerns?  Let's just do it!

Of course, in my saner moments I see great value in this push and pull.  I have had experiences of implementing change without giving the push and pull enough time, and occasionally I've had to back out or cancel the change entirely.  I try to remind myself often to slow down and listen to concerns.

At the same time, I hope that those who often resist change might come to see the value in trying out new ideas and strategies.  If you are the type of person who often starts at NO, you might consider trying to start more often at MAYBE.

I also hear concerns about not having change completely thought out in advance of trying to implement it.  I agree that thoughtful planning is very valuable.  Nevertheless, sometimes it can be hard to see exactly how something is going to roll out until you get into the middle of it.  I like incremental improvements in some situations.  So I invite others to become a part of the change and add strategies and improvements of your own along the way.

Pushing and pulling is a natural part of change.  In most cases, we can work together to make a good change by not pushing or pulling too hard.

Learn and Relearn

Last week we brought MOR Associates to campus to provide another leadership training session for IT staff and managers.  This time we invited the Crookston, Morris, and Rochester campuses to send participants.  We found their contributions really helped us to think more broadly across the UM System.  We greatly appreciated Greg Anderson and Lori Green, our trainers, for the fantastic job they did in helping us to work on issues that really mattered to us.  It was a great session.

We had eight new participants this time, including five from the other campuses.  During the morning of the first day, the new participants worked with Lori on some skills that others had learned in previous sessions.  I sat in on this session for the new people and found that I had a chance to relearn an important lesson that I have learned several times before.

The lesson that I relearned is that feedback is a gift.  When someone offers feedback, I should simply accept the feedback by saying, "Thank you."  Despite having learned this lesson several times, I find that it is so easy to forget it.  I have several examples over the past month where I got defensive, offered an explanation, or just generally forgot to say, "Thank you."  I have to keep reminding myself that thanking someone for feedback doesn't necessarily mean that I agree with the feedback.  It simply means that I appreciate the person going out on a limb to offer it.  I will get more out of the feedback that is offered by taking it along with me to mull over and decide later how to respond.

I think this learn and relearn strategy is perhaps just being human.  The hard lessons are the ones we have to repeat several times before we really get it.  And even then, we might backslide sometimes.  But practice makes perfect, they say.  I'll keep working at it.

Optimists and Pessimists

Amy Gallo wrote the article "How to Handle the Pessimist on Your Team" in the Harvard Business Review Blog back in 2009, but it's still a valuable article today.  I've seen many times how a single vocal pessimist can pull all of the energy out of a team, bringing creative thoughts to an abrupt end.  Gallo provides three strategies:

1. Create awareness
2. Reposition negative statements
3. Involve the whole team

Please read the article for her thoughtful ideas behind each of these steps.

I am normally quite optimistic, so when confronted with a pessimist, I often find myself getting frustrated.  While I want to make progress, the pessimist wants to hold me back.  When I want to solve a problem, the pessimist tells me my strategy won't work.  When I look on the bright side, the pessimist reminds me of the dark side.

The skeptic is a slight twist on the pessimist.  The skeptic has the "prove it to me" attitude.  Not only do I have to put energy into generating and fleshing out a new idea, I have to convince the skeptic, dragging me down.

Despite my frustration with the pessimists and skeptics in my life, I have learned to value some of what they bring to the table.  They force me to think through my proposals and to not jump to a solution too quickly.  They make me look at facets of a problem that I might not have considered.  They help me slow down and be more thoughtful.

So, to all of those pessimists and skeptics out there, and there are many of them in IT, I ask for a little balance.  I'll try harder to slow down, to listen to your concerns, and to craft better solutions to problems.  In return, I ask that you try to control the cynicism, help me use my creative energy well, and let in a few rays of sunshine.

The Value of Focus

It is so easy to lose focus in this age of multitasking.  The article, Train Your Brain to Focus, by Paul Hammerness, M.D., and Margaret Moore, appeared in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network in 2012.  I encourage you to read their article to find out more about the three techniques they recommend:

• Tame your frenzy.
• Apply the brakes.
• Shift sets.

I had an interesting experience this week regarding my own attempt to multitask.  While listening to a very long vendor demonstration, I thought I could do a fairly mindless job of cleaning up my email labels.  However, it appeared that I may have deleted some important folders in the process.   Panic ensued, or frenzy, to use the authors' terminology.  After hunting a bit more, I find that I didn't actually delete them, but I did rename them in an odd way that made them hard to find.  So, I will recover, but my attempt to multitask was a bit of a failure.  And I confess that I didn't do as good a job evaluating the vendor demonstration as I should have done, either.

I am reminded of the old mantra to "be in the moment."  It's really not possible to focus on more than one thing at a time, so when I try to multitask, I miss things.  I am resolved to be more focused in the future.

The Importance of Rest and Renewal

I'll be on vacation next week, so I won't be posting on May 31.  Looking ahead to my vacation led me to think about the importance of taking time to renew.

Years ago, when I went on vacation, I tried hard to avoid checking email or voice mail while I was away.  Now, with advances in technology and changing expectations, I find it harder to stay away from work.  I'll probably check my email for important items while I am away, but I'm going to try hard not to be drawn into work.

Even this approach is a bit suspect, though.  It may take five minutes to scan my email, but when I do, I get pulled back psychologically, even if I choose to take no action.  Taking a vacation means getting away from it all, resting, and renewing one's emotional as well as physical energy.  If technology keeps me from never truly getting away, am I taking full advantage of my vacation time?

Mobile devices make it so easy to check in quickly and often.  I often listen to podcasts on my iPhone when I go to sleep at night.  But opening my phone to get to the iPod draws my attention to the unread email at the same time.  I try to resist, but I don't always succeed.

Please join me in working on resisting the always-on approach to work.  We all need our rest.  When we allow ourselves time to renew, we come back with new ideas, approaches, and energy.  We do our best when we get away sometimes.