No matter how much you plan, how much you start on time, how much you try... you still end up late...
Project late... appointment late... meeting late... report submission late...
No matter what you do... still end up late...
Is that your problem too?
The best thing about my first mentor was that he had started moulding me even before he employed me. When I went in for my first interview with him, after the initial questions about me and my family, he didn't ask anything about my accounts knowledge, my grades, nothing. Instead, he asked a very different question. This is how the conversation went:
Boss - Do you know how far is the railway station from here?
Gulshan - About 5 km from here
Boss - If you have to come from Railway station to here, how long will it take?
Gulshan - About 10 minutes (this is more than 10 years back when traffic was not as bad as today)
Boss - Do you know how many signals are there in between?
Gulshan - About 6 traffic signals on the way.
Boss - Assuming each signal is a 2 minute signal, and assuming you have to stop at only 3 of the signals, you will end up losing 6 minutes just waiting at the signals... How will you make the entire distance in the remaining 4 minutes?
Gulshan - I think I want to revise it to 15 minutes.
Boss - That's better. By the way, I forgot to mention... There are 2 movie theatres on the way. Whenever a show gets over, it creates a bit of a traffic jam, do you think you want to consider that?
Gulshan - (By now I was getting a hang of it) I think I'll add 5 minutes for each traffic jam. That makes it 25 minutes. Frankly, I haven't traveled on this road much, so I think I will be safe if I add another 10 minutes as a safety. Bringing the total time estimate to 35 minutes.
Boss - That looks more practical.
Most of the time, problem happens when we start planning. We always plan forwards. Whether it is a wedding, a project, a report preparation or just a trip to the airport... For anything we do, our typical planning style is - we will start by this time, it will take so long, we should be done by this time... simple...
We always start at the starting point and move towards the goal.
What my boss taught me that day was the importance of planning backwards. Through the years I worked with him, I learnt a very effective planning approach which has almost always worked for me.
The most important part of any activity is the goal, the end objective. The second most important part is the time when the goal should be achieved. Everything else is just on the way... just work in process.
So, I always start from the goal and the target time.
If I have to be submit a 100 page report by the end of this week, I will break it down into logical bits... either chapter wise, topic wise, or just plain no. of pages. If I have to submit the report by Friday evening, I'll ensure that my report is ready on Thursday evening. This gives me a full day of safety to provide for contingencies. Now, I'll break the whole report into 4 parts and make sure that I complete one part each day. This takes care of my consistency. This will prevent any last minute rush and keep the stress distributed over the period.
The most important part is that I review at the end of every day to make sure of the progress.
A PLAN WITHOUT PERIODIC REVIEW IS JUST AN ILLUSION.
I'm probably not the best planner in the world, but it has always worked for me. It just might for you too. So here's what I would share with anyone who plans things:
In faith that this sharing will make a difference to you. Let the coming week be the start of a more planned, less stressful life for all of us.
Project late... appointment late... meeting late... report submission late...
No matter what you do... still end up late...
Is that your problem too?
The best thing about my first mentor was that he had started moulding me even before he employed me. When I went in for my first interview with him, after the initial questions about me and my family, he didn't ask anything about my accounts knowledge, my grades, nothing. Instead, he asked a very different question. This is how the conversation went:
Boss - Do you know how far is the railway station from here?
Gulshan - About 5 km from here
Boss - If you have to come from Railway station to here, how long will it take?
Gulshan - About 10 minutes (this is more than 10 years back when traffic was not as bad as today)
Boss - Do you know how many signals are there in between?
Gulshan - About 6 traffic signals on the way.
Boss - Assuming each signal is a 2 minute signal, and assuming you have to stop at only 3 of the signals, you will end up losing 6 minutes just waiting at the signals... How will you make the entire distance in the remaining 4 minutes?
Gulshan - I think I want to revise it to 15 minutes.
Boss - That's better. By the way, I forgot to mention... There are 2 movie theatres on the way. Whenever a show gets over, it creates a bit of a traffic jam, do you think you want to consider that?
Gulshan - (By now I was getting a hang of it) I think I'll add 5 minutes for each traffic jam. That makes it 25 minutes. Frankly, I haven't traveled on this road much, so I think I will be safe if I add another 10 minutes as a safety. Bringing the total time estimate to 35 minutes.
Boss - That looks more practical.
Most of the time, problem happens when we start planning. We always plan forwards. Whether it is a wedding, a project, a report preparation or just a trip to the airport... For anything we do, our typical planning style is - we will start by this time, it will take so long, we should be done by this time... simple...
We always start at the starting point and move towards the goal.
What my boss taught me that day was the importance of planning backwards. Through the years I worked with him, I learnt a very effective planning approach which has almost always worked for me.
The most important part of any activity is the goal, the end objective. The second most important part is the time when the goal should be achieved. Everything else is just on the way... just work in process.
So, I always start from the goal and the target time.
If I have to be submit a 100 page report by the end of this week, I will break it down into logical bits... either chapter wise, topic wise, or just plain no. of pages. If I have to submit the report by Friday evening, I'll ensure that my report is ready on Thursday evening. This gives me a full day of safety to provide for contingencies. Now, I'll break the whole report into 4 parts and make sure that I complete one part each day. This takes care of my consistency. This will prevent any last minute rush and keep the stress distributed over the period.
The most important part is that I review at the end of every day to make sure of the progress.
A PLAN WITHOUT PERIODIC REVIEW IS JUST AN ILLUSION.
I'm probably not the best planner in the world, but it has always worked for me. It just might for you too. So here's what I would share with anyone who plans things:
- Identify the goal
- Identify the time by which the goal has to be achieved.
- Break down the entire process into smaller manageable phases. Typically such phases should not exceed 6-8. Example - different stages of a project, or different topics of a report.
- Define the time by which each phase should be completed.
- Based on the completion time and the duration of each phase, fix a start time for each phase. (this is an important stage, a phase can be completed only and only if it is started on time)
- By now, you should have a list of different phases, their start times and end times. This is your control point.
- Now, break down each phase into daily / weekly schedule.
- Delegate and monitor based on the daily / weekly schedule and regularly check with the overall phase status.
- Create a reporting / feedback mechanism so you don't have to follow up.
- Most Important: Religiously review the status every day.
- Revise the approach / strategy if there are any deviations at the phase level.
In faith that this sharing will make a difference to you. Let the coming week be the start of a more planned, less stressful life for all of us.
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