04 June 2010
I've Had It Up to Here!
I've been silent for over a week now, but not because I want to be. Truth is, we're in the middle of a very large project - one that will change the face of our team and how we do what we do.
Sounds pretty ominous eh?
Actually, it's just different than anything we've done before. Instead of it being a project where something gets created or redesigned, we're actually attempting to remove or combine.
Why?
Because it seems like this is the typical pattern with most teams:
Each team member starts with a few regular tasks and has the margin to go above and beyond in their sphere of influence. But over time - we keep adding tasks until that is all the team member does - no more above and beyond. They simply become a clock puncher...getting their stuff done and going home.
And this has become true of us. We're all so tied down to tasks that we can't pick our heads up to dream again. So we're doing something about it.
In every setting this might look different, but in ours it looks something like this:
- Stop: There are things we have done for years that just don't need to be done anymore. Identify and cut.
- Combine: There are countless tasks that live independently of each other - but what if they could be combined? Identify and combine.
- Move: There are thing we do that take HUGE amounts of time and energy. But it is only because of the process. If there were a simpler way to do it wouldn't that be better? Identify and move.
- Grow: There are things we are doing that are "old school." We simply haven't grown into the technology that is available in that area. Identify and grow.
- Simplify: And in all things ask if there is a more simple way of presenting the content. Are our websites still too bloated? Have we let our media players get too full? Etc. Identify and simplify.
I've been pretty vague - partly because we haven't completely finalized our plan of attack. But when we do I'll post again and offer specific examples of each area.
Sound like fun? Give it a try in your environment.
