Do Now! Unnecessary Tasks - What Can We Stop Doing Today?
This Do Now! was wholly inspired by a comment in Sam Spurlin’s (of The Ready — my new bffs) LinkedIn post about getting work done by not doing it. A person – Keith – noted that early in his career, a team, unsure on why or how the reports they were issuing monthly were used, just didn’t do them one month and only issued a report when someone asked where it was. He notes, “They never heard a peep for 75% of the reports they created every month.” They were able to use that newly-found time to do deeper analysis for the data that did matter and create space for new projects. Brilliant!
In past lives, I have been part of team workshops and retreats where we have the task of identifying what we can stop doing, start doing, or push to be done later. Reflecting on these moments, a lot of that seemed to be exercise only. Far too many of the items we all identified to stop, start, or push were in the same position after the retreat that they were before.
Because I plan to do this this week and encourage other teams to, I’m sharing the following ideas around how to better ensure success.
The obvious one – try what Keith’s team tried. If you are in a position of authority or can get the permission to do so, this seems like one surefire way to stop doing unnecessary work.
If you can’t do (1), Ask. Ask the teams and/or individuals who are recipients of this work how they benefit from it. Share the story, tag them in the post if that helps. If the answer you get back is because it’s what you’ve always done, perhaps that’s the in you need to push for more data – what is the purpose now, how is it helping you today, what necessary thing doesn’t get done if this doesn’t get done.
If it’s personal work – maybe it was created before you took on the role or before you came to the organization – you can try (2). You can also begin to track some data for yourself. Send the information/report/whatever and calendar a check-in with the recipient of the work. Tell them you’re going to check on how they used it and when they did. This exercise will likely yield at least one of two things: (a) the why and the purpose, giving you data you need to do that thing more effectively or efficiently and think critically about what else you can do to support those teams; or (b), help you build the case to stop, start, push or change the work.
If you have thoughts on how to do this well, please share them in the comments below.
