• Demand seems to be going up, resources are going down!
• How do I do better with what I’ve been given, and better manage up and down?
• If you’re managing people, do you recognize their abilities? Are you treating those people appropriately? One-size fits all doesn’t work.
• How do we take where we’re at and get better?

Schedule Control

• Do you have an environment of focus?
  • In your office…
  • Do you keep a clean desk and know where stuff is?
    • Are you organized in a fashion that works for you?
    • Discipline!!
  • You need to keep control of your schedule!
• Multitasking
  • DON’T!!!
• Interruptions
  • Figure out ways to control your schedule
  • Position people between you and your interruptions
    • It’s your job to constantly work yourself out of a job!
    • Don’t be the bottleneck in the process…make it unnecessary for people to get to you when they need something!
  • Learn how to say “Go away” without being a jerk
  • Control them…don’t let them drive you!
• Discipline
  • Routine…are you consistent with your time?
  • Do you wait until the last minute?
  • Do you put things in the same spot so you can easily find them later?
  • Do you derail yourself because you don’t have a routine or plan?
  • We don’t often account for the opportunity cost of what we’re doing!
    • Need to plan schedules ahead to avoid conflict!

Planning

• Stay organized!
• Tools:
  • Calendar – no excuse for not getting things in your calendar!
  • Task list – do things you need to do get captured somewhere? [waterproof notepad in the shower!!! 😁]
    • Don’t waste your brain’s CPU cycles trying to remember things you can write down…do what works for you!
  • Project List
    • Tasks are simple things that don’t require a “reinvent”, projects are more complex things that do require a “reinvent”

Priorities

• Schedule your priorities!
  • Family time!
  • Consider scheduling “hallway time” to be interrupted!
    • Shows that you’re here to serve, equip, and empower
• Stick with it!
  • Run your calendar out as far as you can!
• Manage exceptions
  • They will happen…workaround them and accept that they will happen, but don’t live there
• Get help!
  • Ask your boss if need be, get a mentor outside your organization if need be
  • Humility is key…you will get it wrong; admit you make mistakes
  • When you get it wrong, admit it, fix it, and move forward
• Avoid traps
  • Different people/groups want your time
  • Let those groups get things figured out; pass it off on them, and let them take it up the chain, and then let them come back when they have an answer for you
• Communicate
  • Be able to go back up the chain…“I can do a, but not b and c. (but, I can do b and c the following week).”
    • Don’t forget to do the things that you’ve said need to be done later!

Q+A Ideas

• Establish office hours
• Dedicating time for projects vs tickets
  • Break day into three parts:
    • Helpdesk
    • Projects
    • Administrative overhead (patching, keeping the lights on, etc.)