Before you start working on any task, you need to have a clear idea of what quality means for you and your customers. Quality standards are the criteria that you use to measure the quality of your work, such as accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and compliance. Customer expectations are the requirements and preferences that your customers have for your deliverables, such as functionality, usability, design, and feedback. You can define your quality standards and customer expectations by using tools like SMART goals, checklists, rubrics, and surveys.
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Collaboration here is key. We may have a great process to define quality standards against customer expectations, or even to surpass them. The real issue in my experience is to keep the communication going with all stakeholders. Customers need to be keep up to date and engaged. Often teams proudly go off to deliver and leave the customers behind. When everyone involved is transparent about the process, even a setback can be embraced and transformed.
One of the challenges of task management is to deal with complex and large tasks that can overwhelm you and affect your quality and customer satisfaction. To avoid this, you need to break down your tasks into smaller and more manageable steps that have clear deadlines and dependencies. This way, you can focus on one step at a time, track your progress, and identify any issues or risks that may arise. You can use tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, or flowcharts to help you visualize and organize your task breakdown.
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In my experience, during completing my Six Lean Sigma Yellow Belt Accreditation, the key factor that stuck out for me was to be very clear about the end goal, asking often myself 'why am I doing this?' and then work on the specific bite size tasks. In this way, I didn't get lost, but in fact enjoyed the process because I could see the light at the end of tunnel!
Another challenge of task management is to deal with multiple and competing tasks that can distract you and reduce your quality and customer satisfaction. To avoid this, you need to prioritize your tasks based on their urgency and importance. Urgency refers to how soon a task needs to be done, while importance refers to how much a task contributes to your goals and values. You can use tools like the Eisenhower matrix, the ABCDE method, or the MoSCoW technique to help you rank your tasks and decide what to do first, next, or later.
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When you have a lot going on, you tend to sacrifice quality and that can reduce client satisfaction which is something that no one wants. To avoid this altogether use something like a priority matrix so that you can visually see what needs to be taken care of first. You can do this with all of the projects you are working on because more than likely there will be some overlap and you can knock out certain components of different projects in one fell swoop. Also, you can see which parts of the projects you can easily delegate so that you can speed up the completion and get ahead of the expected due date. Clients love when you turn their projects in early and will more than likely work with you again.
Sometimes, you may have tasks that are not your core competencies or that require skills or resources that you do not have. In these cases, you may want to delegate or outsource these tasks to someone else who can do them better, faster, or cheaper than you. This way, you can free up your time and energy for the tasks that are more important and valuable for you and your customers. You can use tools like RACI charts, SWOT analysis, or cost-benefit analysis to help you identify and assign tasks to the right people.
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As a professional in your field, you should know what your strengths and weaknesses are so that you are aware of what you should be delegating and what you can take on yourself. Some of the benefits of delegating certain tasks are: -faster completion of the full project -lower cost overall -freeing up your time to focus on what you do best -reduced stress for the whole team involved You can go as far as doing a cost-benefit analysis to confirm which tasks should go to which people and what the cost of that would be in relation to the income you'd be receiving. Delegating shouldn't be viewed as exposing your weaknesses but leveraging your strengths so that everyone benefits in the end.
Finally, you need to review and improve your tasks regularly to ensure that you are meeting your quality standards and customer expectations. Reviewing your tasks means checking the quality of your work, measuring the results, and collecting feedback from your customers. Improving your tasks means identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your work, finding the root causes of any problems or errors, and implementing corrective or preventive actions. You can use tools like PDCA cycles, fishbone diagrams, or 5 whys to help you conduct effective reviews and improvements.
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One of the best ways to hone in on areas for improvement is through feedback from regular surveys and focus groups that allow you to capture the voice of your customers.
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