Life Science Rabbit Hole #9: Becoming a Task Master

Life Science Rabbit Hole #8, The Challenges of Success, described four challenges that face an early-stage life science company following a significant inflow of funding.? They were

1. Programs competing for scarce resources – Multiple programs need access to shared groups or equipment such as medical writers, analytical methods, process engineering/validation, etc.? You may need to allocate scarce manufacturing or laboratory capacity to clinical batches (multiple programs now?), validation batches (multiple programs now?), commercial production, etc.
2. Ways of working are not scaling – There is more of everything.? More protocols to write and approve, more deviations to analyze and close, more people to hire and onboard, more contracts to review, simple task lists get longer and longer, etc.
3. Integrating new functions, partners, or technologies – You may start working with new external manufacturers, CDMOs, CROS, clinical labs, clinical trial supply partners such as Myonex , external validation specialists, etc.
4. Expanding geographically – To meet your objectives, you may need to look farther afield, conducting clinical trials in other countries, moving material across national borders, etc.

This edition relates to Ways of Working Not Scaling and shares a practice that will let you become a “Task Master” – someone who is expert at assigning and accepting tasks.? Pardon the play on words, we live in a clickbait era!? This applies whether you are the one assigning tasks, accepting task assignments, or both.

You have probably experienced many of the common pitfalls associated with task assignments

• You assign a task and hear nothing further until you inquire, only to learn that little progress has been made and it’s going to be late.
• You are assigned a task, despite being already overloaded with work.? You add it to your list and do your best.
• You assign a task, but what is delivered isn’t what you asked for.?
• You are working on your task but are constantly interrupted by requests for status updates and questions about progress.
• You assign a task which is completed successfully on time, but only afterwards do you learn that other more important work didn’t get done.
• You are assigned a task with an impossible due date, given the complexity or size of the effort.
• Your department can’t keep up with their core work because they are helping other teams solve emergency requests.

No doubt there are many more examples you can think of, but these are a few of the more common ones.

How can you operate as a Task Master??

Whether you are giving or receiving a task, a Task Master ensures there is a clear, well-defined assignment and shared understanding between the assigner and the assignee.? Both the assigner and the assignee must make sure the assignment request is

1. Precise - What needs to be accomplished?? What steps need to be taken to achieve it?? What is the definition of ‘Complete’?? Too often, assignments are vague, either because the assigner hasn’t thought it through or assumes the assignee knows what they mean.? In the heat of the moment, the assignee may not ask for clarification.
2. Purposeful - Why are you giving this assignment?? How does it relate to other tasks?? Who is the downstream ‘Customer’ who needs the result? People need to understand the context if you want them to use their judgment and initiative.? Which you do!? If you don’t, please come see me after class.
3. Time-Bound - When does this assignment need to be completed? Too often the due date is vague or open to different interpretations by the assigner and the assignee.? If the task is due “as soon as you can”, what exactly does that mean?? Do you think it will mean the same thing to the assigner and the assignee?
4. Available – Does the assignee have the availability to complete the assignment on time?? Is there other work that should be deferred in favor of this one? This is one of the most common problems.? Adding a new assignment on top of the assignee’s full workload leaves it up to the assignee to decide which balls get dropped.? As the assigner, do you want to take the risk of your assignment causing more important deliverables to be delayed?? As the assignee, do you want to open yourself to criticism for not completing your other work?
5. Capable – Does the assignee have the skills & expertise to complete this assignment?? Will you need advice and expertise from someone?? Do they have availability? It sometimes happens that the assignee doesn’t know how to complete the assignment, causing disruption throughout the organization as they try to get help from others who are already busy.? Similarly, even if the assignee knows exactly what to do, the assignment may require involvement from other teams or individuals who may or may not be able to assist.
6. Escalation & Oversight – How will we track progress & status?? What are expectations for resolving issues at the peer level? ?What are the ground rules for when risks & issues are escalated upwards?? What are the ground rules for when management will get involved in the absence of an escalation? Another very common problem.? Sometimes the assignee goes silent (Are they working on it?? Are they on track?? Did they forget about it?? Did a later assignment pre-empt yours?)? Sometimes the assigner asks for constant updates to the point of delaying progress (Do you want me to work on the assignment or tell you about the progress?? I could be done by now!)

Let’s use an example of how this would work in practice.

The scene: A hallway outside of several clean rooms where immune cells from cancer patients are being amplified and reinvigorated.?

“I need you to identify the root causes of manufacturing deviations and identify & implement process improvements that reduce our deviation rate substantially, ideally cutting the rate in half.” [Precise]

“Reducing deviations increases our effective capacity, increases the likelihood of a successful pre-license inspection (PLI), and reduces the risk of a failed batch impacting a cancer patient.” [Purposeful]

“I’d like the root causes identified in 15 days, an improvement plan & reduction targets agreed 5 days later, and the first improvements implemented by day 45” [Time-Bound]

“I think this will need 2 days a week from you, a half-time analyst with basic Lean Six Sigma skills, and 3-4 working sessions with several plant quality & manufacturing people, plus ongoing implementation support from others, including change control.? What do we need to deprioritize to free up everybody’s time?” [Available]

“Do you have the knowledge to do this work?? How about the analyst?” [Capable]

“Please escalate to me immediately if you sense any risks to accomplishing this assignment.? Other than that, just message me when you’ve completed the root cause/pareto analysis and when you have created the implementation plan & reduction targets.? Once you start implementing, I’d like a deviation control chart included in our weekly manufacturing meeting deck” [Escalation & Oversight]

If you are in a life science company facing The Challenge of Success, you could easily feel that you don’t have time to be this precise.? You could easily feel that everyone is aligned and everyone knows what’s most important, so we should be able to just get on with the work without belaboring the obvious.? After all, it’s obvious what needs to be accomplished, right?? It’s obvious how this task relates to our other goals, right?? It’s obvious what other priorities are higher than this one, right?

Of course, none of these things are obvious.? If they were, the assignment probably wouldn’t be necessary in the first place.

Trust me when I tell you that the few minutes it takes to clarify the assignment the way a Task Master does will avoid 10X the pain and disruption caused by poor assignments.

There you have it: Life Science Rabbit Hole’s recommendation of how to become a Task Master.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Life Science Rabbit Hole.? As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome.

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