Missteps

Questions of the week: I noticed that improving my writing and speaking skills could save more time; How can I improve them? What to do if we time-box urgent work and cannot complete it on time? How can I add automation at work? I have been stuck at stage 6 of time management and hit a plateau; how to move to the next stage?

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

I write this article based on the insight of my conversation with my team in our monthly 1-on-1 call. I speak with each one of my team members. This article is a compilation of a whole week's takeaway. You can subscribe to the?Building our Team?newsletter (1700+ subscribers)

I noticed that improving my writing and speaking skills could save more time; How can I improve them?

The reason writing and speaking skills help you save time is as follows:

1) No miscommunication, so less rework

2) No misunderstanding, so less incorrect work

3) No misinterpretation, so less extra work

4) No Missteps, so less incomplete work

5) No Misreading, so fewer errors in work.?

Here are my recommendation to improve your vocab

1) Movies and Web content?

2) Podcast - Sustainability Scores will also help you learn about our industry. Two-time profit

3) Books - Small books about Communication, Time Management, Leadership, Interpersonal Skills, Building Habits, Clear Thinking, Negotiations, Mental Models, Delegations, Teamwork etc

4) Online Article - Programmers can read about Agile Methodology, Code Architecture, Web Design, Understanding Users etc. QA can read about Writing effective Test cases, Case Studies on Big Projects, Tips & Hacks etc. The operations team can read about Effective Meetings, the Art of documentation, Simple Stats 101, Improve Logical thinking etc.??

5) Speaking in meeting in the language you want to improve

6) Taking time to review your writing during your work day. From emails to updating tickets.?

7) If you want to be a master, write daily for atleast 10 mins.?

What to do if we time-box urgent work and cannot complete it on time?

Time-box (Defenition):- In agile principles, timeboxing allocates a fixed and maximum unit of time to an activity, called a time-box, within which planned activity takes place.

Urgent work occasionally comes. If it comes every day, you need to learn to plan better. This means it will have a deadline within a few hours or days. When you are out of time, you need to ask for help or inform the client about your delay.?

In fact, for all urgent work, you should have a tight time box that allows you to change strategy as early as possible. Thus the possibility of success increases automatically.?

How can I add automation at work?

Automation is one of my favourite topics because the human brain needs to work on more intellectual work. We should not waste time on mundane tasks or busy work.?

1) Email Scheduling: Use the feature of schedule email for any reminders or follow-ups you want. If the other person never submits the task on time, set up 3 reminders in advance. Leave a note at the end saying, "This is a system email set in advance. To make sure I don't forget it."

2) Ticketing System Filters: Create filters and workflow that can reduce multiple steps and get you some analysis out of the box for you.??

3) Proofread: Use tools like Grammarly to check all your grammar and spelling mistakes. I write this weekly article on Grammarly, and it suggests a better send structure. I have set my mode of communication as positive and friendly.?

4) IFTTT: https://ifttt.com/ IFTTT is short for If This Then That, and is the best way to integrate apps, devices, and services. We help devices, services, and apps work together in new and powerful ways.

5) Windows Task Scheduler: You can create a basic task, select the frequency of that task, and identify the trigger. For example, you could open the same programs or delete all files in your temp folder. Refresh Your Internet Connection Daily.?

6) Organising Team Meetings: https://doodle.com/ Create a poll instead of going back and forth with the team to check the common time between them.?

7) Forest - A phone app that lets you put your phone down and focus on what's important.?

8) Digital Wellbeing- Set a timer to the social media app on your phone it is available for both ios and android. It means you can set only 10 mins a day for Twitter and locked after that.?

9) .Bat Scripts - Automate some repeated tasks that you perform daily. Like opening multiple Probench URL at once

10) Chrome Extensions - Many extensions for some of your daily activities are made easy, like opening multiple links, Toggl Track, Scribe, Selenium and more.?

If you have developer skills or developers in your team, ask them if they can create executables to automate some of your tasks.?

I have been stuck at stage 6 of time management and hit a plateau; how to move to the next stage?

Let's learn about the learning curve today. Where the individual is no longer progressing. It could signal that the learner has reached a limit in their ability or that a transition may be occurring. It could also mean that the individual has lost motivation or is fatigued.

One of the recommendations is to keep continuing the process and effort; there will be slow growth sometimes.??

My recommendation:- Take two steps forward and one step back. This will make progress in flow more. You will not feel like you are stuck or not making any progress. When you decide to go forward only, you will feel like pushing a wall when you are not making progress. It will result in fatigue, frustration and failure.?

I like taking one step back because it gives me momentum and breaks the process into baby steps. I permit myself to see it from a beginner's mindset.?

You cannot call yourself an expert if you struggle to get it done.?

Some other recommendations are:

1) Cut the goals and work at hand

2) Arrange learning material according to the level of complexity?

3) Take a week's break

4) Minimise the friction and distraction?

5) Provide motivation and incentives.?

Sharing is caring; people who care always share.