Are you working on more than 5 projects?

How many of you supply chain and ops leaders have more than 5 projects that you and your team are trying to achieve. Think about it including projects from your function, your business unit, you own initiatives .. and everywhere else all together?

I'm guessing the answer is most of you do!

Let's look back at previous years - did they all get done? I'll put my neck on the line and guess they probably didn't.

And that's because its flippin' impossible to do it all!

So i'm here to say - we need to take control and push an agenda of ruthless prioritisation. You will achieve MORE by doing this.

Warren Buffet came up with a method (which TBH is pure common sense when you think about it) is widely recognised and used in business due to its simplicity and effectiveness, Here's how it works:

Warren Buffett's Two-List Strategy

1. List Down 25 Goals: Start by brainstorming a list of 25 career goals, project ideas, or tasks.
2. Identify the Top 5: Select the five most important or impactful items from the list. Buffett suggests these should be the goals that you care about the most.
3. Avoid at All Costs: The 20 items that you did not circle just became your “Avoid-At-All-Cost List.” Buffett emphasizes that under no circumstances should you focus on them until you’ve succeeded with your top 5.

Here's how you could use it PRACTICALLY in your team:

1. Brainstorm: Involve stakeholders in listing out potential projects, initiatives, or goals.
2. Identify High-Impact Projects: Select the top 5 projects that align most closely with strategic objectives, have the highest potential impact, and best use available resources.
3. Focus Resources: Direct resources (time, budget, people) predominantly or exclusively toward these top 5 projects to maximize the possibility of their successful and timely completion. I KNOW this isn't a reality in its purest sense but think practically about how you can make sure you actually focus on these projects and don't get tied up in exclusively fire-fighting instead - this is what will make a difference in the long term!

This is a brilliant way / exercise to go through to engage senior managers as well - see how they grab hold of it and fly - the ones that do are your leaders of the future.

What do you think? Is this something you already do with your team? If not - will you try it? reply to let me know!

Litsa