Make Time for Work That Matters: How to Free Up 8 Hrs/Wk!

Back in 2013, an article appeared in the Harvard Business Review called “Make Time for the Work That Matters”. That article, which we will discuss today, introduces a process where you sort low-value tasks into 3 categories which helps free up a significant amount of time in your workday.

A perfect example of someone who was able to utilize that strategy was a software developer named “Bob”. Before we get to Bob’s story, let’s first review the article so we can understand the strategies recommended by Julian Birkinshaw and Jordan Cohen on how to make time for work that matters.

The Research

The authors spent three years trying to figure out how “knowledge workers” could be made more productive. What they found was that most employees spend a lot of time, an average of 41%, on unimportant tasks that added little personal satisfaction and could just as easily be handled by someone else.

The solution on how to correct this problem was a simple one: eliminate or delegate tasks that were unimportant and replace them with important ones. Duh!

Easier Said Than Done!

So why do people keep doing tasks that are unimportant and offer little personal satisfaction? The problem is this, many of us wear the busyness badge as a badge of honor; it makes us feel important and useful. Our bosses, trying to impress their bosses by doing more with less, pile on as much work as possible.

The problem is that many bosses don’t know exactly how their employees are spending their time and would be shocked if they were aware of some of the ways their employees are spending their time.

There is Light at the End of the Tunnel

The authors used the intervention we will discuss below on 15 executives at different companies with stunning results by reducing their involvement in low-value tasks. They were able to cut the average amount of desk work by 6 hours per week and the amount of meeting time by 2 hours per week.

4 Steps to Make Time for Work That Matters

The process the authors used was a variation of the classic start/stop/continue method. It is designed to make small but important changes to your daily schedule.

The process works like this:

(1)  You need to identify all low-value tasks

The idea here is to go through your tasks to identify the ones that are unimportant to yourself and/or your organization and the ones that you can drop/delegate or outsource. The authors believe that the average person spends at least a quarter of their time on these types of tasks. This means that you should be able to find roughly 10 hours per week that fit into those two categories. For example, menial administrative tasks, meetings that add no value, etc.

(2)  Sort the low-value tasks into 3 categories

Next, they suggest sorting those tasks into one of 3 categories, tasks that:

(a)  You can stop doing immediately – also known as ‘quick kills’, this is stuff that adds no value and there will be no negative side effects if you stop doing it.

(b)  Can be delegated to someone else – these are tasks that you can offload with minimal effort. Many employees underestimate the capability of their subordinates which makes them hesitant to delegate tasks. However, those same employees often end up pleasantly surprised when their subordinates handle them with ease. An added bonus is that it makes the subordinates feel more involved and valued.

(c)  Must be re-structured or redesigned – lastly, these are the tasks whose process must be overhauled or restructured to be performed more efficiently.

 (3)  Allocate time gained

While it is great that you are now being more efficient with your time, the big goal is to be more effective with the time you have saved. So, the next step is to identify the 2 or 3 important things that you should be doing but aren’t. The authors then suggest keeping a log so that you can assess whether you are making better use of your time or not.

(4)  Commit to the plan

The last part of their process is simply to commit to the plan so that there is no backsliding to where you were. In reality, it is probably a good idea to communicate with your boss and colleagues along the way. In many instances, they can give valuable insight and advice when it comes to what you can drop, delegate and redesign. You will also need to delegate work to someone. Therefore, making sure this isn’t done in a silo is critical for organizational cohesiveness. And if you are going to redesign or restructure processes, you need to consider how others and the organization are impacted.

Back to “Bob”!

Amazingly, our boy “Bob” was able to use the delegation category to free up an astounding 8 hours a day!

So much so that according to CNN.com his typical workday looked like this:

9:00 a.m. — Get to work, surf Reddit, watch cat videos
11:30 a.m. — Lunch
1:00 p.m. — Ebay
2:00 p.m or so — Facebook and LinkedIn
4:30 p.m. — Send end-of-day e-mail update to management
5:00 p.m. — Go home

Despite what seems like an extremely unproductive schedule, he was lauded for his excellent performance:

“over the past several years, Bob received excellent performance reviews of his “clean, well written” coding. He had even been noted as “the best developer in the building.” ¹

Around the same time, the company noticed that their computer systems were being accessed from China using Bob’s credentials. At first, they assumed someone had hacked Bob’s computer and stolen his credentials to get into the system using his identity.

Surprisingly to all involved, that was not at all what happened!

You see, the “inoffensive and quiet” programmer named “Bob” FedExed his login credentials to China so the people he hired could log-in under his credentials during the workday.

Yup, Bob delegated his entire job to a company in northern China.

He outsourced his work to Chinese developers who would simulate an entire 9-5 U.S. workday overnight while Bob slept, and he gave them 1/5 of his 6-figure salary. Pretty damn ingenious if you ask me!

While he did make time for work that matters, his company was not impressed by his entrepreneurial outsourcing spirit, he was terminated upon conclusion of the investigation.

Apparently watching cat videos didn’t qualify as work that matters to his bosses.

Meow!

Until next time, make time for work that matters (to both you AND your bosses), and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

Use it or Lose It – How to Make Time for Work That Matters

To make time for work that matters follow the following 4 steps:

(1)  Identify all of your low-value tasks.
(2)  Sort the low-value tasks into 3 categories we discussed above.
(3)  Allocate the time you have gained.
(4)   Commit to the plan.

When to Use It

When you want to make time for work that matters.

What Do You Think?

Do you need to make more time for work that matters? Is the process we discussed above something that you currently use or potentially may use? Please discuss your thoughts in the comments below!

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References

1 https://hbr.org/2013/09/make-time-for-the-work-that-matters

2 https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/business/us-outsource-job-china/index.html