AtTask Game of Work eBook

8/11/2019 AtTask Game of Work eBook

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6 tips to be an IT warrior(NOT A PROJECT MANAGEMENT NOOB)


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THE RUN-AND-GUN WORLD OF REQUEST MANThe Goal: Catch and manage all incoming work requests without getting overwhelmed.

The Challenge: Requests for work are coming at you so fast from every direction that you feellike youre in a run-and-gun situation. E-mails, meetings, hallway conversations, sticky notes,phone calls, and text messagesthe requests never end. You move back and forth, trying tocatch all the important requests, while deecting the ones you know will take you off track. Butin the constant barrage, you just cant keep up. Inevitably, you get gunned down by missingthe important requests and spending too much time on too many irrelevant ones.

The dreaded fetch request Often, work requests can feel just like a fetch quest,appearing to have little, if any, purpose.

It seems there is a never- ending list of newideas to improve business operations as well as acontinual ood of smaller requests, from emergen-cy xes, to one-off, adhoc tasks.

Software upgrades, user management, hardwaremaintenanceyour operational duties must getdone even while you are working on new developmenttasks. You're getting requests done as best youcan, but without better visibility into strategicbusiness goals, its difficult to prioritize your work.

Request order: random numbergeneratorWith new work requests coming at you every day,you try to defend yourself, but you don't knowwhere to start. You start with your favorite task,the easiest to complete, those with the loudeststakeholders, or even those from your favoriteperson. Better yet, you let your random numbergenerator decide which task should take priority.There is no rhyme or reason why one task getsdone before another.

This means the work that most needs to be doneto meet the strategic goals of your team andenterprise isnt necessarily the work that is get-ting done. But youre so bombarded in requests,working nights and weekends to get it all done,you cant tell which ones are crucial and whichones arent.

73% of people workmore hours than paid

80% of people respondto emails at home

72% of people takework home with themby choice or because it

is expected1


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CONQUERING WORK REQUESTSConquer this challenge by getting on top of the shower of requests raining down on you. As abonus, you will be rewarded with extra time, happier people, and more successful projects.

Centralizerequestmanagement Choose one systemto accept and manage

requests and stickto it. This becomesthe single sourceof record for all ITwork requests. Thepenalty for goingaround the system isthat the new requestwont be heard.

Provideresource

visibility Before you considerany requests, you

should be able tocheck everyone'savailability. Havingaccess to resourceskills and scheduleshelps to target howavailable people arefor new work andlter through thebarrage of requests.

Enforcebusinesscases Make it a policy thatall new requests are

part of an approvedbusiness case.Requesters musthave all work requestsvetted against thosethat will offer thegreatest ROI and meetstrategic goals. Thisensures prioritizationfrom the top down.

Understandthetradeoffs New work requestsdon't wait for current

asks to be nished,and can interruptwork in the pipelinecausing unnecessarydelays. For everynew request, itsimperative to under-stand the tradeoffsand downstreamwork impact.

Empowereachworker Team members needto be empowered

to say no whenthe request is notaligned with strategicobjectives, won'tturn out acceptableROI, or there aresimply not enoughresources.

Align tobusinessgoals Every new requestshould align with

business goals thatare part of strategicinitiatives. That meansweeding out the"cool" ideas fromthose that contributedirectly to the goalsof the enterprise.

Until we canmanage time,we can managenothing else.

Peter F. Drucker


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HIGH SCORE BONUS! COLLECT YOUR RESOURThe way to win the hearts and time of your resources is make sure they are working on tasksthat contribute to the success of the businessnot administrative overhead. The secret is tokeep them free of distractions so they can be productive.

Reduce the busy work Your resources have enough to do withouthaving to spend time continually providingstatus updates. Keep them focused on whatthey do best and not on elding last-minute

requests and questions about schedules.

Start by establishing a streamlined requestmanagement process to ensure that workis initiated the right way. This will reduce thedistractions that come from work interruptions.

Understand the urgency ofevery requestAlthough it sometimes seems that everyrequest is a matter of life or death, not everynew work request or project is urgent. You

need to know which requests can slip whenlast-minute emergency requests, such as anetwork crash, come into the pipeline. Thatrequires a solid understanding of prioritiesand deadlines for every existing deliverableand those new ones being requested.

Allow resources tobe people too

Theoretically, there are eight hours in aworkday. Realistically, no one works eighthours non-stop. Aside from lunches andbathroom breaks, today's workers, especiallythose in IT, need time to stay current ontrends and technology. Today, 30% ofknowledge workers have no time at all forresearch and reection. By building time intoyour resource schedules, you will be re-warded with more innovation and productivity.

Provide visibility intocommitment

No one wants to create additional stress, butsometimes the only way to know if a resourceis available is to interrupt and ask. And, ifthat information isn't shared, resources endup getting interrupted over and over, wastingeven more time.

Make sure to effectively communicate to theteam what team members are working on andwhether they have any available bandwidth.

Employees who report beinghappiest at work:

Stay twice as long in their jobs Spend double their time at work

focused on what they are paid to do Take 10 times less sick leave Believe they are achieving their

potential twice as much 6

CONGRATULATIONS!YOU SET A NEWHIGH SCORE!!!

1,352,564,789


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END

START

ITS A RACE COURSE: STAY ON TRACK WITH STATThe Goal: Navigate the obstacles in the way of collecting status updates.

The Challenge: Providing status updates can be the bane of your existence. You know it needsto be done and you spend hours doing it, but your status reports are already outdated by the timethey're presented to management. Providing real-time updates is next to impossible, but you keeppushing the gas pedal, dodging constant changes, while trying to stay on track with whats going on.

Tracking down gremlins

Walk into any IT department and you'll instantlyfeel the buzz of activity. Phones are ringing.Keyboards are clacking, and whiteboardsare full of scribbles. Everyone is working hardbut do you know if they're on track? Areyou on budget?

Leadership is waiting for your weekly statusreport. But getting status updates fromeveryone is like chasing moving gremlins.You've tried sending e-mail, asking for updates

you'll either never get or that will changebefore the day's end. You've also tried holdingstanding meetings that key people miss orthat end up interrupting critical work time.

You often get updates that are already out ofdate, which you then have to go back andenter into a spreadsheet and email it upthe chain.

Things are happening fast, meaning youreally don't have a good handle on thetrue percent completion of a particulartask at any given time. If a task is slippingdue dates, you need to know now. Withoutreal-time updates, it's tough to know exactlywhen the task will be completed and theresource will be available again. The lastthing you'd want is to overlap anyone'scommitments or leave a gap.

2 2 out of 5 ,

, -

. 7


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Reduce the resistance

Develop a process that allows users to collaborate on deliverables,review requests, check status, and communicate, all from a singlelocation. This reduces the disparate email chains, deleted voicemails,and forgotten hallway conversationseliminating information overload.

Then, standardize what you need to communicate and to whom.Keep update requests to a minimum by asking team members to provideupdates based on the criteria, frequency, and content you've established.

Make status a value-add

When people miss your meetings and don't respond to email, itmay seem like they don't value your communication. And, maybethey don't! Sitting through an hour-long status meeting only toprovide a two-minute update is denitely not valuable.

Establish a process that allows team members to quickly updatetheir task status, review other tasks, and respond with feedback.When its easy to update and access information about work requestsand tasks, they are more apt to do it

Provide customized communication

Different stakeholders have different things they need to know atdifferent times. Management may need budget information. Staffneeds to understand what is coming their way and when. Projectmanagers need to be able to use data from one project to more

accurately estimate another.

When asking for and providing work updates, you need to provide accessto information that gives users what they require. Take the time tolearn what your stakeholders needs are.

GET MORE VISIBILITY TO WIN THE RACETo make it to managements office with accurate status updates, you need to know what differentresources are doing and which tasks are behind schedule so that you can take appropriate actions.You need to have access to status in real-time.

Effective communication is associatedwith a 17 percent increase in nishing

projects within budget.6


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DODGING THE ANGRY SLINGSHOT

OF COLLABORATIONThe Goal: Gain super power by creating a collaborative work environment.The Challenge: With documents and conversations ying, nd a way toshare that information with as many team members as you can.

Slingshots don't workThese days, team members are scattered.

Many are working remotely, and especially in IT,workers are often outsourced or off-shored,not even working for the same company. Youcan't just swing by and share design ideasor help someone work through a coding error.

So, you and everyone else are left to yourown devicesusing your slingshot to launchemail exchanges, leave phone messages,or even stick sticky notes to printed copiesof your work. But, it happens all too of-

tenyou ask a question in an email andforget to attach the newest version of thedocument. Then, when the email chainprogresses with the document, people arestill responding to what is now an outdatedversion. Additionally, when another teammember who wasn't included in the emailaccesses the document, they may neverknow the conversation that went along with it.Of course, you can always pounce on your

teammate at the next status meeting. You

nd those around every corner. In fact,status meetings are typically where thework gets handed off. But who can affordthe delay when team members have beencaptured by other villains and can't makethe meeting? You're back to the slingshotand trying to improve your aim. The slingshot not only launches conversa-tions but also documents. IT teams rely onthe ability to share their work documents

and manage version control. Sure, youprobably have a number of ways to trackyour work. You may be good with spread-sheets or great at email organization,but unfortunately, no one uses the sameslingshot and these documents can landanywhere. Most likely, your slingshots havecreated tool chaos. You're now spendingmore time trying to manage the work thanactually getting it done.


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POWER-UP THROUGH SHARINGExperience new powers by promoting collaboration. Share conversations and documentation andcollect the power pellets of simpler, more relevant, and easier-to-access information. Teams thatshare and communicate well see the benets of better knowledge sharing and faster problem resolution.

Value collaboration In order to improve collaboration and sharing, it must be valued. It helps when leader-ship recognizes the benets of a collaborative organizationone where great ideas areeasily shared and projec t issues are resolved quickly. Take some time to survey both IT

and the business to understand where there are breakdowns in the process and oppor-tunity for efficiencies. As you implement improvements, be sure to demonstrate how itcan help workers communicate and share more efficiently.

Reduce the tools Get rid of the email chains, spreadsheet trackers, and all of the many ways youdocument and share project information. Consolidate your communication anddocument sharing tools to reduce the disconnected conversations. To gain thegreatest rewards, select a single tool to manage and track project activities associated towork deliverables. This will reduce the time everyone spends updating and willgive them condence knowing they are responding to the most current conversation.

Keep communicating and work together Conversations about work, whether in person or digitally, should be had andtracked in the context of work. That is, team members need to be able to haveaccess to the conversation that is associated with the document or work productin order to better unders tand and contribute to the discussion. Keeping themtogether provides a more complete audit trail and allows other team members to

quickly join the conversation.


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THE TETRIS-LIKE CHALLENGE OF WORK PRIORThe Goal: An ordered, prioritized workow where tasks t together perfectly.

The Challenge: Determine how to t together the endless amount of work to do in the orderthat most benets the enterprise.

Fitting the blocks together

Especially in IT, there are alwaysmany more projects than there areresources and budget. They range

from large-scale corporate initiativesto small enhancements. And, whileeach project has its own priority,there can even be task prioritieswithin the project. With so manyprojects and so many tasks in playat any given time, it's critical that allof the moving parts t together inthe right order to ensure high priorityprojects are delivered successfully.

But, when there are several proj-ects, each with a multitude of tasks,it may be difficult for your workersto gure out what they should beworking on rstand it's not alwaysthe one with the closest deadline. Without proper and continual guidance,workers will use their own approach,

putting the pieces together as theysee t rather than the proper order.This means working on their favorite

projects or responding to whoeveryells the loudest, especially whenevery stakeholder thinks their proj-ect should be top priority. Yet, with somany related dependencies in everyproject, missed deadlines have adomino effect on the deadlines ofdownstream activities.

When priorities conict, aren't wellcommunicated, or aren't even set, itcan mean the difference betweenbusiness value and costly delays.

Only 19 percentof respondentssaid their workgoals are clearlydened, and amere 9 percentbelieve their workhas a strong link totheir organizationstop priorities. 7


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DOMINATE THE PROJECT PUZZLEJust like the blocks in Tetris, the work keeps stacking up while you're left praying for the rightpiece to come along and help you get things out of the way. The ever-increasing rate of technologychange can overwhelm IT request queues. The only real way to get a handle on it all is to setpriorities and make them visible to everyone.

Document all projects, bigand smallTo gain the most points, start with a policy

of documenting every project, no matterwhat size or how complex. Develop aproject intake template that includes theprojec t purpose and benet, scope, timeframe for delivery, resource requirements,and cost. That way, projects can be seen,side by side, for easy comparison. Add thepriority once it is determined.

Track all IT projects in one place Designate and track all IT projects in a centrallocation. Make sure everyone associatedwith the project has access and can seeproject priorities, view deadlines, andunderstand downstream dependencies.Allow workers to update their task statusso that potential conicts can quickly beseen. Having pre-designated priorities willhelp drive project decision making.

Require a business case The vast majority of IT work is not mandatoryworkincluding many hardware and softwareupgrades. In order to set the stage forprioritization, require that every new requestinclude a business case and proposeddeadline. This allows for a more objectiveprioritization process, one that relies onreal data and not generalizations like "majorbusiness impact" or "needed ASAP."

Implement a priority score Using the project documentation andbusiness case, develop scoring criteria

and a matrix that allows each projec t to beappropriately scored. The matrix shouldinclude a business value component aswell as a risk to the business, includingorganizational disruption and change. Usethe matrix to score projects of all sizes sothat everyone can easily understand whatshould be worked and why.

The key is not to prioritizewhat's on your schedule,

but to schedule your priorities. Stephen Covey


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GAME CHEAT CODESAchieve legend status quickly with these handy cheat codes.

CENTRALIZE Plan and track IT projects, requests, and peoplein one place, no matter how big or small.

VISUALIZE Provide visibility into every stage of the devel-opment lifecycle and project communication.

REDUCE Reduce wasted time and rework by streamliningrequests and processes.

COLLABORATE Make having shared discussions and feedbackaccessible and easy.

PRIORITIZE Prioritize all incoming work so that there isnever a question about what to do rst.

INFORM Have ready access to crucial information suchas real-time updates and resource availability.


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BECOME THE IT GAME CHANGE AtTask Enterprise Work ManagementEnterprise work management is the secret key forunifying and standardizing your tools and processes,helping you to master these and many other work-ow challenges in your organization.

AtTask is the only cloud-based enterprise workmanagement solution that provides teams with acentral place to manage their entire workow,eliminating wasted time dealing with fragmentedtools and processes.

Teams, managers, and executives have visibilityinto work planning, prioritization, and resourcingto help everyone work more efficiently towardachieving the organization's goals.

AtTask can be your cheat code in the Game of IT,helping you conquer the challenge of work.

Contact us to learn more.

+ 1.866.441.0001 + 44 (0)845 5083771www.attask.com


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WORKS CITED1. http://employerbility.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Workplace-Productivity-2013-Summary.pdf http://integratedresearch.

com.au/images/stories/documents/distraction%20research%20and%20pit%20validation.pdf

2. http://www.basexblog.com/2010/11/04/our-ndings/

3. http://www.compsych.com/press-room/press-releases-2012/678-october-29-2012

4. http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2011/09/18/the-ve-drivers-of-happiness-at-work/

5. http://www.pmi.org/business-solutions/~/media/PDF/Business-Solutions/The-High-Cost-Low-Performance-The-Essential-Role-of-Communications.ashx

6. http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/public-sector/assets/pwc-global-project-management-report-2012.pdf

7. http://www.cio.com/article/29673/Prioritizing_Work_Plans_for_Big_Business_Goals

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AtTask Game of Work eBook