How Can I Apply Time-Blocking and Deep Work To a Broad Team?

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00:00:02.580 | - Hi, Carl.

00:00:05.600 | I'm Rhiann, I'm a data scientist in the UK.

00:00:08.020 | And I'm trying to work out how you can apply techniques

00:00:13.120 | such as time blocking and deep work to a broader team level,

00:00:17.840 | especially when you've got lots and lots of projects

00:00:20.840 | and you're trying to understand,

00:00:22.320 | can I take on this new work

00:00:23.760 | or who can I allocate onto a specific project?

00:00:27.720 | So sort of quarterly and annual project planning.

00:00:30.480 | And I'm less thinking about tools

00:00:33.680 | 'cause everyone's throwing different management tools at me,

00:00:35.960 | but what I'm interested in is the process.

00:00:39.040 | So what processes would you follow?

00:00:41.680 | Thanks.

00:00:44.360 | - Well, it's a critical question

00:00:46.720 | because most teams do not actually try to inquire

00:00:51.720 | about what's on people's plates.

00:00:54.740 | Is it too much?

00:00:55.700 | Is it too little?

00:00:56.540 | Who has room for something?

00:00:58.640 | We largely ignore that.

00:01:00.320 | We largely deploy, and I'm using the royal we here

00:01:03.480 | to refer to knowledge work managers in general,

00:01:05.480 | but we largely deploy a push-based system,

00:01:08.720 | which is basically push things onto people

00:01:12.480 | that need to be handled, that you don't want on your plate,

00:01:15.620 | trust them to basically regulate their own workload.

00:01:19.600 | And maybe at some point they'll say,

00:01:20.680 | "I don't know, I have too much,"

00:01:22.260 | and navigate that social minefield.

00:01:24.240 | That's largely how we actually assign work right now.

00:01:26.900 | In knowledge work, I think it's a problem.

00:01:29.400 | I wrote a column about this for the New Yorker

00:01:31.980 | a couple months ago that was called,

00:01:33.100 | "Why do we work too much?"

00:01:35.380 | Now, you really get into the problems

00:01:36.940 | with this push-based model.

00:01:39.000 | It almost inevitably leads to overwork.

00:01:41.040 | You basically say yes

00:01:42.220 | because it's socially difficult to say yes,

00:01:44.080 | and it's hard to keep track

00:01:45.140 | of what's on your individual plate.

00:01:46.380 | You keep saying yes until the pain gets high enough

00:01:48.640 | that in frustration and desperation, you say, "Uncle."

00:01:52.540 | And the result is everyone ends up

00:01:53.900 | with about 20% too much on their plate.

00:01:55.820 | So what you are suggesting here is a solution.

00:01:58.360 | Let us as a team keep track of who's working on what

00:02:03.300 | so we can confront that transparently

00:02:05.600 | and see what the reality is.

00:02:07.500 | I can't push this onto your plate

00:02:09.860 | if I see you have a lot of things on your plate,

00:02:14.260 | or if I do, I have to confront what I'm doing.

00:02:16.620 | I am now putting a ridiculous amount of stuff on your plate.

00:02:19.980 | You know, you are putting the onus onto the team

00:02:23.780 | and away from the individual to do work allocation.

00:02:26.380 | I think this is a critical shift in thinking.

00:02:28.420 | So how do you actually do this from a process perspective?

00:02:32.180 | I think you can take some ideas from software development.

00:02:34.820 | In software development,

00:02:35.740 | when they deploy agile type processes,

00:02:38.280 | they have the things that are ongoing on a card somewhere,

00:02:43.280 | and they can see their statuses.

00:02:45.300 | Okay, this thing is being worked on,

00:02:46.540 | and here's who's working on it.

00:02:48.460 | And if you're using an agile methodology like Kanban,

00:02:51.780 | they have an explicit what's known as work in progress limit

00:02:55.020 | for each individual.

00:02:55.940 | They're just very clear about this.

00:02:57.000 | I don't want anyone working on more than two things

00:02:58.740 | at a time or more than one thing at a time.

00:03:00.620 | What's the thing that person's working on?

00:03:02.180 | Great, we see it.

00:03:03.020 | They're working on something.

00:03:04.300 | When they're done,

00:03:05.660 | we can then figure out what to give them next.

00:03:07.660 | And this decision can be made transparently

00:03:09.940 | and with all the relevant information.

00:03:11.340 | Okay, you're done with this.

00:03:12.220 | Here's the next thing for you to work on.

00:03:14.460 | And if you say, well,

00:03:16.060 | we have too many things to get done here,

00:03:18.180 | and it's not all getting done in time,

00:03:22.160 | you have to confront the reality

00:03:23.440 | that you're generating too much work.

00:03:24.720 | Because here is the load.

00:03:26.240 | People have these slots.

00:03:27.240 | They could be working on one or two things at a time.

00:03:28.560 | If you have way too many things that have to be assigned

00:03:30.480 | and you can't get it to people in time,

00:03:31.920 | then maybe there's too much work actually going on,

00:03:33.500 | but you have to confront that reality.

00:03:35.340 | So I call this alternative that you're talking about here

00:03:37.680 | a pull-based approach.

00:03:39.760 | You're basically having the individuals

00:03:41.400 | pull onto their plate the next thing they're gonna work on

00:03:44.080 | from a large pool of potential things.

00:03:46.040 | And this pool pulling process,

00:03:49.760 | pulling from the pool, this is like a vocal exercise.

00:03:52.840 | This pulling process is something that can be done

00:03:55.880 | with involvement of you,

00:03:58.160 | with involvement of the whole team.

00:03:59.320 | It can be done with some foresight and intelligence.

00:04:01.280 | Of all the things we have that need to be done right now,

00:04:04.600 | what's the best thing for you to be working on next?

00:04:06.560 | So it's less haphazard and more thoughtful

00:04:08.800 | about what people work on.

00:04:10.240 | So from a process perspective, that's what I would say.

00:04:12.520 | Separate where you're keeping track

00:04:14.080 | of what needs to be done.

00:04:15.840 | Have a place for that that is common for the entire team.

00:04:19.000 | Do not just distribute these things haphazardly

00:04:22.560 | onto people's individual plates

00:04:23.800 | and just ask them how are things going.

00:04:26.080 | Two, have some sort of systematic way for figuring out

00:04:29.160 | what should this person work on next?

00:04:30.960 | What should that person work on next?

00:04:32.440 | If they have a very limited number of things

00:04:33.880 | on their plate at a time,

00:04:35.160 | your expectations and standards

00:04:36.760 | for them executing those things is quite high.

00:04:39.060 | But as they finish, you say, okay, what comes up next?

00:04:42.720 | And probably what you need here is a once a day

00:04:44.440 | or twice a day highly structured status meeting.

00:04:47.000 | We're looking at whatever tool we're using

00:04:48.720 | to see who's working on what

00:04:49.960 | and the pool of things that need to be done.

00:04:52.900 | What are you working on today?

00:04:53.920 | What's your status?

00:04:55.000 | What are you committing to getting done?

00:04:56.280 | What do you need from other people to get that done?

00:04:58.720 | Great, go rock and roll.

00:05:00.040 | We'll check in at the next very quick,

00:05:02.560 | very structured status meeting.

00:05:03.600 | Now you're done with that.

00:05:05.080 | Why don't you work on this?

00:05:06.120 | What do you need to get this done?

00:05:07.280 | You need that from Bob and that from Allison.

00:05:09.440 | Great, you guys are on the call.

00:05:10.800 | Make sure he has that within the next 30 minutes.

00:05:13.280 | We'll check back in at the next status meeting,

00:05:14.760 | probably something like that.

00:05:16.040 | So an external tool to keep track of everything

00:05:18.720 | that needs to be done and a highly structured set routine

00:05:22.820 | for how you figure out what someone finishes something,

00:05:24.980 | what comes next.

00:05:25.820 | That's a shift from the push method of just,

00:05:27.680 | let's throw this stuff on people's plate

00:05:29.800 | to the pull method of let's figure out together.

00:05:32.380 | What's the next thing for you to do now that you're finished?

00:05:34.560 | I think these types of transitions

00:05:36.220 | and how we think about work is critical.

00:05:38.760 | You get more out of the human brain,

00:05:40.600 | you get a lot less burnout.

00:05:42.120 | It's a much better way to work.

00:05:43.240 | So I'm glad you asked this question.

00:05:45.120 | Any type of implementation along the lines

00:05:47.060 | I'm talking about there is going to be exponentially better

00:05:51.800 | than the standard thing that we do,

00:05:55.400 | which is, my God, I just thought of something.

00:05:58.120 | It stresses me out that it's on my mind.

00:06:00.440 | Type, type, type, type, type, type, type.

00:06:01.680 | Hey, can you handle this send?

00:06:02.760 | Boom, it's off my mind, yay.

00:06:04.200 | We just do that dozens and dozens of times

00:06:06.000 | until everyone's exhausted.

00:06:07.200 | So good for you for thinking about this.

00:06:09.200 | Hopefully those general approaches

00:06:11.360 | will help you make that vision

00:06:13.960 | of pull, not push more concrete.

00:06:16.020 | (upbeat music)

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How Can I Apply Time-Blocking and Deep Work To a Broad Team?

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