How to get things done

So many opportunities, so many good ideas, so much to do and so few people (and money).

If you’re not getting traction, it could be because you are trying to do so much you end up doing bugger all. If you’re frustrated with progress, it could be because you start things but don’t see them through to the end.

You have this nagging sense of unfinished business. There are these noises in your head – shadows and echoes of projects and initiatives started but not completed:

• Didn’t we do…

• What happened to…

• Where did we get to on…

• What did we decide about…

Aaarrgghh!

First, let’s establish some success principles:

• No one-shot wonders: Make a plan for the whole thing. The plan forces you to choose what’s in and what’s out. Plans drive the good ideas down the page, enabling you to focus on the great ideas

• Build momentum through focus: Do it until it’s done. This is based on the agile discipline of having only one thing in the “In Progress” column at any point in time. Again, it prevents ambition creep

• Get it done then get it better: In our business, perfect isn’t good because it slows us down. It only needs to be on brand, it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. What it does have to be is live.

Second, set up the meeting with the people who are required to do the work. Debate, dispute, discuss and decide the detail of how we’re going to deliver on the plan. Agree the responsibilities for who does what by when.

Third, do it.