Early in my career, I remember asking the most senior engineer I worked with to join an urgent meeting that week. They agreed. But when I sent the invite, they responded with, “Actually, I have that morning blocked off to do work, so I can’t join your meeting — sorry.”
"the most senior engineer… agreed. But when I sent the invite, they responded with, “Actually, I have that morning blocked off to do work, so I can’t join your meeting — sorry.”
Actually senior "anyone" doesn't behave so irresponsible
I am still puzzled when it comes to priotization sometimes.
I place tasks on two axis, importance and urgence. I try to measure importance according to the context (revenue, brand reputation, user retention, growth, etc) and urgency according to the blast radius or the impact. A major outage or a high visibility feature stand out immediately.
Also, I use a variation of the Eisenhower 4D matrix to decide and delegate where necessary, but more importantly delete noise.
I unblock others asap. I go through my email attempting to reach inbox zero and applying a lax version of GTD and OHIO, but with a 5 minutes rule and action items on emails.
And yet, I admire people like you Ami that sometime just instictively know what is paramount for future achievements. I truly envy that ability and I wish I could master it one day…
To be very clear, I am absolutely not perfect at this!! My writing is basically a list of what I have learned over years of trying to get better at things. I don't think many people have innate instincts around any of these (I certainly don't) -- I'm just trying to learn from past mistakes + try to get a little better every day :)
Yes I think it’s a perpetual learning you’re right. It’s just that someone’s “crystal ball” works better than mine and I don’t seem to calibrate my compass correctly :D
Great article, thanks for sharing. Just curious - whats happens to smaller ideas. Those ideas need engagement and eventually adoption if the win is justified. No?
Absolutely! I think this is all about intentionally choosing, rather than being reactive - and being realistic about how much time even these "small" ideas really take.
For instance, when I want to spend time on smaller items, I've found it really helpful to be clear up front that -- for instance -- I intend to spend 2 hours / week on these 3 small projects. And then I actually block out time for those, and see what needs to drop from my calendar.
A short, but valuable piece. Thank you!
Great post Ami!
Very insightful. Thank you for sharing.
"the most senior engineer… agreed. But when I sent the invite, they responded with, “Actually, I have that morning blocked off to do work, so I can’t join your meeting — sorry.”
Actually senior "anyone" doesn't behave so irresponsible
I am still puzzled when it comes to priotization sometimes.
I place tasks on two axis, importance and urgence. I try to measure importance according to the context (revenue, brand reputation, user retention, growth, etc) and urgency according to the blast radius or the impact. A major outage or a high visibility feature stand out immediately.
Also, I use a variation of the Eisenhower 4D matrix to decide and delegate where necessary, but more importantly delete noise.
I unblock others asap. I go through my email attempting to reach inbox zero and applying a lax version of GTD and OHIO, but with a 5 minutes rule and action items on emails.
And yet, I admire people like you Ami that sometime just instictively know what is paramount for future achievements. I truly envy that ability and I wish I could master it one day…
To be very clear, I am absolutely not perfect at this!! My writing is basically a list of what I have learned over years of trying to get better at things. I don't think many people have innate instincts around any of these (I certainly don't) -- I'm just trying to learn from past mistakes + try to get a little better every day :)
Yes I think it’s a perpetual learning you’re right. It’s just that someone’s “crystal ball” works better than mine and I don’t seem to calibrate my compass correctly :D
Great article, thanks for sharing. Just curious - whats happens to smaller ideas. Those ideas need engagement and eventually adoption if the win is justified. No?
Absolutely! I think this is all about intentionally choosing, rather than being reactive - and being realistic about how much time even these "small" ideas really take.
For instance, when I want to spend time on smaller items, I've found it really helpful to be clear up front that -- for instance -- I intend to spend 2 hours / week on these 3 small projects. And then I actually block out time for those, and see what needs to drop from my calendar.
Great sense of clarity!