Business learning from walking: 6. All time is not equal

You've seen the plans that show a pleasant linear progress of tasks that are planned to be completed as a constant pace over the duration of the project. We know that plans are not the change process itself but we still tend to think of things happening over time in a nice equal and fair sort of way.

To understand how all time is not equal, take a walk up your nearest steep hill. A mile on the flat might take you 20 minutes to walk. Add in a quarter of a mile uphill and you could end up adding ten minutes to your time to walk a mile. Add in a grassy field with no clearly marked path and a broken stile and a mile could end up forty minutes. Alternatively, add a field of nervous cows and you may run through it, matching an Olympic qualifying time for a mile.

Change projects are no different. While the measurement of months stays the same unfortunately the tasks, even if simple, may end up taking far more time than expected.  I good project management adage is to look at the final plan and add in 30-50% extra time. Then go back and check where this time may be needed.

Timing is not the same as pacing. When walking, it's good to know your own pace - how many steps it takes to cover a certain distance. This is an individual measure. In projects, it's useful to agree as a team the pace for certain tasks and then from that build up the overall timescales.

Consistency of leadership matters

No matter what "evidence" you seek, leadership is always in the top ten of factors necessary for change and transformation of systems of care - or any system for that matter. There are books, papers and reviews all trying to qualify the type of leadership that works well.

I've been asking myself whether length of time in a leadership role makes a difference. When I look about me at the organisations who are held up as role models for good organisational processes, good collaborative working and good results - most often the leadership team has been in place for many years. Not just one leader, but at least 2 or 3 of the team.

Perhaps it important just to be there to hold the history and to maintain some form of continuity. Doing this while everything changes around you means the good leaders are naturally those who learn to adapt themselves  and their organisation, to the changing context.  I suspect they don't have great charismatic abilities, not do they espouse clever theories - they just get on with the job - year by year.

I applaud that level of commitment.

Book Review: Time Traps by Todd Duncan

You can't manage time but you can manage your thoughts, actions and tasks - that is the underlying premise of this powerful book. I read the book a couple of years ago and in a rare moment, I decided to read it again as I found I was often using the mantra of its premise and was seeking to find more ways to satisfy my desire to get a grip on the slippery slope of the balance between time and tasks.

The book is written with sales in mind though I didn't find this detracted at all from my personal context and I expect anyone who deals with many interactions with others will find it helpful.

The author talks the reader through a number of traps. The first is the identity trap. This is how when time is monopolised by our work we become our work - and thus how important it is to rethink time, to rebalance as part of regaining our personal identity. Secondly there is the organisation trap where the author suggests that most sales people are disorganised, out of control and say they lack the time to catch up. Well, that sound like a lot of the stories I hear from many people! And what I say sometimes as well!!! He suggests learning to stop all unnecessary tasks before they steal time, admit legitimate tasks onto your list of things to do, and make sure you know the difference between necessary and productive tasks. Then take action and assess how you're doing.

He also talks about the Yes trap, and then how to say No, or sacrifice more sales for the benefit of others. He has some interesting things to describe on the value of saying no. Then there is the Control Trap and the issues of letting go and learning to delegate. The technology trap should be familiar to those caught by their email, and for sale people he discusses the Quota trap. And if you're not trapped out yet, there is also the Failure Trap and the Party Trap.

I know this book changed how I felt about time and the management of it the first time I read it and certainly, the second time around, I was reminded to take some more detailed action steps.

Go to here http://www.timetrapsbook.com/ to download a chapter or to carry out the self assessment on the eight traps.

90 Day Projects

I've written about 90 day projects over the last couple of years:

1. How to implement 90 day projects
2. What are 90 day projects
3. Large Scale projects are seldom a linear process
4. Push vs Pull: Twitter Case Study 90 day Project

Many months on I am still convinced that we spend far too long on our healthcare projects. The tradition is they are planned for 18 months - often regardless of the size and difficulty of the change required. There are some changes which may need to be part fo a three to five year project, and others that can be achieved in 7, 30 or 90 days.

If you have examples of 90 day projects successful or not, then please leave a note in the comments. Thanks

3 tips for measuring the spread of good practice

1. The most basic spread / adoption chart is one which measures the number of people adopting a good practice over time; that is, people on the vertical axis, time on the horizontal axis. If you're not prepared to do this check then do comment in this blog and let me know how else you keep track of progress.

2. Calculate your total population who you would like to adopt the good practice. Work out how long this might take. Then pick yourself up off the floor.... Now work out that from this total amount, what might be a realistic target for the timescale and resources that you have for the project.

Why does this matter? Look at the picture above. Without having thought about the total intent of the spread programme, it is quite possible for a shorter period to show results like those under the red lines. When the project then ends, and measurement continues, then the results look like they take a nosedive. This is when measurement usually stops.

One of the reasons for working out the total intent before starting the spread programme, is to provide for some creative thinking. You may just go about the process in a different way if you knew that eventually there were going to be 25,000 staff using the new method, across 14 locations and it was likely to take seven years.

3. Einstein was on to something with his work on time and space. We've no need to get that deep into the mathematics when working on spreading good practice. However, the issue of space is an important one; or maybe you think of it easier as geography. I've seen some teams use excellent maps and nowadays there are interactive electronic maps on which data can be tagged. Think and get creative. Learn about how and why different practices spread in different ways, not just because of the peopel involved but also because of the space and geography.

Three basics to remember for spread measurement.

People.

Time.

Space.

(c) 2008, Sarah Fraser