If your Spring has been anything like mine, you’ve been juggling a TON of work. Perhaps, like me, your backlog has grown a bit more than you would like and we all know that a big backlog means trouble: missed deadlines, dropped balls, lots of overtime and increased stress.
Summer is within our reach, but at this rate, we wonder if we’ll ever be able to slow down.
Here are 5 best practices for climbing out from under the backlog, and getting your work back under control.
1) Clear your calendar: The ideal scenario is to cancel or postpone meetings so you can concentrate on clearing up the loose ends. Recently, all the stars aligned for me and I was able to clear three glorious days. I used this time to catch up on some critical projects. Clearly, we can’t always make this happen, but it is a really powerful strategy if doable.
2) Dig deep: There are other times when we cannot clear our calendar, yet we still need to get on top of our work. This requires a “dig deep” approach when we hunker down, put in the extra time and get caught up. This might require a few late evenings or a weekend in the office. But the goal is to come out on the other side back on track. After an intense period like this, it is important to book some R&R into your calendar.
3) Delegate: You may be the best person to get the job done, but there are likely other people who you can lean on for some help. Even if they are only able to get some of the work done, they can be a HUGE help in laying the foundation. Where can you ask for help when you are overloaded? Drafting a document? Conducting some research? Clearing your inbox?
4) Defer: As much as we want to respect our deadlines, there may be room for renegotiation. We want to play this card selectively but, at crucial times, it can be a life-saver for giving us some breathing room. And while it goes without saying, we really should be doing this in advance of the deadline.
5) Diminish: Not everything requires perfection. There are some tasks that we can scale back on. A quick versus in-depth review; bullet point recommendations instead of a thesis; a brief discussion instead of a long meeting. This might not fit with your inner type-A, but we need to recognize when only a quick and dirty approach is needed. Getting something done is often more important than getting it done perfectly.
Few things feel as good as transitioning from backlogged to feeling caught up.
But going forward, it is important to avoid this logjam again. Keep a careful eye on your commitments and protect “work” time in your calendar. Keep your backlog tight and keep some buffer in your life. After all, we want some downtime to enjoy this nice weather.
Now I’d love to hear from you. When you are overloaded, how do you climb out from underneath your backlog?
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