There is a kind busy that feels like you are getting things done but you are not really accomplishing anything.
You have orders and projects that’re in progress your team is working hard and there is a lot of activity across your day. Somehow nothing is really getting finished.
It is not that you are late exactly. It is just that things are not moving forward.
If this is what your weeks are like. You feel like you are constantly working. You are not really getting anywhere. The problem is not that you are not trying hard enough. The problem is that your workflow is not working well.
What workflow actually means
Workflow is simple: you start a project you work on it. You finish it. You do not have to return and redo things. Nothing gets pushed back.
When your workflow is working well you start a project or sales order and you get it done. Then you move on to the next thing. You have a plan and you can predict how long things will take. You finish. You can move on.
When your workflow is not working well you do a lot of work but you do not really get anywhere. You work on something. Then you have to go back and redo it. You do not make progress you just spin your wheels.
Smoke looks great off a grill or tires (in the right setting), but not in the middle of your day.
This does not look like a problem when you look at your white board. Every project has someone working it. Every task has a deadline. Deep down you know that something is not right.
Where workflow breaks down
Your workflow does not break down because your team is not good at their jobs. It breaks down because you did not set things up to work smoothly.
There are three places where this usually happens:
- The daily or weekly plan was not clear.
You started working on a project before you had a plan. So the first run at the project is not wrong it is just that it is not what the client wanted. You have to redo the build not because it was bad. Because you did not understand what the client wanted. This is not a problem with the project it is a problem with how you started the project.
- Getting approval takes long.
You finish a project. Then you have to wait for approval. You do not know how long it will take to get approval and you do not know who is in charge of approving it. So you move on to something and then when you finally get approval you have to go back and redo the project. This takes a lot longer than it should.
- You do not know what “done” means.
You do not have an idea of what it means to finish a project. So every time you finish a project you have to negotiate (with yourself a lot of times) what it means to be done. You do not reopen a project because it was bad you reopen it because you did not know what the standard was…there was no clear: DONE.
Each of these problems is a problem with how you set things up not a problem with your team.
What to do about it
You do not need a tool to manage your projects. You just need to make three decisions and write them down and stick to them.
Decision 1: Define what you need to start a project.
You do not start a project until you have a plan. What does the client need to approve before you start working on the project? Write it down. Stick to it.
Decision 2: Define how long it takes to get approval.
Every time you finish a project you need to know how long it will take to get approval. Give yourself a deadline. Communicate it to the client. If you do not have a deadline you will not be able to plan.
Decision 3: Define what it means to be done.
For each project you need to know what it means to finish it. What does it mean to be done? Write it down so everyone knows what to expect.
The hard truth about redoing work
Redoing work is not part of the process. It is not the cost of doing work.
Redoing work is what happens when your workflow is not, well, flowing.
When you fix your workflow you will still have to redo some work. It will not be as common.
That is the difference between being busy and actually getting things done.
One question to think about:
If you looked at your last five projects how many of them required redoing work because the plan was not clear at the beginning?
Most people when they really think about it realize that it is around 60 to 80 percent.
That is not a problem with the project that is a problem, with your workflow.
Workflow problems can be fixed with focus and clear destinations.
Check your Flow and five other Ops categories anytime…
A note on how this content is made:
Original thought and structure by Joe C. Developed with AI support. Curated by our team.
Without this workflow, there aren’t enough hours to publish at the pace that’s actually useful to you. The thinking is ours. The process makes sure it gets to you.