Multi-tasking, some clarification

Image source: wikipedia

A lot of us who've tried being superheroic, and tried doing things in a way that we become worthy of this appellation called 'multi-tasker', would relate to what I have found out.

For example, ever tried talking on the mobile phone or answering someone's call while brushing your teeth full of froth. How does it feel, this attempt to multi-task?

But let's say your mouth is full of froth and foam, and for a couple of minutes you ignore the call or the mobile phone ring. And once you are done with rinsing your mouth, you get to answering the call or talking on your mobile phone. How does that go?

To understand multi-tasking in the truest sense, determine whether the two/more tasks are meant to happen at the same point in time or in a sequence over a little stretch of time.

My anxious attempts at doing it the first way have put me in such inelegant spots and situations that I don't want to share them here. Currently, I am occupied with the second kind. And that is proving very very tiring.

Two more points.

Those who have developed this ability to multi-task over a stretch of time, I reckon, have mastered a very crucial skill.

Actually, a better term than multi-tasking is juggling. Conceptually and sonically, both.

Where should a big hospital be run from?

Hospital is a contingency business. I mean, the consumer of a hospital is always in trouble. And 'what's the need' is a forgone question, though of course needs careful consideration.

How do we behave when in immediate trouble, emergency or dire need?

Unfortunately, a lot of hospitals took a leaf from the general assembly line management system and got it all wrong. (When I say that, I am aware of certain hospital which used assembly line management to great effect.) Yes, the ones who got it wrong are the ones who made secluded chambers for managers responsible to take care of the operations. They made nodes which would be far from where the consumer(patient) would typically rush in. They made the team wait at these nodes where the consumer(patient) would typically find it difficult to reach.

Unlike a grand monumental atrium-like central empty space available at different places to make the visitor feel good, a hospital has to have the pilot and his entire team right where the consumer first walks in. Yes, right at the first touch-point. Empty spaces help the movement but slowly kill the guy in pain.

Egos would not let the above happen. Perhaps then, the most responsible person who's supposedly called the COO and his entire team meant to deliver care, has to be right where this patient walks in. Mind you, not just that one person. His entire care-team.

And then see if a hospital is any less enjoyable and any more difficult to manage than other places.

Don't see it, so don't feel it, so don't do it

That's the reason for laziness.

There's only so much that our memory can hold for us. When I don't see the list of tasks that I need to complete, sometimes I don't even begin until a few days have passed. 

Alternatively, when the laptop screen is the only thing we see - in that the facebook or the twitter screen - that's what we get reminded of, that's what we feel and that's what we do.

Daily Planner for Efficiency

One year and 10 months of being 'entrepreneurial' leads me to recommend this.

Of course, nothing happens if we don't lift our feet. However, to be able to lift our feet to accomplish the little things every single day, to be able to utilize time to our satisfaction every day, requires a little work.

So here's what has held me in good stead so far:

I have a LIST OF PEOPLE (not list of tasks) with whom I sense I'll have to deal frequently during any given time-period.

With that list of people, I have a sheet which gets divided into 4 columns: FOLLOW-UP, RESPOND, ACT, GOOGLE (SEARCH).

I realize game theoretical play is common among all sorts of people. If I initiate, people don't respond. But that could also have more reasons than simple game theory :). So, FOLLOW-UP is a must if you have to get anything done.

Game theory and other reasons - significantly, 'memorial lapses' - apply to me as well. And I've observed myself to be particularly lax in responding when people take initiative. I hate that. I'm trying to get better. Filling the RESPOND column in the morning is liberating.

Besides, RESPOND is also a reflection of RESPECT. Only respect motivates.

ACT is fairly obvious. So is GOOGLE. If you have questions about this format, let me know.

This should particularly help entrepreneurs who are starting with limited resources and feel constrained in a lot of ways.

How many years of experience do you have?

That's the question typically asked in interviews for any job, barring the situations when you're just fresh out into the job market.

Two parts of experience: applied skills and knowledge (in the context of the domain one is seeking to get a job in). Of course, the two are entwined and one helps the other. Knowledge would rely more on the applied skills than the other way round. So the greater the application of skills, the greater the knowledge.

So here are some issues in measuring 'experience'.

When testing a person during the interview, a great deal depends on the quality of the question itself. And of course quality of question depends on the interviewer's application of skills in turn. If one hasn't spent a significant time applying skills, then one's quality of questions would reflect that. That will also determine the quality of the interview.

And since interviews depend more on exchange of words, it is a challenge for both the parties to capture the 'applicability' into words - whether in questions or answers.

Experience is also a 'stock' question. Like, "How much you have?" And while experience is about applied skills and knowledge, a good measure of 'applied skills' would be how the stock turns into fluid/dynamic state. Again, words might not necessarily suffice. For application spans time and can be better observed in/through action than through a description in words.

Also, since two businesses are bound to be in different and unique situations, the stock of applied skills needs to adjust to these situations. How does one take a measure of such 'adjustment'?

If the organization isn't keen on getting a good measure of your 'applied skills', 3 dominant possibilities: 1) you are going to do the clerical, the repetitive and the laborious, 2) the organization has mastered the art of extracting the 'difficult measurement of applied skills' out of the words people use, 3) the one responsible for interviewing is inept.

Sorting it out the old post-office way

Sorting Grid

Hospitals are so document-intensive workplaces. And am trying to harness energies of a bunch of people who've never so far worked based on the written words.

As you can see each slot in the grid is labeled. Copies of TASK ALLOTMENT FORMS are sorted according to the labels. I only need to check each slot every now and then and follow up if required.

Basic tools but important ones even in this tech-heavy world.

First step to getting tasks done

Main slip given to the person taking the task

Copy which stays with the person giving the task

Thoughts move faster than actions. There is always so much to do and so many people to do all the work. But none of them seemed trackable. Besides, there's a limit to remembering all that you've delegated. So just to facilitate memory and monitoring work, I introduced a simple mechanism: TASK ALLOTMENT FORM. 

Every time a person wants to get work done from another person, he/she simply fills this form and then tracks it on the basis of this form. The process has been in use for a few days now and it's helping so far. :)

Managing a hospital isn't easy

That's what I've realized. Doesn't mean I can't do it ;).

Just trying to introduce a certain way of working here.

One of the things that I find in first generation entrepreneur-driven businesses is that a lot of execution on the ground level happens without any paper work. A lot of strategic thinking also happens without putting pen to paper. So the first task I've taken is to make people do things through writing. No essays. Very simple tasks.

I'm allotting tasks as if I am preparing bills for accounts. Yes! For the first time in my life I recognize the importance of carbon paper :). There are so many tasks at the same time; I need to make sure that each one of them is taken care of. So what I do is this. I write down a task for a certain person and give that sheet of paper to that person; but I also keep a copy of it for myself so that I can follow up as and when needed.

It's working so far.

This isn't all. This also requires some management :). And there's way a to do this.

Stay tuned. More in the coming posts. Task management using trays... Coming soon :).