Happy Thursday & Happy Pi Day! Today recognizes the mathematical constant π and is celebrated by pi enthusiasts and pie lovers alike!
In This Issue: Lessons Learned: Creating Order from Chaos | 4 Post Rack Mount Adjustable Rails | What Is a Network Fabric? | News to Start Your Day
The CK Daily – Lessons Learned: Creating Order from Chaos
Do you ever feel like you can’t seem to get anything done? Same. But why? Could it be a lack of priority or focus? We believe so.
There are only so many hours in a day. There is only so much we can get done. Do we want quantity or quality? I believe we sometimes think we can have both, but we can’t. Loading more and more and more onto the to-do list only causes what is already on it to suffer.
Our whole team has lots of ideas. All the time. Add the visionary entrepreneur to the mix and we have LOADS of ideas. I sometimes say “My ideas have ideas”. We drown in ideas.
It is easy to spend a lot of time jumping from one idea to another, never finishing anything, and finishing the day or week exhausted and frustrated. It is much harder to operate from a place of discipline and start with the IMPORTANT things and then add in the extra stuff with the time we have remaining, however, that is the most effective way to do it.
There is a video clip (as well as many articles written) using rocks, pebbles, sand, and/or water as a visual illustration of how we MUST prioritize our time. I encourage you to watch this 4-minute video. “Priority determines Capacity”. The order in which we do things really matters.
As a business, we have to be very careful to manage time and priorities well or we will have dozens of people going in many different directions. The ineffectiveness can really compound!
The first thing we have to do is understand what “run level” activities we have that must get done day after day without fail. Those are the big rocks in this illustration. We cannot work on new projects (we call them bullets) at the expense of the run level stuff, else we don’t serve customers well and the business will fall apart. We then must create visibility around those things to make sure we are getting them done consistently well, without fail.
Secondly, we have to make sure that we work on new projects (bullets) from start to finish, and see them all the way through. It is easy to get distracted with the shiny new ideas and try to take on too much but taking on more things only slows down the completion of the thing you are already working on. It is more effective to finish one thing before going to another, when possible.
If it was important enough for us to start it should be important enough for us to finish.
Third, to get MORE done, we must either get more efficient with our time or add additional capacity. I see three ways we can do this:
- Reduce the amount of time it takes to do repetitive tasks. We can do this by finding more efficient ways to do them, finding tools that make doing them faster, reducing the frequency of the task (moving some things from daily to 2x per week for instance), etc.
- Transfer those repetitive tasks to the run-level people. We can transfer these tasks to people we already have, or bring on new run-level people to take them over. Don’t forget the need for visibility and two levels of accountability to ensure these tasks are made sustainable.
- Add additional “build” level people to take on more projects. If getting more efficient or transferring routine tasks to the run level is not enough to keep up with the new ideas (that are worth doing), we may need to add additional staff to take on projects.
Fourth, we have to list and prioritize new ideas. We created an Airtable where we can capture our “bullet ideas” so we do not forget about them. For a while we “just saw what needed to be done and just did it” but when the seeing outpaced the ability to do so, our choice was to juggle projects, forget the ideas, or capture them.
One interesting thing happened when we started to capture them. We realized after giving them a little while on the list that not every idea is a good idea.
I hope this is helpful. It sure has been for us.
Craig
Product Spotlights & Updates
No more looking for those hard-to-find rails or rack ears to mount your server, UPS, switch, firewall, or other devices. These fully adjustable, universal rails offer the simplicity and versatility to get the devices you need mounted in the rack, quickly and safely. Made from 14 gauge powder-coated steel, this system can be deployed in nearly any four-post environment.
Learning Center Article – What Is a Network Fabric?
Modern networking is complicated. It’s challenging enough that you have Wi-Fi routers that can handle multiple hundreds of devices, the Internet of Things putting even more devices into a group, and the sheer magnitude of data centers and high-speed networking.
Today’s News to Start Your Day:
- Starship’s third-ever test flight is officially on for today!
- Wendy’s is making nostalgia a flavor with their latest Frosty. The fast food chain is introducing their Orange Dreamsicle Frosty inspired by the classic childhood popsicle.
- Home Depot is building four new distribution centers to cater to home professionals. The pro customers make up about half of Home Depot’s business and are critical to its growth strategy.
- Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he is putting together an investor group to try to buy TikTok. Mnuchin’s statements come shortly after the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok or the social media site would face a ban in the U.S.