Do You Receive Too Much Information to Deal With? One of the most challenging aspects of running a project is the amount of information which you receive. If you don’t get a good handle on this right away then it can end up causing you a lot of problems as you try to wade through it all. However, no matter how information you receive on a daily basis you can still make sense of it all provided that you choose the right approach. Order It In Terms of Importance When you open up your mail or your inbox your first thought should be to put the items you have received into some sort of logical order. This applies regardless of whether you have received a lot of work or just a little bit. It might be tempting to do the easy stuff first but this is a decision you can only make after you have worked out how important and urgent each item is. If you receive reams and reams of information then you will want to work out whether you can go through it all in time to meet any deadlines which apply, and this will help you organize the work smartly. Organize It Even once you have organized the work in terms of importance you still have another step to take; organize it to get through it more easily. This means that you will want to make sure that everything is stored in the right place and that you stick to the order which you have decided on. It isn’t the most difficult step but if you get it wrong then it will make it more difficult for you to get the work done. Use Templates I set up a couple of templates which help me summarise and analyse any complex information I receive. They aren’t the most hi-tech solutions in the world but they work for me. You will probably find that the data you get sent through pretty much always boils down to the same sort of things for you, so having a template to fall back on can lead through the process in a sensible way which saves you having to comes up with the same solutions every time. Delegate Some If you get through a lot of data then the chances are that you don’t need to go through it all. You can probably safely delegate some of it your team members without too much fear. This is also useful for their personal development plans, although the key is clearly in making sure that you delegate the right work to the right people. Once you are comfortable with this idea it will make your life a lot easier when you receive a lot of information at the one time. Choose the Right Time of Day Another point to consider is that we all have best times of day for doing work like this. For example, if it is an extremely dry read or a long list of figures I need to do it in the morning. If I do it too late on in the day my eyes start to wander and I end up staring at the paper or the screen for ages without really taking anything in. It is up to you to work out when you are best doing this sort of work and then making sure that you always leave it till this time of day. I know that some people like to look at this kind of thing while they are commuting while others even take it home with them. These approaches don’t really work for me but you should give a few different ideas a try to see how they fit your way of working. Make It Interesting My way of trying to make this type of work interesting is to consider that it is probably the one time in my career that I will be doing this specific job. For instance, I might have a huge list of codes to go through but I know that this list will disappear from my life once I have successfully got to the end of the list at last. Not all of the information you receive will be interesting and not all of it will be dull so you just have to make the most of what you get and try your best to make it something which you can deal with without it seeming like a real chore which never ends
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 03:41:20 +0000
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