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Hello again everyone;

After all of the feedback from the MT family and the podcasts on Calendar Management, I just completed my first Drucker Analysis. I must say that I was stunned with the findings but it provided a lot of good feedback. I just wanted to share my findings of my Drucker Analysis and solicit feedback for suggestions and if my ideas are on track.

Things I learned:
- My direct boss spends on average of 45 minutes a day (and on certain days up to 2 hours of my day) talking with me over general things and about how she wants certain reports (she changes her mind a lot)

- I spend over 2 hours on every Monday wasting time, which I feel I could definitely put to good use.

- I spend a lot of time (on average about 1 hour per direct for six directs) talking to them about their tasks and getting feedback.

- Although I schedule Fridays as a "catch up day" I find that I am not as productive as other days. I waste around 2 hours on Friday trying to find people who end up on being at work that day or just organizing my tasks.

Things I think I will do to combat these trends:
- Wasted time with manager: My instinct says to schedule block times for her to go over things or to learn how to get her to not change her mind as much but I do not think that these are possible. I may just schedule time during the day that I can set aside to proactively talk to her about what she needs instead of reacting to her feedback.

- Wasted time in Monday: schedule block periods on Mondays to set to strategic tasks. I feel that it may just be the "starting up syndrome" after having the weekend off so perhaps I can go into work a little early to try to push start my tasks.

- Spending time with directs: improve the quality of my O3's with my team. I have also decided to move my team meeting to late Monday (although it is not recommended, my manager has her team meeting with me on Tuesday morning and moving my meeting to Monday will allow me to discuss team priorities with them before I report to my boss

- Friday slack time: schedule more tasks that I can do without feedback from others. If I need assistance from others, ask them on Thursday if they will be available and schedule time directly with them.

I welcome any and all recommendations. Thanks very much!

stewartlogan's picture

Ken-

That's a powerful analysis.

I don't know that you'll get your manager to change, but you've just found your 3 hours a week (plus 30 minutes on 2 days) to concentrate on your key objectives. ENJOY IT!

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

CalKen-

This will always be one of my favorite posts. You did the work, and learned valuable lessons, and then shared them with others.

THANK YOU for growing and sharing.

FOLKS - THIS IS A GREAT POST.

I have a friend, and we share a passion for baseball. When she or I send each other a note that we really find powerful, we call it a HOF note, meaning Hall of Fame (H.O.F.). In baseball, it's HARD to get into the Hall. There are rules, and you can't get in by a fluke. You have to earn it.

THIS IS A HOF POST.

Mark

Mark

CalKen's picture

Mark/Stewart;

Thanks very much for the flattering reply. I was completely stunned when I took all of the daily tracking (I did it myself which was a lot of work but after a week became second habit) and saw these trends. It also showed that I still have a long way to go to become "time efficient".

This is not meant to be flattery, but I must say that everything that I have learned with MT (and with the references to Peter Drucker and GTD) WORKS! I still see that I have a long way to go but at least now I have a clear road. Thank you Mark, and also to everyone that has been (and will be in the future) providing their scholarly advice and wisdom to help me grow. I hope to repay everyone in the future.

suedavis's picture
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[quote="CalKen"]After all of the feedback from the MT family and the podcasts on Calendar Management, I just completed my first Drucker Analysis.[/quote]

Thanks for this; you've lit a fire under me to get my Hipster going again at my new position. At my last job, my "daily planner" cards in my Hipster turned into a Drucker-ish time analysis collection mechanism, which among other things helped me discover that I had spent close to ten hours each week doing manual status updates that I was able to automate.

rthibode's picture

Thanks for the great post, CalKen. I'm inspired to finally get going on my Drucker analysis.

Next action: listen to the relevant podcasts again.

I'll be back!

probinson11's picture

I'm starting this today.   I'm glad other people are trying this as well!  So far, I'm surprised how quickly I forget about the alarm after I reset it. 

tbcox's picture

I'm working on a "Drucker Chart" I can keep on each direct report (see his article "Managing Oneself"). That led to a Google search that led here.

Awesome HOF post.  Thank you so much for sharing.

  - Tom Cox
www.TomOnLeadership.com

Mark's picture
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6 years later, still rocks.  Appreciate the candor and effort dude.

Mark