Avoiding Procrastination via “Getting Results the Agile Way”

Or How I Am Learning To Better Manage My Time

Scott Simmons

Learning How to Learn – Project 2

Focus of Presentation

• Handling Procrastination

• Focused/Diffuse Attention

• Mindset

• Chunking

• Via “Getting Results the Agile Way” (JD Meier)

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About Me ….

• IT Architect for a major computer provider • Part of Senior Technical Leadership team • Member of the Architect Board • And … with my free time:

– Life long learner (1-2 MOOCs concurrent) – Play guitar – Computer Hobbyist – Dance lessons – Hiking and working out

• Key Points – I am normally working on 10-15 concurrent

projects each with varying durations …. – Easy to end up like the guy in the top picture …

challenge is to live up to Vince’s challenge

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The Challenge For Me … And Others I Think

• Trying to do too much – Balancing work demands – Balancing life demands

• My pre-2014 approach

– Multi-Tasking – BAD – Limited prioritization – BAD

• I needed a better way to manage

and my approach … – Injecting “Agility” into daily processes – Leading to a search for an approach to

“work (and learn” smarter”

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Procrastination & Time Management

• My Challenge – How to “move quickly” – How to better retain information – Focus on “Agile approach”

• Viola – a great book/method – “Getting Results the Agile Way” – Written by J.D. Meier – Based on his work at Microsoft

• The Key Tenants of the Approach – Document key task by day – Higher level monthly and weekly tasks – Incorporate into daily “routine”

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“Getting Results the Agile Way”

• Focus areas – Proven practices to master time management, motivation, and personal

productivity – Discover the one way to stack the deck in your favor that’s authentic and works – How to embrace change and get better results in any situation – How to focus and direct your attention with skill – How to use your strengths to create a powerful edge for getting results – How to change a habit and make it stick – How to never miss the things that matter most, and achieve better work-life

balance – How to spend more time doing the things you love

• Taken from JD Meier’s blog –

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jmeier/archive/2014/03/24/7-days-of-agile-results-a-time-management-boot-camp-for-productivity-on-fire.aspx

My “Agile” Approach • Every Friday

– I review the current week tasks

– I prepare for the next week by drafting task list

– I review the list at the start and end of each day

– Each month starts with determining the “wins” for that month

– Each week starts with determining the “wins” for that week

• The benefit of this approach – Allows me to determine “where” to spend time

versus procrastinating and multi-tasking

– Gives me a view to where I need to “focus” time

– Establishes mindset to completing key work items

– Provides monthly and weekly “goals”

– Provides an activity journal on for reporting

• So how does this relate to learning …

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Objective: Handling Procrastination

• Challenge/Issue – Procrastination leads to inefficiency

– By applying a disciplined approach to avoiding task management – better quality outcomes are possible through minimizing procrastination

• Approach/Application of Techniques – Pomodoro – Focused mode optimizes outcomes through completion of specific tasks versus

multi-tasking

– Task Lists – Determining “what” needs to be done leads to management of when/how to do it

• Research – Umberto Eco focused studies on “the vertigo of lists,” and determined that effective task

management was enabled via cataloguing, culling, collecting.

• http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/22/umberto-eco-on-lists/

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Objective: Focus and Diffuse Attention

• Challenge/Issue – Non-stop focused mode diminishes the ability to retain information

– Too much diffuse mode and multi-tasking leads to inefficiency

• Approach/Application of Techniques – Pomodoro can be used to “modulate” focused versus diffuse mode

– By taking a “break” e.g. diffuse mode – I can better retain key points

– Exercise is a good way to support diffuse mode and provide “breaks”

• Research – De Brigard & Prinz (2009) showed that subjects rely on a diffuse or

distributed mode of attention to support optimized learning

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Objective: Mindset

• Challenge/Issue – You need to “manage” your approach via a positive mindset – “Warm-up” tasks can help to achieve the right “mindset”

• Approach/Application of Techniques – Focus on the “task” process (versus the product) – Determine “how” to get started via process/mindset

• Research – Baumeister and Masicampo showed that individuals are better

able to perform tasks when warm-up tasks are part of the overall process (2011)

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Objective: Chunking

• Challenge/Issue – “Chunking” is key to information retention – but requires process – Without effective task management, the ability to “chunk” is

difficult to achieve

• Approach/Application of Techniques – Focused mode can enable “chunking” – Focused mode/“chunking” is optimized through task management

• Research – George Miller research – “The amount of information increases

when placed in chunks, which allows short term memory to store about four "chunks.“” (1956)

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Cue – Routine – Reward – Belief

• Cue/Routine – all day technical and client interactions ….

• Reward – I go to my treadmill

• I sink into semi-diffuse mode

• and I listen to Barbara discuss Learning How to Learn

• It is part of my “BELIEF” system now 12

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Summary

• Using the “Getting Results the Agile Way” – Focus on the key tasks at the right time – Focus on the “process” not the “product” – Using Pomodoro – I am more productive – Task management provides rigor for

addressing work and personal objectives – Ensures I don’t “miss the boat”

• Next steps for taking this forward

– I am using the weekly notes to develop my 2014 End of Year review process

– Building an iPhone Application to automate using my new iOS skills in SWIFT programming

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Remember …. Eat The Frogs First

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Probably the BEST approach to time management – thanks to NUMEROUS folks

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/eat-the-frogs-first-a-guide-to-prioritizing.html

“A Frog Early In The Day – Keeps The Zombies At Bay”

Books To Supplement This Discussion

• A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) – Paperback – July 31, 2014 – Barbara Oakley (Author) – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G3L1

9ZU?btkr=1

• Getting Results the Agile Way

– Paperback – October 6, 2010 – J.D. Meier (Author), Michael Kropp (Foreword) – http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/09

84548203/thbosh-20/

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Image Credits

• Slide 2 – Man Focusing – https://meetyourmentor.wordpress.com/tag/stay-focus/

• Slide 3 – Time Mgmt by Post-Its – http://blog.grantham.edu/blog/bid/146104/5-Time-Management-Examples-That-Could-Get-You-in-

Trouble

• Slide 3 – Lombardi Quote – http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/v/vince_lombardi.html

• Slide 4 – Baby in Sink – http://www.todaysseniors.com/humor/funny_cartoon_pictures/funny_pictures/Time_Management.html

• Slide 5 – Agility Definition – http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agility

• Slide 12 – Oh Crap cartoon – http://amberlittle.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/late-dinos.jpg

• Slide 13 – Man Eating Frog – http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/05/us-china-frogs-idUSSCH55179420070605

• Other pictures from my personal library of photos etc

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References and Relevant Readings

• Divya Pahwa. How to Write an Effective To-Do List. http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/09/09/how-to-write-an-effective-to-do-list/

• T Stafford. The psychology of the to-do list. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130129-the-psychology-of-the-to-do-list

• M Popova. A Brief History of the To-Do List and the Psychology of Its Success. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/22/umberto-eco-on-lists/

• JD Meier/ 7 Days of Agile Results: A Time Management Boot Camp for Productivity on Fire • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jmeier/archive/2014/03/24/7-days-of-agile-results-a-time-management-boot-camp-for-productivity-on-fire.aspx

• De Brigard, F. and Prinz, J. (2010), Attention and consciousness. WIREs Cogn Sci, 1: 51–59. doi: 10.1002/wcs.27

• Miller, G.A. (1956), The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97.

• http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/22/umberto-eco-on-lists/

• Masicampo EJ1, Baumeister RF. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2011 Oct;101(4):667-83. doi: 10.1037/a0024192.

• Greist-Bousquet, S., Schiffman, N. (1992). The effect of Task interruption and closure on perceived duration. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 30(1), 9-11.

• http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/eat-the-frogs-first-a-guide-to-prioritizing.html

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