Musings at Altitude

I’m starting to think of everything in 5 minute increments…because there’s so much now that has to be processed forcing me to gather information, assess what’s been gathered, decide on a course of action, and communicate that course in an effective way.  If it takes longer than 5 minutes, it’s probably going to take significantly longer, therefore, it should probably be properly scheduled, researched, analyzed and then acted on.

But much of  what we do in any given day doesn’t require extensive time, though we sometimes get caught up in allowing those less than significant things to take up a lot of significant time (arguably, much of what flows in and out of the “to do” queue each day is significant, but for me, I would argue that those that are most significant are less than 10% of the things that occupy the bulk of your time).

Since 5 minutes is my new target, I’ve been thinking about how I could break down that 5 minutes to make it most effective.  GADC – gather, assess, decide, communicate.  When spinning through a process and driving to an action that quickly, every second is incredibly valuable. 

Some would argue that the bulk of the time should be spent on gathering and assessing, thus protecting the integrity of the decision.

Others would argue that most of your time should be spent on assessing then deciding, thus valuing the analytic process and making a credible decision.

And then a small few would say focus all required time on communication, because that’s where you ensure the execution is perfectly aligned with the expectations you have as a result of the decision.

Where do I fall?

I’m in the last category.  The right decision will suffer mightily in execution if the expectations (objectives, timing, funding) aren’t clearly communicated once that decision has been made.

Others would counter that the wrong decision with great communication would be equally if not more bad.

I’m going to lean heavily on the fact that experience, intuition, and gathered data will make the bulk of all decisions proper, thus driving the emphasis towards the communications.

I’m anxious to see how I’ll do over the next few weeks.

Who knows, maybe the lethargy I feel in the pace of business progress will be changed through the simple act of forcing things into 5 minutes GADC cycles!

Let’s hope so!