How to optimise your organisational skills.

When you’re calm, assured and on top of your responsibilities, you often feel on top of the world. That’s because with less stress, you achieve more. Less time spent on analysing and prioritising tasks means more time spent getting them done. There’s a kind of empowerment in productivity. But how do you reach organisational nirvana?

The short answer is: with some simple techniques working in tandem. These are fundamental skills for producers and project managers. Client side or agency side – if you’re in a position where you’re overseeing timelines, managing workflows and waterfalls, or developing campaign collateral – these techniques are relevant.

Effective time management is key. Whether you’re Elon Musk or tackling your first internship, we all have the same amount of hours in a day. These skills will help ensure they’re all productive.

The benefits of optimising your organisational skills.

As with many things, before we get to the ‘how’, it’s worth understanding the ‘why’.

You avoid things snowballing.

Disorganisation is a slippery slope. When things are delayed, they become harder to resolve. Procrastination will cause a project to suffer. Long-avoided issues are often much more costly, in both time and money. That’s because small things – if not corrected – become big things, always.

From letting the washing basket pile up, to mismanaging client expectations of how and when to provide feedback on a project. Left unchecked, they’re both going to come back to bite you.

All of a sudden, a quick stint at the ironing board becomes long-term boredom. All of a sudden, a smooth-running project can be derailed by the avoidable stress, frustration and lost margins that come with regular and iterative revisions. Both of these processes are much smoother when managed proactively.

The little amount of time you invest today will save you a great deal of time spent revisiting issues tomorrow and the next day(s).

It’s more peaceful when you’re organised.

There’s a great line in an episode of the sitcom Modern Family. Towards the end of the first season, the whole Pritchett clan is heading to Hawaii for a family holiday. The Dunphy’s are about to leave their home for the airport. As the father, Phil Dunphy, turns on the alarm, the whole family calmly grab their bags and exit the home before the alarm sets. All the while, Phil repeats the mantra:

“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.”

Phil may not be the most renowned philosopher, but good comedy usually resonates with us because it hits upon a universal truth. This line is no exception. By slowing down and focusing energy and attention, work becomes smoother. By working more smoothly, you’ll work much, much faster.

The Phil-osopher himself.

You know your stuff.

Through taking care of the small tasks when they pop up, you can actually hone your craft in general. Keep a well catalogued list of what you’re doing and what you’ve done. When you take a meticulous approach to controlling your daily tasks, you learn about them in greater, more granular detail. Ultimately, it helps in your understanding and completion of the work.

For example, this approach can make for a much better Account Manager or Project Manager.

Some people find managing admin tasks mundane and annoying. I find that by keeping client notes up to date, spending time to ensure my leads and invoices are current, and managing my daily to-do list, I get to know my clients and their projects better.

You stress less.

The more organised and carefully managed your day, the less stressed you are. If you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail.

As Benjamin Franklin said (and he was pretty productive):

“For every minute spent in organising, an hour is earned.”

Greater effort in organisation means greater productivity, and the greater potential to offer a valuable contribution for the agency, the project, the clients and the team!

However you are rated on performance in your role, it ultimately comes down to your ability to be productive.

Here’s how to get things done.

Now that we understand the ‘why’, let’s dive into the ‘how’!

Get on top of your desktop.

The old saying suggests that a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind. So, a clean, well-organised, prepared and awesomely laid out desk? You guessed it – that’s a sign for success.

According to this great article by Peter Walsh, you should think of your desk like you’re sitting in a car.

Everything that’s essential to the task at hand (i.e. driving) is within arm’s reach. Sure, there are other things you can use in the car, but if they’re not absolutely essential to the task of driving the vehicle, they’re generally not in the immediate vicinity.

Get the essentials organised, and get rid of anything that’s irrelevant or unnecessary. Your desk needs to be functional; it’s not a storage facility or a mantelpiece.  Anything you don’t need on a daily basis can be thrown out or stored elsewhere.

It’s all about creating a nice, calm place to work. The less cluttered the desk, the clearer your mind. And a clear mind is a focused one.

Evolve the way you use your desk.

Take notes digitally.

One day, I decided that I hate paper. Like a lightning bolt, my thinking changed from ‘where’s the A4?’ to ‘what do I actually need this for?’ More often than not, the answer was – ‘nothing’.

I hated how paper had a tendency to pile up, to create clutter. I hated how it was difficult to file, to search through, and to store in general. During one particularly frustrating afternoon, I had an epiphany. I would endeavour to take a paperless approach from that point on.

Now, I use a tablet to type notes in meetings. The notes are stored in the cloud, which means they’re easy and convenient to access on any device, at any location.

Of course, this development doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no place for paper. It’s still great for sketching out ideas, tracking your thinking or mapping out a problem. The key lies in finding a balance that works for you. And then knowing how long you need to keep each document – a great tip from Roz Howland’s article. For me, I don’t like it when a piece of paper hangs around for more than a week. Adiós Papyrus!

When it comes to personal filing systems, having your head in the cloud isn’t necessarily a foggy way of thinking. Embrace digital notes and reap the benefits.  I’m particularly fond of Google Keep and sharing resources among a team with Google docs, but it’s ultimately about finding what works best for you.

Schedule time.

Sometimes I envy our Build team. Generally speaking, designers and developers get to work on one project at a time. They get scheduled a task, and they know what they’re doing today, tomorrow and well into next week. When you’ve got your time clearly sorted like that, sometimes it’s easier to focus, prioritise and produce.

Given my type of work, it’s just not possible to schedule blocks of time like that. Or so I thought.

As it turns out, anyone can make better use of time by scheduling it in blocks. They might be micro-blocks, but the effect is still the same. You can build something impactful out of tiny building blocks. Just ask Lego.

Now, I can schedule my time just like the build team, just in smaller segments.

From little blocks, big things grow.

Embrace automation.

For small tasks, I use automated reminders. When countless little tasks consistently pop up throughout the day, it can feel like death by a thousand paper cuts. Especially if you don’t track them. Luckily, there are systems and tools you can use.

Lately, I’ve been using Google’s reminder tools: Now, Keep and Inbox. The great thing about these resources is that you can set the time and/or place that triggers a reminder. So when I walk into the office, my phone immediately reminds me to follow up on X with Y person.

Google Keep’s user interface.

I’ve been dabbling in Slack’s reminder feature recently too, which is working well. It enables you to separate working (or task-related) reminders from meeting reminders. The best of both worlds .

Slack’s reminder feature, ‘slackbot’, in action.

Get into the habit of saying no.

This sounds like a bit of a negative approach, but you’ll be surprised at how positive a well-timed ‘no’ can be.

Like many people, I enjoy being supportive of my colleagues and I like them to be able to rely on me. I used to think saying ‘yes’ all of the time – to all requests – was the best way to convey that reliability.

Wrong. The best way to convey reliability is to be reliable. Consistently follow through on what you promise. If you’re overwhelmed by a raft of different tasks with fast-approaching deadlines, it’s going to be difficult to deliver.

Saying yes to everything invariably lets something, or someone, down. One helpful technique is to process each request with the following system, taken from Rory Vaden’s excellent TED Talk on Multiplying Your Time:

Learning how to say ‘no’ every now and then can also help you refine your approach to meetings: how many you attend, and how you organise the ones you hold.

Always take the time to ensure you know why you’re attending a meeting and how long it will run. If you’re organising the meeting, spend time considering if you need everyone in attendance, or if you even need a meeting at all. Can the problem be resolved with a quick discussion?

If you can take a minute and avoid a meeting, do it!

Be religious with recording project data.

Earlier on, I mentioned the importance of knowing your stuff. This applies to your own personal situation, and your projects too. The best way to know your projects inside out? Record the necessary data.

Whatever company or agency you work for, there will be systems in place to help you track your hours. There’ll be systems to manage your leads and sales. There’ll be systems to lodge time and monitor workloads. You need to work religiously to keep these up to date. People rely on the accuracy of this information, and so should you.

This is the information that informs you of whether the project is profitable not.

Time sheets might be time consuming, but if they’re left empty, then how do you ascertain whether a project was worth the effort? How can you analyse where too much time was spent? How do you know what to charge next time?

The same information will also help you to understand your sales pipeline. Update your leads so that you know what is likely to land soon, and therefore what ultimately needs your immediate attention. This way, you’ll know what work is essential, and what can be left until next week.

Perhaps most importantly, this information helps you, as a company, get paid promptly and without issue. The more effort you put into an invoice at the beginning (to ensure it is accurate and provides the client with a clear overview of what to expect in the process), then the easier it is for your accounts team to successfully send and process the invoice. This means that your company or agency gets paid on time, which means you’re contributing to cash flow.

Set your sights on an accurate scope of work.

As an account manager or digital  producer, it’s your responsibility to know the scope of every project. Knowing the scope means knowing the difference between client feedback and a change request. You might not end up asking for a variation, but you should know the difference.

Change is inevitable, and a project’s success often comes down to how quickly you can make new problems go away. That can come down to how quickly you can flag a change request as resembling ‘something completely different’ to the agreed upon scope of work.

Which segues perfectly into my final point –

Always be conscious of the contract.

This one’s closely linked to understanding the scope of your project, and it’s a no brainer. The contract is the rule book in any case where you or your client has a disagreement. So make sure that it itemises the services that are being provided, clearly and closely.

Try to ensure that the agreement covers procedure for variations and dispute resolution too. It’s always less stressful if you can simply follow an already agreed-upon process, as opposed to making things up as you go along. It helps put you in a position of authority regarding the project process and helps you guide difficult conversations if they arise. In negotiation, there is a saying, ‘go hard on the process, not the person’. If red flags start appearing in a project and you need to rely on a contract, you’re in a far better position to do this with clear terms than a verbal or no signed agreement.

***

Admittedly, none of this is ground breaking stuff (I’m an account manager, not an astrophysicist!). Throughout my career, I’ve picked up one or two simple tips from each of the articles I’ve read on the topic of organisation, and applied them to my practice. Gradually, they’ve become my organisational arsenal, and I rely on them every day.

If, after reading this piece, you take a tip, become a little bit more productive and contribute even the tiniest amount of extra-awesomeness to your project, then it’s all worthwhile. Just remember to be patient – developing elite time management skills? That takes time.

Now, enough procrastination. Back to work!

 

Further reading for your organisational arsenal:

• MindTools offers an excellent range of articles on time management, and even a nifty little tool to measure (and better understand) how well you manage your time: check it out or the tool here.
• My new found habit of saying ‘no’ was influenced by the famous Four D’s: Don’t do, Delegate, Delay & Do. There are plenty of articles and diagrams out there, but you could start here with Wan How’s LinkedIn post.
• I also subscribe to Productivityist. Started by Mike, it focuses on providing tips and sharing what’s worked for him on being more productive. The blog article on “The 5 Zeros You Should Achieve Every Day to Give You Peace of Mind” is a great read.