Small Steps, Frequent Deliverables Work

My beta reviewers just completed their beta comments for Manage Your Job Search. I'm quite excited! Now, I have to integrate their comments into the text.

This is a big part of my book project. I need to review every person's comments, and integrate the comments, one at a time, into the text.

At first glance, it can be overwhelming. But, I have a system. (No, you're not surprised, are you?) It's the same system I suggest people use for their job search.

Break the large chunks of work into bite-size chunks, and deliver frequently.

If I was a developer, it would look as if I was checking code in every hour or so. If I was a tester, it would look as if I was testing every hour or so. As a project manager? It would look as if I had a daily rolling wave plan.

This way, I can make progress every day on my big project by completing very small chunks of work. I can even make time to get a quick newsletter out the door, so I stay in touch with you, my gentle readers.

When will I be done? Well, I estimate it will take me a couple of weeks to integrate my beta comments, because I have speaking engagements and client work in addition to my editing. How about if I check back with you in a couple of weeks and let you know what happened? That might be an interesting experiment.

Do you have a large project or a ton of work? Does it feel overwhelming? You or your project team can do the same thing I'm doing.

1. Take one piece of work, the top priority.
2. What's the first thing you have to do for that work?
3. Make that a small chunk, something you and/or your entire project team can complete in an hour or so. You don't have to bother estimating it if you all work together on it and get the whole darn thing to done.
4. Now, continue to the next chunk of work, proceeding down your list or continuing through the project, making progress.

When you're done with the top priority, move to the next priority work.

What happens if something is larger than you thought? If everyone is working with you it won't feel so bad. If everyone is working alone, everyone will be stuck. So, keep everyone working together.

And, if you are like me, working much of the time by yourself, shrug your shoulders, and say, “Okay, sometimes the work is larger than I thought. I'll make the next chunk of work smaller.”

Let me know how this works for you, okay?