Hi {{first_name|there}},
You sit down for the quarterly meeting. The scoreboard on the screen has 60 numbers on it, or 80, or sometimes 100. Ten to 20 of the projects are marked critical, and the rest are "important, but less important."
I have sat in that first meeting many times, knowing little or nothing about the company. I look at the screen and think the same thing every time: why are we doing so many things? It just doesn't add up to me.
Here is what makes it stranger. Go back 90 days later and the team has usually finished 90 to 95% of the projects, tasks and to-dos. The numbers still got worse.
Done is not the same as moving the number
The mistake is thinking a finished project is a win. It feels productive, and a long checklist with most of it ticked off looks like a team that is working hard. But the question is whether any of it moved the metric that matters.
In those rooms, most people can't tell you which metric matters most to them. They are there to get things done, not to improve the business. And the scoreboard often measures four numbers when three of them add up to the fourth. If that is true, why track all four? Which one is the important one?
Like this
Say your team has 1,000 hours of real project time in a quarter, and you have 80 projects on the board. That is 12.5 hours per project. If the team finishes 90% of them, that is 72 projects done and 8 left over.
But 12.5 hours is a thin slice. It is enough to check the box and not enough to change anything. So the team gets busier every quarter, the checklist looks great, and the numbers keep sliding.
Now say you pick 10 projects instead. Same 1,000 hours, and each one gets 100 hours. That is eight times the attention on each project. Cut it to the one thing that moves the most, and it gets all of it.
The formula is simple: your team's project hours divided by the number of projects on the board. Run it on your own numbers. When was the last time you did?
The common excuse is, "They're all important." Fair, some of them are. But important is not the same as most important, and you can't give 80 things your best effort at the same time.
What happens when you solve one
Here is the part I like. When you solve the right thing, two or five or ten other things get better. Not all the way solved, but better. So pick that thing and worry about the rest after.
Don't try to solve all ten. Put real hours behind the one, then see what happens once that good fix is in place. Often the other nine look different by then.
Your move this week
Write down every metric and project on your scoreboard. Next to each one, ask: if this got fixed, would other items on the list get better? Circle the one with the most yeses, and make it the only thing you talk about first at your next quarterly meeting.
My birthday is next week, the 16th, and I am also launching my book, From Traction to Freedom where I talk about things like this...I'd love if you could take 20 minutes of your time to show support and say "Happy Birthday", it kicks off at noon eastern. Register at fromtractiontofreedom.com.
If your team finished 90% of the list and the numbers still got worse, the list is the problem, not the team.
Steve