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Home > Topics > Test & Evaluation > Detail: Three Pounds of Manure in a Two-Pound Sack
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Three Pounds of Manure in a Two-Pound Sack
By Payson Hall
  
Summary: Multitasking is not a magical cure for getting too much work done by too few resources. Listen in this month as Payson Hall eavesdrops on a coaching session between two managers about how to assign and prioritize work effectively. | | |
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Steve was the newest and youngest manager working for Tazeem. He was having a problem with one of his team members and was meeting with Tazeem to discuss the issue and get coaching. "Mark seems frustrated when I give him a new task while he is in the middle of completing another assignment. Any ideas how I can better help him understand that multi-tasking is part of his job?" Steve asked.
"We can all become frustrated by untimely interruptions, Steve," Tazeem said. "What makes you think multi-tasking is an issue for Mark?"
"He's not getting his assignments done. Last week, I asked him to review some test results to see if the errors had a pattern. Monday, I asked him to work with the architecture team to help figure out a performance problem. In the Wednesday status meeting, when I asked about his progress reviewing the test results, he said that he hadn't finished his analysis because he was still looking into the performance problem," Steve said, sounding a bit irritated.
"What were your priorities for the tasks you assigned?" Tazeem asked. "Did you want him to analyze the test data before investigating the performance problem, or was the performance issue the higher priority?"
"Both are important," Steve said. "Mark is a professional. Can't I expect him to manage his workload? In this economy, aren't we expected to 'do more with less'?"
Tazeem was being gentle, remembering that Steve was a new manager who was having a problem that new managers often encounter when they rely too much on management clichés. "These certainly are trying times," she said. "Challenging for both the professionals and the people who manage them. While we ask a lot of the people we supervise, we must be sure that assignments are clear and reasonable."
"I'm not sure I understand," Steve said. "I thought I was pretty clear that I wanted both tasks completed." He seemed confused.
"Did you make clear how much time you expected Mark to invest in the test analysis and performance analysis tasks?" Tazeem asked patiently.
"I wasn't sure how much analysis would be required. I expected Mark would know."
"When you are assigning a task, it's good practice to ask someone how much time he thinks it will take." Tazeem explained. "It helps you help him manage his work load. Sometimes the person taking the assignment will have a good idea of what is required and can give you an estimate; sometimes he will need you to clarify how thoroughly you want the task completed; and sometimes he will need to do some work on the task to get an idea of what it will entail or to identify questions."
"But tasks take as long as they take. Even if I get good estimates, what good is the information?" Steve asked.
"Imagine that the test analysis task requires forty hours of Mark's time and that the performance analysis task needs forty, as well. Asking Mark to do both in the space of a week is unrealistic. If you ask for something unrealistic, the person you are tasking may not know what to do. Without additional guidance, team members often assume the most recent task they are given is the highest priority and stop work on prior tasks," Tazeem said.
"Isn't that a multi-tasking problem?" Steve asked. "Shouldn't Mark have been able to do both?"
"Multi-tasking doesn't solve the problem of how to do eighty hours of work in a week, Steve—in most cases, multi-tasking is less efficient than working on one task from start to finish. Sometimes it is necessary to divide someone's time among multiple tasks, but there is overhead in switching attention from one to the other, and neither task is made more efficient by the stop-and-start nature of doing the work. That's why it's so important to be clear about priorities. I would encourage you to talk with Mark and ask him how much time he thinks the tasks will take. Check to see what other tasks he believes are on his plate and how long he thinks they will take; then work with Mark to prioritize them."
"Do I need to prioritize every task I give him?" Steve asked.
"If you ask Mark to take on another task before he has completed everything he is working on, make sure you discuss how the new task affects the priority of his existing work. You are both less likely to be frustrated and more likely to get the right things done. You also might encourage Mark to ask you about the priority of any new tasks you assign in case you forget to mention it. That will help empower him to manage his own workload," Tazeem said. She noticed that Steve was making a note to himself. If he followed through and adopted the behavior consistently, she thought, it would be a positive step in his growth as a leader. {end}
What positive or challenging experiences have you had related to assigning work to others, monitoring their work, or dealing with the challenges of multitasking?
Join the conversation below or start a new one in the Member Comments section.
About the Author
Payson Hall is a systems engineer and consulting project manager for Catalysis Group in Sacramento, California. He has consulted on a variety of public and private sector projects in both North America and Europe during his twenty-six-year career. He can be reached at (payson@catalysisgroup.com).
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