Posted by Working efficiency/productivity has been an important topic in professional context, we all know that long hours != high pay, the key is to make good use of the time and deliver work efficiently.
In this blog post I am going to share some tips that might help you to improve your working efficiency, if you are going for a new job/challenge, this will definitely help you to fast onboard yourself in the new context/project.
1. Use process modeling to visualise the subject
Process flow visualisation is a very important skill applicable to everyone in every industry, you can use this technique to visualise a problem, present a solution, or even present your own work flow. Our memory works better at graphics than texts and numbers, I personally use lots of UML activity flows via Visio or hand drawing to present the logic in a solution before detailing out things.
Once a certain problem is visualised, it is easier to be explained and understood, easier to establish further conversation on it.
If you are in a meeting where people are confused, don’t hesitate to walk to the board and draw some simple diagrams, it will help a lot!
An example of my current Master study program, a teacher explained how to calculate the EoQ (economical order quantity i.e the most optimal order quantity) for an order via 2 slides, still very confusing, I visualised it on my note book in 2 minutes, and understood it immediately. Compare:
2. Bring your note book with you, take notes only when necessary
I remember a few years ago, I had a job interview in one of the big four in Brussels, the interviewer was a highly respected partner in the firm, the interview went pretty well, I asked for feedback at the end of interview. He said, everything was fine, I will give you one feedback since you asked for it, why didn’t you take notes during the interview?
When you are in a lecture or in a meeting, be ready with your pen and note book to take notes, but do not continuously take pages of notes, try to focus on the discussions and note down key things, for instance a new vocabulary, if some words appear more than twice during the discussion or lecture, ask questions immediately
Taking nots takes time and energy, and very likely you miss some information while writing something down.
Try to avoid being someone who takes notes in the whole meeting but still misses the whole point.
3. Ask questions
Ask a lot of questions, especially “why” and “what if” questions, it will help you to find out the real requirements and demonstrate your analytical skills.
When I work on a certain topic, especially when in a new project or company, I ask lots of questions in the early stage, especially the first 2 weeks. But typically after 2 months I know my domain upside down.
Stupid questions do exist! Before you ask something to your colleague, prepare yourself, ask yourself 5 questions before going to others for discussion.
4. Getting Things Done – GTD
I recommend this amazing book from David Allen – Getting Things Done (GTD)
If you don’t have time to read it, here are 2 tips for you:
- Your mind should not be busy or stressed, instead it should be focused on the tasks. If you have lots of pending tasks, write them done or track them somewhere, so that your mind is stress free, then tackle those tasks one by one. My personal behaviour: Whenever I am at home and some work stuff comes to my mind, I write a one line reminder to my working email address so I can pick it up in the morning, otherwise, I would be so stressed to not forgetting about it.
- If something pops up, but can be done in 2 minutes, do it immediately.
You can get this book here on Amazon Germany.
5. Avoid “Oh shit, I forgot !” moment,
Try to avoid leaving things with open ends, follow up things on a regular manner. People who really know me are aware that following up is not my natural skill given my impatient personality.
Over the years, I have learned to close every meeting or discussion with an action list and a next follow up date. If there is no follow up meeting scheduled yet, make sure to write an item on your agenda as a reminder for that day, and come back with agreed deliverable, updates, or if you are at the demanding side, ask for updates.
6. Spend less time on things that have no added value
Things that do not really add any value in your job context, and do not really belong to your responsibility, try to say no to them. If you really have to do them, find out ways to automate them, or ask for help.
Sometimes there are people discussing pointless things in a meeting, try to direct the topic back to the agenda, if the agenda is finished, you can suggest to terminate the meeting.
If there are people get confused on the same thing, or ask the same questions repetitively, consider improve the working procedure, or write more informative manuals.
7. Take advantage of the technology
Nowadays cooperations invest in lots of collaboration tools, like outlook, Confluence, Jira, Teams, SharePoint etc, invest a bit of time on the tools and technologies you are using, so that you don’t struggle with the tools which has a counter effect on your productivity.
If you find yourself doing some repetitive work, investigate how to automate or stream line your work, you will be surprised, it might save you hours per week!
8. Pay attention to your communication style
Last but most importantly, be nice to people around you, be assertive but friendly.
Team spirit has a significant impact on employees’ productivity, a highly motivated team will be more creative, proactive and as a result, more productive. Your communication style plays a big role in the team spirit, use words that are more positive, funny, engaging and motivating, avoid words complaining, accusing or threatening. Maybe one of my previous post 10 tips to improve your professional communication can help you.
Conclusion
I hope the above advices help you to improve your work productivity so that you can finish and spend more time on things actually matters. Looking forward to your suggestions, feel free to comment!
Related movie – Limitless (2011)
As part of this post I would like to recommend a great movie called Limitless, the story tells how a little pill activates the brain functionality of a mediocre man, enables him becoming much more sharp and productive, but also tells the adventure ahead of him, I don’t recommend pills, but the movie is quite nice, definitely worth watching!
