Productivity Tip #12: Define What ‘Done’ Actually Means [Organize IT]

A lot gets said about how important planning out your work is. Yes, it’s critical to have a clear picture of what you need to do, and have the appropriate preparatory work in place. However, an element of the project cycle that doesn’t getting nearly as much attention, and which is just as important, is being clear on what you need to do to declare a project as complete, done, finished.

At what point have you crossed the finishing line? If you are not clear about where the finishing line is, you will end up floating around, putting in more effort than is necessary, focusing too much on a task or even just doing completely pointless work. Completion of a project might seem obvious. If it’s done it’s done right? Well, unfortunately, most of the time it’s just not that simple. If I need to ring Jack to get the sales figures, that task isn’t complete until the full sales figures are in my hands, regardless of how many calls it takes. Once it’s done I can move on mentally and physically.

A next action or task can have its completion point defined in two ways. Firstly, you can set a simple time limit. For instance, you could say you will work on a website for thirty minutes. If you don’t set a time, how long will you be fiddling with the design before you call it a day? Alternatively, and most commonly, you can set a physical step. If you are writing a report, the finishing point could be when you have written three pages. If you don’t define that, how long would you be dithering on the report before you decide to stop?

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Original post here: James

6 June 2008 | GTD, Productivity, Productivity Tips | Comments

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