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Meet demand under high pressure: Get down to basics

In the world of buzzwords, bloated frameworks and certainty, getting down to basics has become a dying art form.

Yet that’s exactly what’s needed—not only as a response to tackling delayed initiatives (e.g.,eating the elephant I wrote about in an earlier article) but as a new way of working.

For me, it’s about three core tenets:

  1. Prioritize worthwhile problems. Most problems are not worth solving; pick the ones that are.
  2. Recognize collaboration challenges. Your organization is probably much worse at collaborating than you think.
  3. Make pragmatic decisions. Do the things that make sense, not just because a guide or manifesto says so.

Nothing I will write in this article is in any shape or form created by me; most are quite old things worth repeating. That said, this is what you should do:

1. Prioritize worthwhile problems

  • Center on ONE thing that’s important, complete it, and then move on.
  • Maximize the work not done. Question the need and complexity of the solution; the aim should be to reach an objective, not to stay busy.
  • Avoid spreading your organization too thin by limiting the ongoing activities people have. A good rule of thumb is 2 times the number of people in the team minus 1.

2. Recognize collaboration challenges

  • Structure the team to reduce handovers as much as possible, enabling end-to-end completion of work. If a task repeatedly requires a new ticket on another board to be completed, you are doing it wrong.
  • Use a collaboration tool such as Miro to create a shared space where the team can visualize and engage in complex problem-solving.
  • Create opportunities for async communication. People read even if they don’t engage.

3. Make pragmatic decisions:

  • Cut down on meetings—all meetings. People need time to think and time to do the task, and that doesn’t happen in meetings.
  • Get comfortable testing things. It’s only when the rubber meets the road that you will find out if the theory works. Until then, all the solutions are just guesses.
  • Use the Pareto method to critically evaluate what parts of your workflow add value, and remove the rest.

Vadim Feldman
Founder and Management Consultant

Vadim Feldman