Manage by objectives

I am allergic to todo lists.

I've used them a lot.

They always work for a bit, and then somehow, no matter how well you review and organise them, they always grow stale, heavy and somehow become life-draining.

I do plan quite a bit though.

Where I work, I like to think that I've figured out a way to manage by objectives.

All work can be defined by what you are trying to achieve, as well as how you will achieve it. But I don't keep a list of actions, just the outcomes.

Why? Because actions and outcomes are not different things. Its all outcomes, they are just nested.

You just bought milk, a small task on your to-do list.

But how did you do it?

You got into your car, put the keys in the ignition and drove to the shop.

How did you do that?

You drove out of your driveway, turned left at the stop street.

And how did you do that?

Your brain pictured where you wanted to go, noticed where you are continuously, and guided your muscles through your nervous system to step on the gas, brake and turning the steering wheel.

And how did you do that?

You can go on and on…its Zeno's paradox!

The point is that you had to do an infinite number of actions just to buy milk!

At some point these activities goes below your conscious awareness, but everything worked smoothly and you got your milk! One task done…

So activity is continuous.

Outcomes are discrete 'pictures' of how we want reality to be.

Essentially any time we are describing a task, goal, outcome, aim, vision, action, we are painting a discrete picture of what reality could be. All these things are the same. Hence why I work with one list only, a list of outcomes.

I do often break down my outcomes into sub-outcomes (like a work breakdown structure). Two levels of hierarchy. No more than that. For each 'why', there's a 'how', and for each 'how', there's a 'why'.

These outcomes are then organised by when I (or whoever), will be working on them:

1. Today
2. This week
3. Upcoming
4. Later maybe

So again I don't keep tabs on actions, but I do keep tabs on who is currently responsible for moving us toward the outcome.

These outcomes are also labelled/tagged by the different weekly meetings I run, which means I have a ready agenda for each meeting focused on all the outcomes we need to achieve together, as well as who is responsible for them at that point in time.

Then on a daily basis I just make sure to review all relevant outcomes for the week that I am responsible for. This entails me scanning the list, and asking myself: "how will I make progress on this?".

So I think about next actions, but I don't manage it on a separate list.

So basically I Prime a list of currently relevant outcomes each day, by scanning through the list and checking in with myself on how I will be moving on each. This is quick and easy. Then I close the list.

What happens throughout the day is that I get inspired - a thought about a project or next action pops into my head and if I can act on it I do. If I can't act on it, I add it to my list of outcomes (if it isn't already there).

In my experience, as thoughts pop into your head, they do so with a burst of energy. Usually just enough to perform some kind of action and get some momentum. If you hold too much in your head, this energy turns into stress. However if you write it down as an outcome, you have a great way to manage your mental energy levels, and also your actions.