Win
An Online
Subscription To The Wall Street Journal
The
1/3 - 2/3 Planning Rule
There is a podcast we
recently
released which talks about one of Mark's favorite management planning
tools. Because it's in the High S Manager Simple Downfall cast, we
didn't
want you to miss it because you're not a high S or didn't have a high S
manager.
The 1/3 - 2/3 rule is a
helpful
guideline for being a manager and working in a medium to large size
company. Here it is: from
the time you get a request from your boss or
elsewhere in the organization, until the time the task is due, you get
only 1/3 of the time available. You have to leave the remaining 2/3 for
the organization.
Let's explain, because
when we
first heard it, it confused us. Let's say your VP gives you a task on
the 1st of March, and it's due at the end of March. You have roughly 30
days. It doesn't matter whether the people who will do the work are
three
levels down or one level down, you only get 10 of those days to plan,
strategize and collaborate with peers or subordinates. In 10 days,
your directs need to know everything they need to know to action the
task. If you have three layers under you in your organization (you,
directors, managers and individual contributors) you get 10 days of the
30. One layer down, the directors gets 6 (roughly) of the remaining 20.
The layer below that, (the managers) gets 5 of the remaining 15
(roughly), leaving 10 days for the individual contributors.
Most people say,
"That's dumb. I
only need one day. Wouldn't it be better if my team/their team had 29
days". We answer, "Yes, it would be better, but it NEVER works that way
in practice, in our experience". [Now, if you're asked for everyone's
start date in the company, and it doesn't require much work on your
part to send an email with the dates, do it in ten minutes. But that's
not usually what happens is it? You're usually being asked to do work,
or the people who work for you are being engaged somehow.]
If this still sounds
overly top
heavy, in our experience it's common for higher levels to take far more
time. The beautiful part of 1/3 planning is that it keeps us from
doing too much or simply sitting on something, preventing work being
done. On the other hand, it allows us to take the time to plan and
strategize and consider and ensure our decision is not rushed. We are
supposed to add value to our organization and the 1/3 rule allows us to
do so.
Again, we're not saying
it's as
simple as taking all 33% for yourself. Something that only requires
sending an email, or asking a question in your staff meeting or picking
up the phone, do. But for those activities which task your organization
- no matter how many layers - this is a great rule of thumb.
Wall
Street Journal
Mark has been reading
his Wall
Street Journals on his Kindle DX for sometime now, and has found that
the paper version is superfluous. However, we wouldn't want our
cancellation of his edition to cause the Wall Street Journal to stop
existing, so we've decided to run a sweepstake. We will give away an
online
subscription to the top 2 entries in our sweepstake.
Please
write 75 words starting with: "I really want a Wall Street Journal
because...". Send your entries to show@manager-tools.com
with the subject
heading Wall Street Journal. Closing date will be March 4 and
we'll announce the winners on
the blog
on March 19 and in
the next newsletter. Winners will be judged by the Manager Tools team
and on our view of your entry's merit.
This is the first time
we've had
a competition, and we're really excited to see your entries. Good luck!
Distribution
Those
of you who have
premium
content know that use of that content is only for that particular
member. This newsletter is not premium content, and we'd love for you
to forward it to anyone who would find it interesting and useful.
If
someone forwarded it
to you,
and you'd like your own copy in future, become a Manager Tools member here.
It's free!
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