My name is Vikrama Dhiman. I lead Mobility Products @ Gojek. Previously, I led product teams at Bharti SoftBank (Airtel Money, myAirtel, Wynk), Directi (BigRock), Zeta (Corporate Benefits and Gifting), WizIQ (eLearning) and MakeMyTrip (Travel/ Hotels). I was an Agile Coach with Cisco, Yodlee, Sapient, HP & Classmates.com. I am an avid reader.
North Star Metric for Product Teams: What, Why, How
Why do many people who work long hours still run behind their schedule? Work fills the time available. The first few items can take the majority of the time, leaving you rushing through or not completing the later ones.
5 simple tricks I’ve seen efficient people employ (just in time for Monday) ->
- List down your tasks. This is obvious but often not done. The days I don’t do so are the most unproductive ones. The joy of striking down a task when done is unmatched. List down *everything* that needs to be done, including a run to the grocery shop.
- Time-box each task. It is not enough to list down tasks. There must be a deadline against it. Once the deadline passes, either move on to the next task or re-do your entire list with new timelines. The pain of doing this has helped me think through and focus.
- Expect disruption. Slack time is literally for Slack these days. Look ahead at your day and anticipate how much of the ‘work’ is going to be unexpected or supporting. Add time windows to chat/ meet every day and publish those on Slack. Turn on busy/ available signs accordingly.
- Do less. This is not always an option but when it is, please employ. If you have 10+ items on your to-do list, you are unlikely to get through all. If you have a lot of tasks, put a line to separate what you must absolutely do & others - below the line is an ‘optimistic commit’.
- Plan in quarter days. Another trick I picked from Pete Deemer of GoodAgile. Break your day into 4 components with tea break/ lunch/ tea break as regular breaks. You may do 6 components if you want. At least one of these sections should be without slack/ zoom/ meetings.