Here we’ll discuss the rolling wave planning principle and how it works in project management.  

What is rolling wave planning in project management?

Rolling wave planning is a project management technique that breaks the work planning process into smaller waves or time periods, which makes it easier for the team to accommodate project changes. It focuses on iterative work and frequent updates. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) provides the following definition of rolling wave planning:

“Rolling wave planning is an iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while work further in the future is planned at a higher level.”

According to PMBOK, rolling wave planning is possible with various levels of details depending on what point of planning you’re at. At the early stage of strategic planning, there is a little amount of defined information, so the work package can be decomposed into smaller levels of known details. As the situation becomes clear, these levels of details can be transformed into actual activities; and as the project progresses, the list of these activities can be updated.

Rolling wave planning example

A good example of rolling wave planning could be a situation when you are expected to finish your project in one year but the planning can be done only for the first three months – because you do not have a visible final goal, or you’re unsure about the resources, or because you don’t have enough information.

At this point, you cannot say for sure what the daily work of the team members will look like after the first three months pass. However, using the rolling wave technique, you can plan these first three months, and then add more details as the project unfolds. This way, project managers can use rolling wave planning to estimate costs and risks, reducing uncertainties and allowing more flexibility.   

However, for this technique to be productive, project managers must provide a list of milestones and assumptions.     

Rolling wave planning can be very helpful for the following projects:

1. On agile projects since agile project management is based on an iterative approach to planning.
2. For projects without specific goals or timelines. Working by phases, you can naturally get to see the bigger picture, without forcing the events.  
3. When planning data is not available. This is why it will be appropriate for software development projects, as well as for research and development projects (since they are focused on exploring and discovering new products and services).
4. For innovative projects as they require the ability to look for hidden opportunities and respond to challenges.

Progressive elaboration vs rolling wave planning

The terms “rolling wave planning” and “progressive elaboration” can sound confusing. So let’s explain what exactly each of them stands for.

Progressive elaboration is a process of making a plan more specific, continuously improving it and adding new details as information becomes available. As the project evolves, it becomes more elaborate. According to “The PMBOK Guide”, there are two forms of progressive elaboration – rolling wave planning and prototypes. In other words, progressive elaboration is just a broader term that covers rolling wave planning as one of its expressions.

In rolling wave planning, details are planned for work that is going to be done in the near future, and the details for future work are planned only at a higher level (managers). What concerns prototypes, this is a technique which consists in getting feedback on requirements providing a model of the future product when the product is not actually built yet.  

So as we can see, despite some misunderstanding, progressive elaboration and rolling wave planning are not opposite to each other – they are rather interdependent.  

Benefits of rolling wave planning

1. Establishing priorities. In rolling wave planning, you can see all the tasks and milestones. This allows everyone working on a project to clearly understand the immediate priorities, this way letting them see the correlation between short-term tasks and the overall final goal.
2. Creating accountability. Detailed information about short-term phases develops transparency between the team and stakeholders, which increases accountability. Team members know what they are expected to do every day.
3. Shortening timelines. With rolling wave planning, the team does not have to wait for the managers to plan each and every phase of the project. Besides, completing the project phase by phase makes the whole project more manageable and long-term goals – more achievable.
4. More opportunities for innovation. Getting new information in the course of work, the team may see new creative solutions which they would probably not notice working to a stable plan. This also encourages adaptability, since innovation often means new challenges.
5. Flexibility while managing risks. Planning the whole project from the beginning till the end, it’s impossible to predict all risks that may arise in the process of work. This may cause a lot of confusion. Rolling wave planning gives you some control – risks are easier to handle if you assess them by iterations.

Disadvantages of rolling wave planning

A serious disadvantage of the rolling wave planning method is the possibility to face huge unexpected challenges which you are not ready to deal with. Even though rolling wave planning can help with risk management, in some cases, it can also increase the risks and cause issues.

This is why you should not use this technique working on very important and huge projects: a mistake can lead to the losses of money invested, and even worse, impact the environment or even safety.

Eduardo Levenfeld, a CEO at bitPerk.io, provides the following example: 

“If you have to build a huge nuclear plant, it’s safer to spend much money and effort on planning the whole project, because you have no right for mistake – a wrong move could cause horrible problems, both for the environment and for human lives.”

How to do rolling wave planning

Rolling wave planning is conducted in the following steps:

1. Identify project requirements. Build a work breakdown structure (WBS) – split the project into work items, identifying project priorities and requirements, as well as roles and responsibilities. It also involves discussing budgets and connections among tasks.
2. Divide the project into phases. Consider the milestones – completed tasks that demonstrate the progress. Estimate the length of each phase to determine the expected overall timeline. 
3. Plan the first iteration (also called a “wave”). Make a list of tasks team members are expected to do during this phase. Establish deadlines to let people know how much time they have. Allocate resources for the first phase.
4. Plan future phases. The team starts working on the first assignments, and managers must control their work, making sure all the requirements are met. To do so, they can hold meetings to discuss issues and offer suggestions, recording the progress and identifying the risks. While the team is still working on the first project phase, managers can plan future phases, determining the scope, budget, and timeline for future phases. As they get more information, managers should reduce uncertainties in the later project stages.
5. Continue the iteration process. Once the first iteration is completed, come back to step one to work on the second iteration – this way, the project is continued in circles. Complete the tasks by phase till you achieve the project goals.    
6. Honestly evaluate your strategy. Discuss the things that worked for you and things that didn’t. Ask team members to provide some feedback (which could be in the form of anonymous surveys). Compare your expectations with actual results. By analyzing the strategy, you can learn important lessons and avoid mistakes in the future, improving your product and the way you produce it.

The level of detail

The work breakdown structure you build at the very start of the project will not contain many details about future phases. The more remote in time the phase is, the less detail you will be able to predict. It can even happen that some phases will not contain any detail at all. However, as you get closer to each next phase, the amount of details will increase, so you will be able to review the phases.  

As we can see, rolling wave planning provides a very realistic level of detail – the possibility that you will achieve what you expect is very high.

Projects can be different, and there is no strategy that would work for every single one. To choose the strategy that would work best for you, think about all the materials, resources, and information you initially have at your disposal. If you already have all the details, feel free to use the traditional planning method. And if you lack some information, you can use the rolling wave principle, working by iterations. Choosing the right strategy, you increase your chances to successfully complete the project.     

The post What is Rolling Wave Planning? Definition, Example & Benefits appeared first on PM Column.

The Six Hats method is a great instrument of thinking – constructively, quickly, and in a conflict-free way. It’s similar to playing a game: you take a role, you follow the rules, with the only difference that to win means to find the best solution.

In this article we’ll explain the main principles of the Six Thinking Hats concept.

What Are the Six Thinking Hats?

Thinking is our natural ability, but we don’t really know how to use it wisely. Making a decision or a judgment, we get overwhelmed with the kaleidoscope of facts, emotions, intuition, and ideas, which confuse and exhaust us. This makes the thinking process harder and lowers the quality of our decisions. But what if we start thinking differently?

The Six Thinking Hats method gives us this chance. It consists in focusing on a specific thinking type, one at a time. Like you can put a hat on (and then take it off), you can apply a specific thinking type, and then easily switch to another one.

The colors of the hats are not random – they symbolically represent the types of thinking, and these symbols are obvious and memorable. We’ll describe them a little later.

Who Created the Six Thinking Hats Method?

The concept of Six Thinking Hats was created by Edward de Bono, a Maltese physician, psychologist, and philosopher. Initially, this technique was developed for government agencies, but it turned out to be very practical and got to be used in everyday situations.

The Six Thinking Hats technique is an example of “lateral thinking” – an approach to problem-solving that uses creativity and thinking out of the box, also introduced by de Bono. This approach is opposed to the Western type of thinking, based on argument, which originated from ancient Greece. 

So let’s go over each of the hats and learn more about them:

The White Hat

White is the absence of color, and the white hat represents information – which is pure objective facts. This excludes feelings, intuition, impressions, and any other things that leave space for interpretation:

“Give me your broad white hat thinking on unemployment” – you’re asking to provide only facts and figures, and do it in the most neutral way.

Unfortunately, what we call facts is often just our beliefs or a likelihood. This is why before putting a white hat on, you should verify the information. If you see that it’s likely to be true, you can still provide it – but only in the right frame: “occasionally true”, “usually true”, “been known to happen” etc.

The Red Hat

Red is the color of fire, and fire means feelings and emotions – anger, unhappiness, doubt, frustration, etc. In a business environment, expressing emotions is seen as ill-mannered. But emotions are real, and the red hat lets you openly discuss them:

“I do not like him and I don’t want to do business with him. That is all there is to it” – this may sound a bit too harsh, but pretending that everything is fine when it’s not will only make the situation worse.

We should never underestimate the effect of emotions on our thinking. The red hat brings them to the surface and helps us realize why we feel a certain way. Sometimes our reaction is colored by a long-lasting first impression, sometimes – by our overall attitude. In any case, it’s very useful to understand your own “illogical” self.

Like what you read? Check more articles in PM Column:

• What Successful Project Managers Do Differently
• 4 Ds of Time Management Explained
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The Black Hat

Black stands for danger. The black hat makes you consider anything illegal or unprofitable, anything that may put you at risk. This type of thinking is an evolutionary mechanism of self-protection – without being vigilant, humankind wouldn’t have survived in the wild.    

“I am all in favor of appointing Peter to this post. But it would be sensible to have some black hat thinking first” – in other words, you want to know the downsides of your possible decision, to make sure they don’t prevail over the benefits.

The black hat is about risk assessment: we think about possible problems and obstacles in advance, to not let them catch us off-guard.

Note: de Bono says that the black hat is the most important one – and at the same time, it’s the most overused. Many people tend to think negatively, finding “dark sides” in virtually everything. This is when putting on other thinking hats comes in handy. If your typical thinking style is looking for negativity, you may be very surprised with your own ideas developed, for example, on the basis of facts or out of creativity.      

There is one more way to overuse black hats. People can intentionally criticize someone else’s ideas, only to appear more expert and this way demonstrate their own self-importance. Unfortunately, a single negative comment can diminish the value of generally good ideas, since it will be the part people will focus on – again, because of our natural urge to protect ourselves.

The Yellow Hat

The color of sunshine, yellow represents optimism. Wearing the yellow hat, you’re supposed to deliberately look for positive things – and find value where you normally don’t see it:

“There is abundant water in the mountains fifty miles away. Would it be feasible to put in a pipeline?” – yes, you don’t know if this works out for sure, but here is an opportunity, so why not give it a try?

Speaking about optimism, de Bono underlies it shouldn’t turn into foolishness. The yellow hat is not about pink unicorns. Your ideas must be practical so that you can benefit from them. Over-optimistic hopes that a miracle will save your business have nothing to do with yellow-hat thinking. But if you start looking for opportunities to save your business yourself – then it’s exactly how the yellow hat works.

The Green Hat

Like green leaves symbolize growth and energy, the green hat symbolizes creativity. You come up with totally new ideas, no matter how absurd they seem at first glance:

“Here is a suggestion for working on Saturdays and having a midweek break on Wednesday. Can you green hat it for me?” – this idea sounds unusual, but you never know – some people at your office can still accept it.

With the green hat on, you’re open to experiments – and protected from being called a clown. You can use provocations, and you can make up literally silly suggestions because there is a chance they will turn out brilliant.

To make provocations even more provocative, de Bono invented the word “po” – a symbolic indicator of a crazy idea that follows it:

“Po planes should land upside down.”

“Po” ideas are absurd, of course, but they plan an important role. Forcing you out of your ordinary thinking pattern, they also force you out of your habitual perception. This way, you can come across another idea – the one you’d never think of otherwise.

The Blue Hat

The blue sky above is clear – and your thoughts under the blue hat are clear as well. The blue hat is about control. It helps you organize your own thinking.

“We do not have much time to consider this matter… would someone like to suggest a blue hat structure for our thinking?” – when you are time-constrained, or just feel at a loss, a structure is the best thing you can use.

To put on the blue hat means to pick an algorithm of thinking. For example, in some situations, it’s more appropriate to use red hat thinking, while others require neutrality. As an option, you can provide a plan to follow: first, we put on white hats, then green ones, and then – black ones. The better you organize your thinking, the more effective your results will be.

The Benefits of Six Thinking Hats

So what are the benefits of the Six Thinking Hats technique? De Bono speaks about the following ones:

Power. Like the focusing of the sun rays can burn holes in metal, focusing your mental effort can solve a most serious problem. Putting on the hats, one by one, we use our abilities to the fullest. And when it’s done in a group, where all players share their experience and knowledge, the result can be truly outstanding.

Time Saving. A meeting can take a ridiculously huge amount of time, only because participants argue, stand for their own thoughts – but not really hear each other. With the Six Thinking Hats method, people think in the same direction, accumulating ideas. This saves a lot of resources, both time and money, since hours spent in meetings can be used on actual work.

Removal of Ego. A huge advantage of the Thinking Hats is that they give everyone a chance to speak  up. Very often people are shy to openly express their opinions, especially if there is someone else with a naturally louder voice and bigger ambitions. The Hats make everyone in the room equal. They don’t let you disagree only because you personally don’t like the speaker.

One Thing at a Time. What does our thinking process normally look like? We look for new ideas; we are full of emotions; we look for facts… and eventually, we feel confused and probably exhausted. It’s hard to handle all of this at the same time. The Thinking Hats clear our mental labyrinths.    

How Do You Use the Six Thinking Hats?

There are several ways how to use the Six Thinking Hats:

1. Single use. This is simple – you decide to think under a specific hat or ask others to do so.

2. Sequence use. Here the hats are picked in a certain sequence, which you agree on beforehand. With the sequence use, there are some rules to follow:

• Discipline. A facilitator (usually the boss) must decide which hat is being used, and no one can change the order. You cannot say whatever you want – you must stick to the order.
• Timing. For each hat, allocate a certain amount of time. De Bono recommends allocating 1 minute for each person per one hat – so if there are 4 people in a group, one hat session will take four minutes.
• Guidelines. Different situations require different approaches, so the combination of hats will not be the same in each particular case. Use the blue hat in the beginning and at the end of each situation. Be careful with putting the red hat right after the blue one in certain cases – sometimes it’s not appropriate. Doing the assessment, put on the yellow one before the black one.

3. Group and Individual Thinking vs. Individuals in Groups. This technique brings the most impressive results when used in group discussions, but of course, it can also be applied by a single individual.

Individual thinking can as well take place in discussions and conversations: a leader can ask to pause to come up with ideas. This is very useful with the green, yellow, and black hats.

The Six Thinking Hats method is very simple but incredibly effective. Of course, there is no need to apply it at every moment of our thinking – after all, we cannot voluntarily control it all the time. However, when it comes to solving complicated issues or just work issues, it can prove really helpful. 

The Six Thinking Hats help make better decisions, relieve stress, and save time – these are the reasons why this technique has become a routine in many organizations worldwide. So give it a try, and see how easier it will get for you to think.

The post The Six Thinking Hats: Elevate Your Critical Thinker Game appeared first on PM Column.

Business Creep

This type of scope creep occurs when stakeholders or your organization changes goals and priorities, creating a new business environment. You may not be ready for it, which means you will have to fix issues before even fully understanding them.

For example, a stakeholder may decide to impress the target audience, and that would put a heavy burden on the team members who simply do not have the resources to finish the project.  The solution could be some extra financial input and a broader timeframe, but only on the condition that you know the new requirements well.

Changes can also include new people involved in the project, and new people will probably have their own ideas about things going on. You may need to have a discussion with them to make sure you both want to reach the same goals and see the same desired outcome. Everybody has to know what they are responsible for, so clarify the roles.   

Effort Creep

Have you ever had a dream where you’re desperately trying to run but your body refuses to listen, and you can hardly move? This is similar to effort creep: you put so much effort, but don’t make any progress. Your frustration grows like mushrooms after rain, as well as your anxiety. You feel ashamed and worthless. Not the best feelings to live through, right?    

Effort creep can be caused by over-optimism: we often underestimate the amount of effort needed. It may not even be the fault of the team; sometimes business owners or developers lack the details about the project scope, and make the wrong estimates. In any case, if you see you’re falling behind, don’t panic. Make a pause and think about what you can do to improve the situation. Think if there is an easier way to fix the problem.

Another reason for this type of scope creep is a simple lack of skills and knowledge. Working with a tool or technology you’ve never used before, you will have to spend some time learning it. But don’t confuse yourself: start with something small, ask for support from a subject matter expert… or simply don’t do things that are not within your area of expertise.

Hope Creep

Where there is life, there is hope. But hope should never turn into pink unicorn fantasies. Believing that you can meet a deadline that is physically impossible to meet is pretty infantile. An attempt to make others happy without a real background can lead to reality denial and hiding the truth… yes, that’s called lying.

Nobody is perfect. If you don’t let yourself make mistakes, trying to keep face, you will eventually suffer emotional exhaustion. Don’t overpromise. We all need acceptance and approval, but these should not be received through false impressions. Failures are not the end of the world, they just mean you’ve got space for improving. Everyone on the team should have the freedom to rise and fall and feel secure because no one will judge them.

Hoping for the better, and not actually doing anything to make things happen, you can lose control over the situation. For example, you don’t talk to your team members and have no idea that they’re struggling with problems; you don’t talk to the client either, hoping that there are no problems at all. What would be the result? Right, a lot of anger and shame.

Feature Creep

This type of creep, also known as gold plating, refers to adding unnecessary details to the product when no one asked for them. It is similar to scope creep but the difference is that feature creep is never accidental: you add features deliberately, often with good intentions. Adding one thing, you will want to add one more, and eventually, you can find yourself buried under a ton of tasks… that may never get paid.  

Even though gold plating can result from overexcitement, a more common reason for it is a fuzzy understanding of the client’s vision, which makes us deliver more and more details, hoping to satisfy his requirements.

Offering something on top of what has been agreed upon, you risk losing two things: time and money. Obviously, more features always mean more time, and if you combine this with poor management skills, you will get an especially dreadful mix. As for money, there is no guarantee your client will be willing to pay for the feature; even more, he may decide to stop the project, and you won’t get paid for the part you’ve already done.

Any subtle deviations from the original project scope lead to scope creep, and if you don’t react to those properly and on time, you will pay a high price. As you can see, scope creep can be different in nature, and each type is pretty unique. Analyzing what exactly is preventing you from completing your project, you get more chances to save resources – and actually complete it.

The post Learn 4 Types of Scope Creep to Nip It in the Bud appeared first on PM Column.

1. Lack of a clear scope

Scope creep can happen for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most common is that the client doesn’t know what they want.

As Seneca said, if one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable. Before you actually start working on a project, you must clearly define the objectives you want to achieve – this way, you draw a line between what falls within scope, and what doesn’t. Include as many details as possible. Don’t forget to ensure that all parties involved are on the same page: prepare a charter that reflects the business needs and the overall project vision so that everybody understands what the parameters are, as well as budget and schedule limitations. There should not be any misinterpretation.

2. Lack of stakeholder involvement

Anyone who is affected by the project is a stakeholder. This term can apply to your company as a whole, as well as to your client; to someone who is or isn’t a part of your team. The sooner you identify the stakeholders, the better. If the list of stakeholders is too long, try to make it shorter: too many stakeholders can result in too many different opinions and an ambiguous strategy. So prioritize the list.

Once you identify the stakeholders, you should assign roles and requirements. This will set expectations, and make it clear that everyone will be held accountable for a specific aspect.  Unfortunately, it’s not a rare occasion when stakeholders don’t spend enough time on the project. Obviously, they must contribute.

3. No change control process in place

Scope creep happens when you don’t keep the scope of your project under control.

The possibility of change is very high, and the biggest mistake you can make is not being ready to handle it. If you don’t agree on the change control process in the very beginning, you will encounter serious problems later, so don’t put it off.

Determine what changes will be allowed, and when they can be made. You can outline this in a Scope Management Plan – a document where you state how exactly the changes must be requested and approved. Without this document, project teams will probably make decisions by themselves, and there is no guarantee those decisions will be supported by others involved. Besides, a Scope Management Plan prevents you from “scope kill” – a phenomenon when you refuse to make a change, no matter how beneficial to the project it may be, for the mere reason that the process of implementing this change is too complicated.

An important thing to remember is communication: everybody needs to know who the authority approving the changes is, so that when they have something on their mind, they go directly to that person. Finally, it is necessary to create an agreed-upon method of communication to inform about the changes those stakeholders who are not part of your team.

4. Not splitting projects into phases

The longer a project, the more chances of scope creep happening: a broad time frame provides space for constantly adding features and details. This is why it’s useful to divide a project into phases (or subprojects), setting deadlines for each of them. After you finish a phase, conduct a lesson learned session and formally close the phase – this way, you’ll keep track of the results and stay motivated.   

You can also create a weekly status report that would help you measure progress. Make a plan and check how much work has already been done, and what is still left. Such visualization can make it easier to meet a deadline – and help avoid the temptation to increase your own workload.

5. No feedback from clients

If there is no initial buy-in from your clients, they will probably change their minds in the course of the project. The clients must have a clear understanding of the overall picture from the very beginning. Talk them through all the deliverables and parameters; ask questions to make sure they really get it.

When the project actually starts, check in with your clients on a regular basis to get their feedback. Try to spot any problems at the point when they arise and are easy to handle. Write down all the recommendations and decisions in an official paper so that anyone can refer to them later.

Changes can bring excellent results, and it’s not wise to simply avoid them by all means. What matters though is not the change itself, but how you handle it. The causes of scope creep discussed above are not evil that have to be accepted as it is – they already contain the key to solving the issue.  

The post 5 Causes of Scope Creep You Can’t Afford to Ignore appeared first on PM Column.

What are the 4 d’s of time management?

4 Ds of time management is a system developed to help set priorities and optimize work processes, filtering tasks and focusing on those that are really important and urgent. 

Though this system has been used for years, it is hard to say who created 4 Ds of time management. It was mentioned in Career Comeback: Taking Charge of Your Career by Jacquie Wise, published in 1991, where the author gave credit for the idea to Daniel Johnson; the older references can be found in “Business India” magazine (1986).

So what do the “4D” stand for? The words used for each D are “drop” (“delete” or “dump”), “delay”, “delegate”, and “do”. Basically, “D” is a strategy used to help you organize your schedule. It originated from the Eisenhower Matrix – a simple grid consisting of two axes that represent the degrees of importance and urgency. The 4 of d’s of time management template is based on this matrix but adds more meaning to it.

Let’s go over each of the 4 Ds of time management and get a more detailed understanding:

Drop ⚽

Saying “no” is rude, correct? How often did you sacrifice your personal time and maybe health to keep a promise you didn’t even want to give? The same applies to the business world. If you are a freelancer, you can face a situation when you don’t get enough work over a long time period; so when you finally start getting it, you can take on too many projects and eventually burn out. “Dropping” some of the projects can save your energy and inspiration for the future.

Besides, talking about “dropping”, we should also mention that there are many things that are a  simple waste of time. Try to analyze your daily routine and figure out what are the biggest time thieves. Think about meetings. Will it make any difference if you shorten a meeting by 15 minutes? If not, go for it. There is no need to discuss issues for the sake of discussion. Besides, sometimes you do not have to attend meetings at all because your presence is not required.  

Social media is another black hole where your time disappears. We often don’t notice how much time we spend on the phone, but scrolling down your page and replying to messages can steal hours (!). The problem is, that it is hard to get focused after you get distracted – in fact, getting back to work and trying to focus again takes even more time than the distraction itself.

Reading emails is not an exception. It’s one thing if these are work-related emails, but what if this is spam which you have to filter to get to the important ones? It would be smart to unsubscribe from all the websites sending you those emails.     

Delegate 📂

A pile of tasks growing can make you feel desperate and start panicking. The good news is that you don’t have to do it all by yourself.

Let’s be honest: you cannot be an expert in everything. There must be people on your team who are more competent or skilled in something. As Eisenhower, the author of the before mentioned matrix, said, “Always try to… learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you”. 

Why not share the assignment with someone who can do it better? You can kill two birds with one stone, getting rid of the extra burden and making others feel useful. Invoicing and expenses, shortlisting CVs, conducting surveys, etc. – are the tasks that you can potentially delegate.

Yes, your inner perfectionist will suffer; but if you think carefully and pick the right person to do the right task, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Besides, some tasks, though taking much time, are very simple to do and don’t require special skills. Is there anyone who could schedule interviews? Share articles on social media? Book flights? If yes, ask them to assist.

It is true that if you are not a boss, delegating can be hard. Being an employee, you cannot give tasks; however, you can ask for support. Your colleagues or even your manager can help you solve problems you struggle with. After all, you are not alone on your team.

Delay ⌛️

You feel inspired and enthusiastic; ideas keep coming to you. Suddenly, someone knocks on the door and asks you to do something. You put the task you’re doing aside. Your muse, offended to the bottom of her heart, flies away. When you start your previous task all over again, it’s not the same. Annoying, right?  

“What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important” – this quote, again by Eisenhower, should be a good reminder to those who often find themselves in this situation. How can we avoid it? The trick is, if you’ve got many tasks to do that are important yet not urgent, deal with them – but later.

Someone is asking you to come up with new ideas, but this can wait – so delay it. You get emails that you can reply to tomorrow – delay it. You need to call your family or friends, but everything is okay and no need to do it right now – delay it. You have to research materials to develop a long-term business strategy – do the same, delay it!  

There are a couple of secrets here. Delaying things, try to put them on a list in chronological order (what needs to be done first, second, and so on). Also, don’t forget to set deadlines. This will prevent you from procrastinating.

One more obstacle on your way to finishing a project could be a desire to take on a new and more interesting one. This can be a trap because multitasking can lead to decreased effectiveness: focusing your attention on different things at the same time, you may disperse it.   

Overall, “delay” can be a very good technique for big teams since usually they work on multiple things and do need to prioritize.

Do ✅

You have already decided what can be dropped, delegated, and delayed – now you need to actually do what doesn’t fit in any of these categories. Usually, these are tasks that you must do immediately since they have a serious impact on your work.

You are working on a project that has to be submitted today because that’s the deadline set by the client – do it now because tomorrow will be too late. Emergency or a crisis happens – you need to fix it, and the sooner the better. The exam is tomorrow, and you are not ready yet – open a book and read it, otherwise, you may have to stay at college for another year.

In a way, “do” is the easiest one out of the four Ds: you just do things and move forward once you finish. The hard part is to figure out what actually should be done. If you fail, you risk taking too much responsibility and burnout.

So before doing something, stop for a second, take a deep breath, and think: do I really need to do it? Maybe someone else? Maybe not now? Maybe not at all?

The importance of 4 d’s of time management

To illustrate the importance of 4 Ds, let’s go back in time a little and look at the person whose ideas lie in the basis of this system – Dwight Eisenhower. The 34^th President of the United States and a 5 star General of the Army, he made remarkable contributions to the world history: he was the Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during WWII, the first NATO Supreme Commander, a person who initiated the creation of NASA – and this is only a small part of his achievements. Eisenhower was famous for his calculated approach to planning, and as we can see, his urgency-importance matrix did work. This is why the technique developed by him is definitely worth attention.

Now, let’s come back to 2022 and think about what this technique can give us in modern realia. Many firms use time-tracking systems, requiring workers to document their time every day. Doesn’t it mean that it makes a lot of sense to prioritize the tasks and start paying for the things that really need to be done?

This can be especially useful for project managers who are leaders of groups of people, and whose responsibility is to use the money allocated for the project wisely. Indeed, small adjustments can have a huge impact over time. Think about it: you can save 4% of profit if your team tightens their timesheets by 30 minutes per day. By applying the 4Ds in project management and prioritizing the tasks, you can save a ridiculous amount of time – and money.

4 d’s of time management pros and cons

As with any other time management system, the 4 Ds one, having obvious advantages, is not perfect. Below you can read about this in more detail:

Pros: The ability to manage your time can be a relief, especially when you feel that you’re getting overwhelmed. 4 Ds of time management is a great way to start since it doesn’t require any special tools. You can buy a notebook and track your tasks manually, or use tracking software. You will probably be surprised how many hours you lose reading the news on Instagram.

Besides, practicing task filtering, you can substantially develop your decision-making and self-analysis skills, as well as logical thinking.

Cons: we should remember that life is unpredictable and there will be situations when the 4 Ds method will simply not work.

First of all, you can be objectively overburdened with work that needs to be done immediately – and you won’t even have time to think if you can or cannot do something about it.

Secondly, it won’t always work if you don’t totally control your own schedule. You cannot say “no” to things your manager tells you to do, and you cannot always delay or delegate them. The only thing you can do is to have a conversation and provide your suggestions.      

How to apply the 4 ds of time management

So how does the 4 Ds system work in action? 

The very first thing you should do applying this technique is set a goal.

Then think about what steps you need to take to achieve this goal. Make a list of steps – for a month, week, and day. 

Every morning, write down the things you have to do today, prioritizing them. Analyze their importance and urgency, and try to understand what category they should fall into: “delete”, “delegate”, “delay”, or “do.”

Sounds easy, right? But it can be pretty challenging, especially in the beginning. You may need to break a lot of habits. You may think that sitting and classifying the tasks is a waste of time. However, once you get used to it, you will see a clear picture of how you work and where exactly you fall down on your way, learning to make quick decisions.

Time is probably our most valuable resource, and it is not limitless. No matter who you are, a famous politician or a homeless person, you only have 24 hours per day. So how do you use your time? Are you sure you don’t need to change anything? Before you say “no”, think about a cynical truth – time is money, and a failure to use it properly will inevitably affect the contents of your wallet.

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