Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly ImportantLearn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly Important article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Hard as it may be to walk away once you're aware of it, just because a problem is there doesn't mean you have to solve it. Ask yourself and your colleagues, 'What will happen if we don't solve this problem?' If the answer is, 'not much,' then turn your attention to something more important. If you don't know what will happen, find out before you undertake a problem-solving project. It should be clear to you and everyone else involved that the problem is worth the effort--and expense--to fix it. Quantify the cost of the problem quickly, but as realistically as you can. Include lost opportunity costs as well as real expenses such as staff time to deal with the problem, travel expenses, etc. Use actual costs where you can; estimate where you can't. Then guesstimate what it will cost to analyze and fix it. Write your analysis down, stating all your assumptions explicitly. Get a colleague to verify that your assumptions and estimates are reasonable. Start with a rough 'order of magnitude' estimate. That may be enough to answer the question of whether you should proceed. If it's not clear, especially if the cost to solve it will be high, do a more careful analysis. If it will cost more to fix than to live with the problem, or if the number is even close, perhaps your resources (time, people, money) are better spent on other projects. If you decide to proceed anyway, you can do so with a better understanding of what you're undertaking. On the other hand, if you can demonstrate that the cost of the problem is much higher than the cost of solving it, using estimates based on reasonable assumptions, it will generally be much easier to get the resources you need. You can use your written analysis as a sales tool to help win support for your decision to proceed or not. We have to learn to distinguish those things that are truly important from those that are merely urgent. --Jerry D. Campbell
copyright 2005. Jeanne Sawyer. All Rights Reserved. |
More Articles:1. Are You At The Mercy Of Computer Geeks? By Melanie Mendelson Many business owners are sabotaging their business without even realizing it. They are completely out of the loop when it comes to all technology aspects of their operation such as websites, computers and software. They become completely dependent on their technical people and naively believe that things are "being taken care of".This "head in the sand" approach is very dangerous. Here are just a few scenarios of what can happen:Your webmaster is the only person who knows the username, pass… 2. Difficult Staff - It Pays To Get To Know Them Better By Alan Fairweather It's very easy for a business owner or manager to fall into the trap of condemning one of their team as a no-hoper or a problem child.It may turn out that this person shouldn't be on your team however as Abraham Lincoln once said about someone he had a problem with - "I don't think I like that man, I must get to know him better."Of course, we're not just talking about difficult members of your team; we're talking about all of them and how important it is to understand them as individuals. It… 3. Popular Business Misconceptions Cost You Money! By J. Stephen Pope Faulty information costs you money! Which of these popular business misconceptions do you believe?Popular Misconception #1: "We Only Need Our Books Done Once A Year For Tax Purposes." Are Your Accounting Records Adequate To Run Your Business?Although it is important to keep records for tax purposes, it is not the only reason (or even the primary reason) good accounting records should be kept. Another frequent reason clients request financial statement preparation is to obtain bank finan… 4. Making Meetings Work By Marcia Zidle We have all attended meetings that were boring, mindless and profoundly ineffective. Meetings don’t have to be a waste of time. Rather, they can be productive if the leader or chairperson practices these five strategies and gets down to the business of running the meeting instead of being run by it. People will then leave the meeting with smiles, not frowns on their faces.Introductions. If people don’t know each other, allow participants about 30 seconds to introduce themselves to the gr… |
||||
