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. Preparing For ISO 9001 2000 Registration By John Oakland The steps need to be taken to prepare an organization for ISO 9001 2000 registration:Whilst the following text is not exhaustive in its content it should give you a reasonable idea of what’s involved in setting up an ISO 9001 2000 registration within an organization.First and most importantly you should either purchase a copy of the ISO 9001 2000 standard or read a copy at your local library.At first glance many of the terms referred to in the standard sound quite confusing but if you study th… 2. Time Management Isn't About Managing Your Time, It's Getting Control of You Do you start off a day with the idea of getting certain things done and by the end of the day you haven't even gotten to the things you wanted done? Then you should be working on getting control of you, getting control of how you manage you. What is getting in your way, getting between you and those things you intended to do? Is it easier to do things that are easier or more fun first? You look up at the clock and it is break time, so you go take a break, grumbling that you didn't get to the thi… 3. Employee Retention: Five Leadership Fundamentals By Marcia Zidle Are your management practices on the right track? Retaining your valued or high performing employees must be a strategic issue for your company. Throwing more money at your workers is not the answer and can become very costly. The more effective way to retain top talent is to address their important needs.Universal Truths: Most people are content being paid at or around the market rate for good quality work. SOME folks are extremely money conscious, but eventually they learn that the payc… 4. Whatever it Takes! By Harald Anderson I have a sign on my office door. It pretty much summarizes my philosophy of life.The sign simply says…..”Whatever it takes.”Short. Simple. To the Point.“Whatever it takes,” means exactly that. That I will do “whatever it takes” to get what I really want. It is the best description that I have ever been able to come up with to summarize the entrepreneurial experience.Decision. Commitment. Result. Something I pretty much had ingrained into my subconscious, playing sports as a kid.Make the… |
||||
