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. Ding-a-ling, Ding-a-ling By Jan Verhoeff Perfunctorily ringing, the phone starts my day with an incessant ring. I'm not ready for the morning yet, but I paste a smile on my face and pick up the receiver.Customer #1 - Good morning Jan, I need a business plan written up ASAP, got a pen?Me - No, but what cha want in it?Customer #1 - The usual, I can email details, but I'd like to have it by Friday.Me - Well, this is Thursday and you aren't at the top of my list, but if you'll get me an email, I'll see what I can do.(My eyeballs just rol… 2. Business Continuity and Payment Systems By Stanley Epstein The Bank for International Settlements definition of a payment system states; “A payment system consists of a set of instruments, banking procedures and, typically, interbank funds transfer systems that ensure the circulation of money” (From “A glossary of terms used in payments and settlement systems”, Committee on Payment & Settlement Systems. BIS, Basel. March 2003).Despite this we often associate the word “system” with only the technology; the bits and bites, the hardware and the software.… 3. Finding the Right Way to Motivate Your Employees By Chris Widener Fear, Incentives and GrowthZig Ziglar says that there are three main ways to motivate people in general and employees specifically. They are fear, incentives and growth. Let's take a look at each one.Fear. This is not good. Number one, it isn't right, and number two, it doesn't work well in the long run and isn't good for the overall health of the organization. Yet, still there are people who use it. They make blatant or veiled threats in order to get people to work. There is a better way.Ince… 4. Hire Winners: Avoid These 10 Interview No-No’s By Marcia Zidle Have you ever hired someone who did not live up to expectations? I’m sure many of us have at one time. The purpose of the interview is to obtain good information about an applicant to make a wise selection decision. It may sound simple but then why are there so many poor hires? The reason is that many hiring managers make 10 key interviewing errors that prevent them from hiring the best people. Beginning an interview saying, “I haven’t had time to really review your resume…so tell me about… |
||||
