The QLog

The Two Great Business Commandments

Most great companies, departments, teams, and individuals embrace these two business commandments:

1. Promise Superior Benefits
2. Delivery even MORE!

However, these two rules co-exist within a symbiotic relationship, meaning both need to be followed as part of a cohesive system for them both to work. The sum is greater than the parts.

Productivity 101 (Day 101): The 80-20 on 80-20

Although the Italian sociologist and economist, Vilfredo Pareto, provided the foundation for the 80-20 rule (often called the Pareto principle) when analyzing income distributions in the 19th century, it was Joseph Moses Juran who applied the idea to quality management theory. It is a very useful idea; however, one must be careful not to oversimplify it.

Juran initially referred to the 80-20 as “the vital few and the trivial many”. This is a good description for many of the things that an individual, team, or organization does.

Yet, problems can occur with this definition when looking at CORE competencies.

For example, would you want to visit a Doctor, Dentist, or Lawyer who only focuses on 20% of your problem as it will give 80% the solution? Probably not.

Or, would you buy a cake that was only made with the top 20% of the ingredients (water, flour, eggs) as from the 80/20 Bakery as if the other ingredients (yeast, chocolate) were superfluous? Doubtful.

Sometime, it is necessary to achieve excellence and the small components are important too. Juran realized this late in life and began to characterize the 80-20 rule as “the vital few and the useful many” yet this phrase has mostly been lost.

What is the 80-20 of 80-20?

• 80% of your daily tasks do fall into the “the vital few and the trivial many” category where increased effort will produce diminishing returns and may not be worth the extra effort.
  
• 20% of your daily tasks will require great attention for real success. This is when “the vital few and the useful many” should be your overall guide.

Bottom Line: It Depends! Both ideas are true. You need to be aware of your goals, projects, and overall outcomes to decide if something is important to you are not. Productivity is about being able to choose wisely and then commit the correct amounts of time, energy, and resources to achieve the final result.

Productivity 101 (Day 76): The Rule of Tens

I am writing a longer essay on this concept, but I thought I’d share the bare bones outline on the Qlog as it should clarify a networking problem and a viable answer.

During your lifetime, you’ll meet thousands of people; however, only a small number will become good friends (I use this term loosely to mean both social friends and business contacts) and a critical few of these individuals will greatly impact your life. This will include people such as your best friend, your best employee, or your best customer. I call these people the ‘Vitals’ as they are the ones who influence your life, lifestyle, and livelihood more than anyone else.

1000 Casual Acquaintances
        \/
        \/     
        \/
100 Good Friends
        \/
        \/
        \/
10    True Vitals

Of course, some people who are outgoing, positive, and real, will find more good friends and true vitals for every 1000 people…and others will find less. Yet, in general, this Rule of Tens does represent a general rule of networking and relationships. For every 1000 people you meet: 10% will become friends, 1% will become vital.

The Paradox: Any single person you meet could become one of your True Vitals; however, you will not know which ones. This is something that evolves after initial meetings and first impressions. Anyone of a thousand acquaintances could become the key to your success, but exactly who will always be a mystery.

The Solution: Treat everyone you meet as the most important person on the planet. In their mind, they already are. This will insure that you do not accidentally offend or ignore someone who COULD have been someone wonderful in your own life.

Productivity 101 (Day 58): The 70/30 Rule

I developed this ‘rule’ when managing an IT department of 20 associates and I learned this lesson the hard way. Often, due to the number of meetings I had to attend, 80% to 90% of my day was scheduled by other people from other areas of the firm. So, when a crisis occurred, and these did happen more frequently than one would care to admit, either my staff would not alert me until I was available or I had to excuse myself from another appointment to attend to the urgent issue.

The 70/30 Rule turned out to be the cure. I decided that only 70% of my time was available to others for meetings, etc. I reserved 30% of my daily calendar, including my lunch hour, for myself to allow for flexibility. I pre-scheduled my calendar so I had time in the morning and afternoon to react to the unforeseeable problems that can suddenly arise.

Of course, when there was no emergency, this reserved time was not idle. I would use it to be pro-active on important projects or to go over questions with others on my team.

If you have a hectic schedule that has many unknowns, try employing the 70/30 Rule.

Productivity 101 (Day 52): Twain’s Law of Work

"Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do." – Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Not too long ago, I discussed that passion is a Life Management Tool as the more you enjoy something, be it a simple task or your vocation, the more likely you are to excel at it and produce superior results.

Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, offers a similar formula for success.

In his novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain suggests that enjoyment and compensation are directly linked to one another: “The law of work does seem utterly unfair--but there it is, and nothing can change it: the higher the pay in enjoyment the worker gets out of it, the higher shall be his pay in cash, also.”

Later is life, Twain gave a more profound statement on this same concept for his own career within ‘A Humorist’s Confession” which was published in the New York Times on November 26, 1905:

"What work I have done I have done because it has been play. If it had been work I shouldn't have done it. Who was it who said, "Blessed is the man who has found his work"? Whoever it was he had the right idea in his mind. Mark you, he says his work--not somebody else's work. The work that is really a man's own work is play and not work at all. Cursed is the man who has found some other man's work and cannot lose it. When we talk about the great workers of the world we really mean the great players of the world. The fellows who groan and sweat under the weary load of toil that they bear never can hope to do anything great. How can they when their souls are in a ferment of revolt against the employment of their hands and brains? The product of slavery, intellectual or physical, can never be great."

Bottom Line
Want to be more productive and paid more for your efforts? Then obey Mark Twain's Law of Work!

Productivity 101 (Day 49): Stress

Many people claim they work best under pressure. This is likely both true and false...depending on several conditions.

Stress can lead to improved performance; however, this relationship only applies to certain levels of stress. The Yerkes-Dodson Law, discovered almost 100 years by Psychologists Robert Yerkes and J. Dodson, informs us that there is an optimum level for every kind of task. However, after a certain point, stress does have detererious affects and actually reduces the outcome. See the curve to the left.


How much stress is good? I wish there was a simple universal answer; however, the level depends on the individual, perceptions of what is stressful, the types of stressors, and the nature of the task itself.

Bottom Line: Low amounts of stress can help one perform better, but after a certain point, it is destructive. Most people intuitively know when they have become overwhelmed. When this happens to you, look for ways to reduce or remove the stressors so you can once again be more productive.

Reference

Yerkes, R.M. & Dodson, J.D. (1908) The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, 18, 459-482.