Two ideas of Work Management Systems - DBR 028

Episode 28 of the Do Busy Right - The Task and Attention Management Podcast podcast, hosted by Larry Tribble, Ph.D., titled "Two ideas of Work Management Systems - DBR 028" was published on May 3, 2024 and runs 54 minutes.

May 3, 2024 ·54m · Do Busy Right - The Task and Attention Management Podcast

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Episode Description

I was talking to a prospect about Attention Compass. Her primary objection seemed to be a misunderstanding of the role of formal planning in our work management system needs. She had tried to implement bits and pieces of legend and lore. Nothing had worked. She felt that work wasted and had given up to some degree.

I think that we've seen and heard so much about productivity that we're jaded, tired, and no longer know what to believe.

When I investigate people's current methods, they seem to be relying on (the echoes of) Project Management thinking: rigorous planning and precise estimating. We have seen this movie play out in larger, heavily researched work in the engineering and programming fields.

There is a newer kind of thinking about work management. It is called Agile, or more often, Scrum. Lots of people have heard about it, but may not know exactly why it's important.

I want to lay out the differences in those two work management mindsets and argue that the more recent one is more applicable to our personal knowledge work management task.

Along the way, I'll claim/justify the theoretical foundations of Attention Compass and discuss how it is:

1) a more complete, thought-out, 'engineered' work management system and not simply a collection of 'tips and tricks'.

2) Much more applicable to the kind of work most of us are tying to do

I want to bring this somewhat different perspective and this will put additional tools in your hands if you want to research this stuff.Another way to consider your own work management practices, as we work to continue to try to get better about managing our attention.

Send me an email. I'm at [email protected]. Ask me a question or make a suggestion. If you don't have anything, just send me an email with your first name, where you are, and how long you've been listening. I'd like to know more about you since you're a listener.

A brief history of work management systems

Two schools of thought as represented by PMI and Scrum/Agile

PMI ('formal' project management as currently shepherded by the Project Management Institute, thus the PMI methodology) was developed in the engineering space – NASA and military. But struggled in the programming space.

PMI has different constraints, not necessarily compatible with constraints of the business world

Difference: the 'physical' nature of engineering problems. Software doesn't have a physical reality in that same way. Software is malleable.

Scrum takes advantage of that malleability – iteration (testing and change are easy and safe)

Team Scrum can be confusing as it involves lots of teamwork practices in its process.

Personal work management

- What is your work? Do you have physical product constraints? Mostly probably not and certainly not in the most important things (relationships, self-growth, etc.)

Personal PMI / Personal scrum is the notion that these principles (minus the teamwork aspects) represent a good approach to a personal work management system.

Other scrum principles that apply

- Iteration - Cook a steak – uses scrum-like testing and iteration. Baking is more like PMI

- Iteration maximizes the work not done

- Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

- Work rhythm and visibility

- Process improvement

Recap/review