You can’t be a Smart Worker overnight. But it’s a learning and a journey. How do you start the journey? Here are some basics of Working Smart.
1. Understand What is Expected
Never start on a task or a job without understanding what is expected. This helps you validate the task on completion and more importantly, prevents you from doing something that is never expected.
The most common way of understanding what is expected is: Paraphrase the task description with someone who assigns it to you or who will validate the outcome
2. Define Targets
Once you understand what is expected, work on defining the targets.
A Good Target is something that is measurable, achievable and bound by time.
3. Define Deadlines
Once you define the targets, the next step is to identify and associate a deadline with each target. If possible, define the deadline down to the exact hour.
Write down the Task Description, Targets and Deadlines on your Notepad (better a physical notepad) and use it as a checklist to track the progress.
4. Automate Repeated Tasks or Activities
Over a period of time, identify repeated tasks or activities that you do “day in and day out” and try automating them (at least partially).
A typical example could be the preparation of Test Data for the program you write. If you spend good amount of time every week preparing the Test Data, write a small program which can do this job for you. This is just an example but try looking for some similar activities that could be automated.
5. Learn and Implement Lessons
Everyone make mistakes. But it’s worse – if you don’t learn lessons from them.
Whenever you learn lessons from mistakes, document them and revisit whenever you have to make decisions or encounter similar situations. Over a period of time, you will find things improving.
So what steps do you take towards Working Smart?
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