holdyourthoughts

One of the time sapping activities we all get entangled in is checking email. It has become work by itself. Think about it. How many times do we think we have work to do and then check email. But email is not work . It is a mode of communication. Just like any other.  Sometimes, my dad used to see me work and ask me, what are doing doing the whole day checking emails. To him, it was something alien. He belonged to a generation who were used to inter office memos being taken down by a shorthand-typist and then physical copies being sent to the concerned people. The concept of cc (carbon-copy) also came from there. The typist used to carbon-copy the main typed sheet and send it out as fyi to the cc-ed people. People in that generation still got work done. In the initial phase of my career I had a mail replication frequency of 1 min in Lotus Notes. I was obsessed with checking mails. Slowly, as I started to realize that email is just a means of c...

Ever felt swamped with work and not know how to get all your ToDo's done? Well, I have. Plenty of times. Ever wonder how some people seem to get so much on their plates and yet get so much done? The trick they use is the art of delegation . Here are some of the tips I have learnt from some of those who possess Ninja-like abilities to delegate. Step 1: Find the right person for the job - Think about who in your team would be the best fit for the work-at-hand. Don't "dump" your work on the person person you see. If it is grunt-work which no one likes to do, then rotate it amongst the team (and don't forget your turn!) Step 2: Explain "why" he is the right person to do the work and what he stands to gain - If you do step 1 well, you should be able to explain why you have chosen the person and what he stands to gain from the experience. I have learnt a lot from my managers who have delegated work to me. It has given me a glimpse into areas of work t...