Isn’t it funny!? In our survey about what tasks to do first – easy or difficult – both answers got half the vote! And what is the correct answer? The question was tricky, because there are no wrong answers! But there are effective methods and technologies that will help you improve your productivity.
When your to-do list is getting dangerously long, and more messages are sent to your mailbox with the word urgent in the title… you cannot do tasks in order, according to the chronology of time. It may turn out that the last task received is the most important or crucial for doing the previous ones. In turn, relying on the assessments of others can also be mistake. Everyone has their own perspective, as a team or project leader, you must objectively decide what is most important. And we know it’s not easy!
When we asked our fans on Facebook which tasks they prefer to do first – easy or difficult – both answers got the same number of votes. And rightly so, because that’s not the point!
Important and urgent
To give priority to tasks, it is not enough to just assess the difficulty of the task, the deadline is very important. Sometimes a simple task is urgent, but a difficult one is not. Or on retreat. There are many methodologies on how to set priorities.
The most famous is the Eisenhower matrix, which divides tasks into four quarters:
Quarter I – Tasks not important, but urgent – You have to do it quickly, but if it fails, there will be no serious consequences.
Quarter II – Important and urgent tasks – These are priorities. These tasks must always be done first, their results are crucial.
Quarter III – Tasks not important and not urgent – You can leave these tasks last, delegate or skip at all.
Quarter IV – Important, but not urgent tasks – You have to take care of them, but not in the first place. However, determine immediately when they appear, when you will take care of them so as not to forget.
Brian Tracy, an expert in the psychology of success, advises adopting the criterion of consistency. Ask yourself – what happens if you are late or forget something? Start with the ones you care about most and are crucial for the success of the project or even business. The less urgent you can delegate.
There are psychological researches that confirm that if we start with the most difficult tasks, the awareness that the next ones will be easier strengthens us and makes it easier to finish. Otherwise, we can get stuck in the easy ones and never get to the more difficult tasks!
There are many more of these ways, but there is one more element that decides about success. And we often forget about it. It is…
Communication!
It’s important not to focus only on deadlines, but remember about quality! It isn’t a goal to do more in a short time, but to do better. And professional work differs, for example, from studying at school, because we usually don’t do it alone. Sharing tasks and group work is an extremely important element. We underestimate the role of communication. When choosing solutions to support work, we focus on minimizing interactions, speeding up the process. But it’s important to ensure efficient cooperation, and not getting from A to B as soon as possible. So one thing is how to prioritize tasks, and second – how to do them effectively, delegate properly and understandably communicate to other colleagues.
In companies there are few who work separately, usually our work depends on the work of others. It is office technologies, such as email or teleconferencing, that have contributed to a huge increase in efficiency. But today it isn’t enough. There are more and more tasks and less time to perform. Recent CEB research has revealed that 60% of employees now need to consult at least 10 other employees on a daily basis to do their job, while 30% must involve 20 or more people! The implementation of tasks takes companies more and more time. For example, it currently takes 30% more time to complete complex IT projects, hiring new employees 50% longer, and signing new contracts with clients 25% longer (1). Employees need more support in everyday operations to be able to look for better solutions, think creatively, build relationships on which often success depends.
And what is the biggest suspender? Tedious office tasks! The research, conducted by OnePoll (2), investigated the time spent on and attitudes towards manual, repetitive digital administration tasks. Data reveals that nearly half of workers surveyed find digital administration boring (47%) and poor use of their skills (48%), while the majority say it gets in the way of doing their main job (51% overall, rising to 80% in India) and reduces their overall productivity (64%). Over half (52%) of respondents felt that they could be more productive if they had less administrative tasks to complete.
Read also: From Business App to Collaboration Portal
Administrative tasks take up a large part of work, even more than 70% of it! At the very top of the hated task heap is general data entry – manually inputting data into a computer or other devices, followed closely by managing email traffic and filing digital documents – such as documents, spreadsheets, images or PDFs – into the correct digital folder. Compiling reports from IT and software systems and invoice management round out the top five most hated tasks (2). It doesn’t have to be this way, more than half of all office tasks can be automated! Especially paperwork, preparing statements, reports, audits, offers, collecting forms or surveys. Manual operation of processes and enforcement of decisions, waiting for acceptance – these areas need improvement first!
Switch to apps
Why have applications in private life become so popular? Because they make it easier for us to deal with many everyday matters, from arranging a doctor’s appointment, through booking a car, to buying travel tickets. Why not use the simplicity and usability of the application at work? Of course, it’s possible!
This is exactly what we do at Qalcwise. We allow you to transfer these most demanding and time-consuming job matters to simple applications. What you do today on paper, in spreadsheets or in emails – the application can do for you! On one hand, we allow you to automate the circulation of documents and tasks, on the other, we improve acceptance paths. We also facilitate cooperation and communication. Applications such as Qalcwise allow for faster-obtaining consent, determining versions, communicating changes and needs. Our apps become in many companies a friendly portal of cooperation, and not just of assigning tasks.
We help companies free themselves from the workload, increase productivity and make work more enjoyable! You don’t have to think about what to do first – an easy or difficult task, even if all are urgent, because many of them will do on their own. All you have to do is set the machine in motion! When everything is ready, you will receive a notification of acceptance or confirmation of sending the offer, without having to watch other people. You can set any tasks, steps and commands, sew any rules and limits in the application, thanks to which you can smoothly walk through the whole process… whether you work in finance, sales, HR, administration or logistics.
Contact us and we will show you the potential of the application, how they successfully replace manual work, paper documents and spreadsheets. We’ll show you how to stop worrying about getting your job done!
Sources:
(1) Czy technologia naprawdę wspomaga naszą produktywność?
(2) Global Research Reveals World’s ‘Most Hated’ Office Tasks
