How to think efficiently
“Charlee, what are you talking about, I think efficiently all the time! I’m a project professional, that’s what I have to do.”
First off, I agree we try to think efficiently all the time - but most of the time we’re constrained from doing so.
“Charlee, I’m an Agile/Lean professional - no one constrains me from being efficient - I make sure the project is efficient.”
And to that point, I would partially agree - I’m sure you’ve been in a team, business unit, or organisation that is a bit flexible in their interpretation of agile and lean.
But if we’re all honest, our “efficiently” is dictated by the pace of the organisations our projects sit within. And if we’re not able to find a happy medium, we lose efficient thinking - productivity, the ability to scale ideas, the ability to work laterally across different domains, and lead effectively.
At its worst, when we lose mental efficiency, we become over-qualified administrators and not project leaders, stagnating our careers in bland, non-challenging work - which is a terrifying thought! Project professionals live off change and challenge!
Signs we’re losing our mental efficiently:
Delayed decision making, even with minor decisions (as we start to appraise them all as major due to the organisational culture)
Hyper-multi-tasking - that is, we are tailoring everything slightly differently for everyone, producing needless activity
Reading comprehension slows, usually due to stress and burnout
We abandon mentally stimulating activities - courses, reading, playing an instrument, painting - because we have brain fog and mental fatigue
