- Introduction
- Defining the Tasks
- Breaking Tasks into Steps
- Organizing Your Thought Processes
- Summary Checklist
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Organizing Your Thought Processes
I like to start with the end in mind, a management trait I learned from Stephen R. Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (Simon & Schuster, 1990)—I highly recommend this book, by the way. Starting with the end in mind means looking into your mind's eye to see how the end result will look, and then planning backward to figure out what you have to do when to meet your goal.
Start with your move date. This is the immovable deadline that will help to determine your timeline. Some things you'll be able to do right away; many more must start at a precise time. Other tasks can't begin until something else is completed.
Work closely with your building design team: company management, architect, building management, project managers. When you're friends with this team, they can help you get what you need a lot faster and with less grief.
Determine right now that you're not going to procrastinate, and plan your timeline accordingly. "Plan your work and work your plan" is another management morsel that I picked up along the way. It really works! Planning is 90% of the work.
I know it's difficult to do, but start with the hardest thing. I've been a data guy for all of my career, so network design, cabling, Internet matters, and computer room setup were easy for me. When the company decided that we needed to own and operate our own phone system, however, I knew that I had lots of homework to do, so I started there.