As you grow, as you scale, as you learn, as you live in the same place for longer than a year, as you try out new things, as you implement new processes, as you hire more people…
… you end up accumulating stuff, handoffs, processes, assumptions.
Stuff, handoffs, processes, assumptions aren’t bad things to have.
Just like extra light bulbs, various shampoo flavours (is it flavours?), and additional foldable chairs aren’t bad things to have.
As long as they make your life easier, instead of weighing you down.
At home, you may sometimes do spring cleaning, getting rid of the food past its due date, the clothing that doesn’t fit anymore, the bike your kid has outgrown.
At work you may update contract templates, review current perks offered, replace a specific vendor, or hire additional help for a specific team.
Very rarely do we do a complete inventory about how life happens - and whether what we do and own still makes sense for us.
The same happens at work. When was the last time you reviewed how work gets done to decide what needs untangling?
So this is my invitation for you to rethink your activities, your software licenses, your processes - and yes, those foldable chairs you haven’t used in years.
How do you do that? Mari Kondo can probably lend you a hand for decluttering your physical surroundings.
You can adapt the process to the reality of your team, department, or company.
Does this spark joy a.k.a Does this create meaning?
Decluttering a room roughly works like this:
Get everything out into the open (e.g. put everything on the bed for added pressure to get it done before night time).
Review each item and ask yourself whether you are using it - and whether using it still makes sense (e.g. maybe you do still use cassette tapes to learn French, and maybe you are at a point in your life where you can afford a better solution).
If you aren’t the only user of the thing, make sure to involve other household members.
If the thing works, makes sense, and adds value to your life, put it back into its place, or choose a place where it is accessible when needed.
If the thing is broken, doesn’t work, or you didn’t even remember it existed, get it out of the house. Donating, gifting, binning is all fair game. Even if it was expensive! Unless the thing is paying you rent for sitting in your closet it’s not creating any value for you unused.
Decluttering your own work, then, looks roughly like this:
Make a list of everything you do during a months - use your to do list, your weekly check-ins, your agenda, your “sent” emails to make sure you aren’t missing anything.
Review every item and find all the reasons why you should STOP doing the thing. It’s much easier to maintain things, so hone your skill to argue the opposite.
If the activity clearly adds value for you or someone else, put it back into your schedule / to do list.
Ask the recipients of your work results whether your reports / updates / proposals / emails make a difference for their work - if they don’t, find a better way to collaborate (yes, that means, you’ll have some candid conversations about work).
If you don’t remember why you are doing that thing, stop doing it.
If the thing stresses you out, try to figure out what you are trying to achieve. Maybe there’s a better way to do it?
Decluttering your team’s work requires facilitating the above with and for all of your team members. It will certainly involve flowcharts, handovers, artifacts being handed back and forth, decision points.
Why Should We Stop Doing This? vs Why Should We Continue Doing This?
The framing of the question is important. If your goal is to simplify and encourage new ways of doing things - the default decision should be to do something different.
By focusing on the “what can we stop doing” you anchor the conversation around change.
If you focussed on “what can we continue”, you anchor the conversation around keeping the status quo.
So, when was the last time you decluttered your activities?