Leveraging Your Big Project

​Colleagues,
 
We’ve been focused on understanding the role of leverage principles in both delaying and rebooting my efforts to complete a book. Today, let’s look at some lessons learned.
 
A-B
Break big projects into chunks or even make the total project less ambitious. You can do both by creating modular sections that are valuable alone or can be strung together. My example was breaking one book into two.
 
0>1
The sooner we can use something, the more valuable it becomes. Be clear about why you are doing your big change project. What problem are you trying to solve? Identify different aspects or symptoms of each problem and design your changes to affect those aspects so that situations improve throughout implementation. If you are moving all your meetings to Zoom, think about how to improve meetings in general and fold those improvements into Zoom implementation.
 
MVP
Piggyback projects on top of each other. Implementing new software? Try and use it as a way to improve practices that relied on the old software. Do you have a grand plan for developing a robust annual review process? You don’t need to invent new infrastructure, just repurpose what you have. Incorporate elements into things that you already do like quarterly meetings or weekly communications.
 
M=V/E
Smaller (A-B) and simpler (MVP) decreases effort. Sooner (0>1) increases value. If you aren’t feeling motivated, how can you adapt the project to have an immediate impact? If you attend to A-B, 0>1, and MVP and aren’t motivated, maybe it isn’t the right project?
 
I hope this week has been helpful in getting you to think about applying leverage to your big projects, whether they are professional or personal.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick