How many times have we heard the phrase, “don’t sweat the small stuff”? Some people really focus on minor, inconsequential things, allowing them to take over their minds and ruin productivity. While one or even a couple of these tasks might actually be small things, when combined, they can leech productivity and cause stress as employees must multitask and shift focus rapidly. This means that sometimes they will not be able to give proper focus to a specific problem.

Fortunately, properly configured time management systems can give insight into these small tasks that can cause big headaches. It does, however, require a little more attention than many managers give employee timesheets. When reviewing employee timesheets, managers typically look for major trends and might disregard one-off or minor tasks that employees complete. This can be a major oversight.

Instead, it pays to look at the number of minor tasks that employees complete and reference that against the workload of other employees. If one employee has too many minor tasks, it might be wise to consult with that employee and see if he or she feels too much pressure. Maybe it would help to spread those tasks over several employees. A good sign that this could be necessary is when an employee begins spending less time, or delivering less value, on their primary tasks with the most importance.

While some may say don’t sweat the small stuff, the sad reality is that many employees do not have an option. Instead, I would offer the following advice to supervisors looking to optimize their organization: keep watch only for giants, and you may be eaten by ants.

If you haven’t heard the story of Caine’s arcade then stop reading now and go check it out.

Back? Ok, we can get started.

This story has gripped the internet for so many reasons. Young Caine is inspirational, a story of childhood dreams realized. Caine also represents pure, unblemished entrepreneurship freed from the bounds of conformity or the realization that maybe this is just too difficult to accomplish. We are impressed by his drive, the fact the he sat outside that arcade day after day after spending an entire summer building it out of old boxes. His ingenuity and problem solving is similarly impressive; he solves problems with elbow grease, and has “bootstrapped” every aspect of his business.

Interestingly, there are many takeaways from this story that aren’t of the feel good variety. Namely, young Caine has built repeatable processes into his arcade from the beginning, and has automated time consuming tasks wherever he can. For example, take a look at the ingenious way that he validates fun passes. While it would take a cruel-hearted individual to try to scam him, Caine has nevertheless taken the initiative and developed a security system for the fun passes. He has done so by placing calculators on the games and requiring the entry of a number that must then match the square of the number on their fun pass. I’m making this sound way more complicated that it is, (Cain just says, “Enter the number then press the check symbol!”) yet the fact that he already accounted for an issue and instituted a repeatable process to prevent it shows foresight that some million-dollar businesses lack.

Further, Caine shows acumen by taking customer comments into account. He discusses the fact that one of his games was deemed too easy by one client, and shows how he upped the skill level to match demand. This iterative thinking permeates business theory and serves to remind us that, ultimately, we must pivot or fail. Again, if every startup business were to take this idea to heart, they would likely have a much greater chance of success.

So, with all the best wishes in the world to Caine, I hope we can tip our hats and learn something from this clever entrepreneur. He has certainly had his day, and if he continues with the intelligence he has put into the first project, he will almost certainly find success in his future endeavors. 

Journyx has always known the importance of tracking time and money on a per-project basis. Using this data, it is possible to build up a backlog of projects that can be referenced for future endeavors. Whether they are successes or failures, knowledge of past projects can greatly enhance the odds of success with similar jobs in the future. However, comparing individual projects to other similar projects is only one way of using prior time and expense data. The other comes in the form of a project completed under normal working conditions; in other words, a “measured mile.”

For those unfamiliar with the concept, it works like this. Projects attempted under ideal conditions and those undertaken during adverse conditions may vary significantly in adherence to budget and schedule. To a certain degree this factor can be blamed on external conditions, however it is important to isolate those conditions from individual productivity. Therefore, by examining a project completed under “normal” conditions, it is somewhat possible to isolate external variables by comparing that project to a project taken on during a certain period.

So, as an example, let’s imagine that a stadium needs to be constructed in a city. Fortunately, a comparable stadium was built a few years back in a city with similar terrain and ecological conditions. No major catastrophes befell that stadium, manmade or natural, and so it could be described as having been completed under normal conditions. Thus, this project could be labeled a “measured mile.”

Conversely, the new stadium faces numerous problems. In addition to strikes by public workers in the early months, a swathe of terrible thunderstorms strike the area. Ultimately, the new stadium takes longer and costs more to complete than originally estimated. By comparing the time and cost to completion against the “measured mile” project, it clarifies more succinctly the effect that these adverse conditions had on the project.

The benefits for this type of data, particularly in productivity analysis, are fairly evident. It becomes possible, by measuring projects relative to a baseline, to understand what a “normal” completion schedule would look like assuming there are no complications. In this way, the more detailed the previous data associated with the project is, the more accurate a view businesses can get into future projects that may face issues. As always, greater insight yields greater results and a closer adherence to forecasted costs.

A common thought people have when considering a time-tracking application, or any time management system, is how to keep track of those intangible goals. By that I mean those goals that don’t have a clear beginning and end, that are ongoing but for an indefinite period of time. Obviously, it is simple to determine how much time we spend engaging in these activities, but how do we track time against them to determine efficiency? Unless you can do this, it becomes easy to spend either too much or too little time on a task to produce a benefit. All this considered, the issue actually lies with the goals themselves, not the time management methodology. Here are three ways to set achievable, trackable goals.

1. Become S.M.A.R.T.

This advice is fairly common, and for good reason. S.M.A.R.T. goals are, by definition, simple to track and determine progress for. What is that definition, you ask? S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Thus, if you can convert all your goals into S.M.A.R.T. goals, they will lend themselves well to any time management system. By introducing a time constraint, it is possible to measure progress as a function of the overall time required to complete the goal. In other words, you can recalibrate efforts to an appropriate level if you are progressing too slowly or expending too much energy on a goal that does not require it.

2. Clearly Prioritize

Whenever you set a new goal (or begin setting goals in the first place), developing a hierarchy of priority can help immensely. There are many tools for this, including the popular app iOS “clear.” By contextualizing goals in terms of relative importance, it is easy to determine allocations of time and energy. If they are S.M.A.R.T., you can also determine whether or not you are spending the right amount of time on a lower priority goal. At first glance this seems obvious, but the reality is unless we take the time to actually sit down and prioritize, odds are that we don’t actually know what is most important at any given time. Particularly when you are working on multiple projects in different areas of a business, prioritizing will save a lot of hassle and will give you the ability to say “no.”

3. Communicate

A goal that is not communicated faces a bigger hurdle to success than one that is. As humans, we often need to have our feet held to the fire before we can produce our best work. So, whether it be in a team meeting or simply in a quick email to a co-worker, let someone know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Even if they do not have a stake in the outcome, the knowledge that someone else is expecting you to complete a goal will increase the pressure (in a good way), and also the likelihood that you will finish. Disappointing yourself is one thing, disappointing a co-worker or manager is something else entirely!