The 5-Minute Rule ⏰

Happy Friday!

I've worked with a lot of folks in different roles over the years, and I want to spend this email writing about project managers.

And, I'm going to try and keep my usual snarkiness in check.

I said "try."

While most that I've worked with diminish their value to a human alarm clock (Well, that didn't last long), some have been actually remarkable, and I want to talk about what I learned from one such remarkable project manager.

I was working with a client to do a lift-and-shift of their supply chain software from one hosting provider to the cloud. In general, this was straightforward, but there were lots of opportunities for things to fall through the cracks. We were assigned a project manager by our client to help represent the client and keep things running smoothly.

If you're in the consulting business, you might also read that as they were there to "spy" on us. Or you could call it, "protecting their investment." Surprisingly, I don't consider this to be a problem at all, and I'm happy to see it happen.

Now, this project manager was managing something like seven other projects and treated ours like it was the only one. He was not a human alarm clock. He was thoughtful, organized, and conducted himself the way I wish project managers did.

I was fascinated and spent a bit of time talking with him. His spreadsheets were a marvel. I asked him, "If you have seven projects, how are you able to deal with all the little things that pop up every day?" This is a weakness for a lot of project managers. They get behind on a billion small things.

He said something that stuck with me. He said, "I have a simple rule: if it takes less than five minutes, do it immediately."

He was right. Every time I think I'm clever about organizing my work, that rule saves me from the small things piling up and causing issues.

So if you feel like you have a million small things you never get around to, consider trying out the five-minute rule.

Sincerely,
Ryan