This week in Sunday Life I’m strategically incompetent
by Kyle Alexander
Confession: I get off on productivity porn.
I’m only a recreational voyeur, mind. Late at night, in the lonely privacy of my bedroom, I like to peruse sites like 43Folders and Getting Things Done (GTD) e-courses, you know, to see how other people “File Tax Receipts in 5 Easy Steps” or “Focus like Steve Jobs, Now!”. But, I’m not a full subscriber. I mean, I’m no productivity pervert. Some of that Extreme Colour-Coding Your To-Do List stuff can get pretty gonzo!
Anyway, as a “productivity connoisseur”, I’ve noticed the biggest issue in this murky neck of the interweb right now is “waiting for” items. If you’re a productive list-making type you’ll know the list system comes unstuck once a task requires follow-up from a second party. For example, to get your report completed you need a statistic from a colleague. You email them requesting the data and delete this task off your to-do list. Done! Because you trust the item is now headed for the other person’s to-do list. BUT – oh dear – if said colleague isn’t a list person and doesn’t follow up, then the task disappears into the unproductive ether, un-accounted for Un-ticked!
“Waiting for” items drive me to distraction. They leave me in a permanent state of “there’s something I’ve forgotten”-ness. Only to interrupt me in the middle of a shower (and I have to bolt out, dripping wet, to my to-do list: “chase bloody Roger about that invoicing issue”). It’s frustrating. Doubly so because the fact the other party feels completely entitled to let a task slip so easily, while we remain vigilant, is …unfair.
So this week I set out to find a salve to such a quandary. I scrolled my favourite sites and found two ways out.
First, consider this.
If something is on your to-do list, it matters to you.
Which means, by rights, the onus is on you to chase it up, not your colleague supplying the data. It’s the law of greater need.
Sure, it’s rude of them not to reply. But it’s not their responsibility. Or it’s less so. In other words, rigid to-do listers out there (myself included), time to build a bridge over your frustration. And get over it with this idea: the waiting-for list. The WFL was first espoused by David Allen (the kinky mind beyind GTD). It sits alongside your normal to-do list and he advises getting used to the idea it’s likely to be the longest.
The second idea requires stepping into the other person’s shoes for a minute. And comprehending the notion of “strategic incompetence”, a term coined by the Wall Street Journal to describe a technique used by successful business leaders. It involves being intentionally useless at certain tasks, like fixing fax machine jams or typing up meeting minutes, so that other people will step in and do them, leaving you to get on with important stuff. Of course, this tactic is entirely selfish – it relies on some other sucker doing the banal work. I know I put myself out on a limb here, but I suggest that men, in the main, can be particularly adept at strategic incompetence.
Not being able to sort whites from the darks is a skill, I tell you.
And how many blokes put their hand up to organise the farewell cake in your office?
Viewed in a productivity light, however, strategic incompetence can be smart work practice. These days there are so many easy ways for others to compete for your time (someone emailed me recently to ask what temperature to cook muffins at… what am I, Google?). So being selectively useless or, indeed, not responding to another’s to-do list request, is an expectations management tool.
My point, then, is that it’s fruitful to learn from those who frustrate us. And perhaps be a little less vigilant ourselves. Or to put it in Taoist terms: get a little wu wei with it. That is,
know when to act and when not to act, for “non action” can often be the most productive, artful route.
Recently I backed off from being so efficient email replying. Why? Because being prompt means people have come to rely on me for answers instead of working things out for themselves (ergo: bakingtips.com). It felt selfish and mercenary at first. But I realized this is what’s required to survive Zen-fully in this e-available world.
What do you think? Being less available, a little less “able”…a good idea? And do we agree with my blokes generalisation?
Thanks for this post Sarah – very timely for me! I am without doubt a list-maker. To the point that I will include items on my list that are either done or about to be – just so I get the satisfaction of ticking them off! I’ve struggled with the ‘waiting for’ list my entire working life…to the point where I now create sub-tasks for each item on my list along the lines of ‘Follow up with x to make sure y is underway’.
It’s pretty obvious as I type that this kind of near obsessive list making isn’t going to end well for me – I will be endlessly making lists and never accomplishing anything
So I definitely think there is something in ‘letting go’ and being selective about what to address and what to leave for others to sort out. Otherwise how will people ever become resilient and self-reliant?
The blokes thing is hard – I think we all are strategically incompetent. Faced with a big hairy spider or cockroach at home, I am strategically incompetent when my man is around. But left on my own I’d rather deal with the spider and know that it isn’t going to be dangling above my bed than worrying about it’s every move! So maybe the strategic part really is about ‘smart’ or ‘convenient’ delegation of duties rather than sheer laziness. It’s a way to manage and get through a myriad or overload of work and life tasks!
[Reply]
As one of the NOT list making type persons (cue ‘yawn’ here) and perhaps the cause of said frustration (although the reason why eludes us), may I pass on some suggestions for working with someone like me. Sending emails, texts etc is pointless as they are long forgotten a few seconds after reading them. I find people need to get hold of me at a time I can do it right then. Voila happiness all around. So ask if now is a good time or when might suit and you will find that waiting for list might not be as long…..Thanks to this article I have just remembered something I was meant to do yesterday for someone!
[Reply]
Sarah, I’ve been reading your column for well over a year now and have come to the conclusion that you have VERY high expectations of yourself and others and also, very little patience. What might be important to you, not necessarily so to others. Do you shoot off an email to a colleague asking for stats or do you explain why you need them so urgently? Sometimes it’s the lack of information which is the cause of the problem.
You also come across as highly efficient which is why people might leave things for you to do instead. Just out of interest, what type of leadership style did you adopt at Cosmo? (i.e micro manager, delegative). I remember in one of your articles you mentioned that you were the eldest of several children and as soon as you returned home, you took on the ‘bossy’ role..do you get where I’m heading?
[Reply]
June 26th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Boo! I want to defend Sarah!
happy sunday sarah!!!!
I have read Sarah’s blog & article for over a year too… and i reckon (from what very little i can assume to know about a ‘stranger’) that she would be super wondrerful in all aspects….
ps. i know this is not a well formulated comment, let’s just enjoy the love of the sun today xxx KK
[Reply]
June 26th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
Moving slightly sideways, one of my colleagues recently told me I have high expectations (in a not-so-complimentary way) and that people with high expectations should realize and accept that they will be let down a lot. Kind of a glass half empty way approach to me, especially in an organization that has pretty good pay and very good conditions.
I am going to stick with my high expectations – of myself and others… And be proud of it! Happy rest of the weekend.
[Reply]
June 26th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
I never said it was wrong to have high expectations of self and others. It was merely an observation I have made of Sarah over time from her articles. We all interpret things differently, no right or wrong.
While I am deadline-phobic I must say that when the job is done the feeling of satisfaction and FORWARD MOTION is amazing. The sense of stasis in our lives just cycles back to itself unless we just…keep…moving. I tell myself – just the next step – that’s all I have to focus on.
Having said that, I am learning what’s important for me to say no to. Or at least, ‘later’. It eases the stress of never finishing a to-do list that I have written, that usually well exceeds the energy/time/standards that I have for it. Perfectionism is toxic for a chronic procrastinator, for it has such EGO attached to it. All I end up doing is being so harsh on myself that I ‘give up’. And so the cycle continues.
I have an old book to recommend – The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People. By: John R. Covey. Funny, true and challenging. And yes, John is Steven’s brother.
[Reply]
The answer is, you need 5 Sarah clones, and everything will be done exaclty how you want it, when you want it.
Ps I would be happy to adopt a Sarah clone anyday.
[Reply]
Isn’t it like any commercial or supply/demand situation – if it’s important enough for you to get what you are waiting on, then you will chase it. If it’s important for you to deliver, for whatever reason, then you will provide what someone has asked.
Having said that, yes always good to wear more than one hat – put yourself in the other person’s shoes before reacting.
On a practical note, in my last job, I attended a course run by a company which trained Microsoft on the one best way to use Office (if there is one best way, why do these software products give so many options!). They say to change your task to include [WF] so you identify that the nature of the task has changed because you are waiting on someone to do something.
[Reply]
I have a 2 step strategy for this problem:
1. Loop Diarise.
2. Pester Power.
Loops: whenever I order books from Amazon or anything online I always at the same time diarise when the delivery is due (eg; 3 weeks hence) – then I completely forget about it!
In fact, I usually diarise the reminder well past when the items are due so I’m not always chasing them unnecessarily (eg; diarise 4 weeks hence for a 3 week delivery). This way the loop is self-closed 99% of the time without my follow up yet I still have the reminder as a safety net.
I understand this doesn’t work for deadline based items hence the 2nd step – Pester Power.
Pester: I get agreement from said person on the expected turn-around time, then diarise this exact date for follow up. If this deadline isn’t met I’ll keep setting dates (within reason) & following them up until they follow through.
The squeaky wheel gets the oil as they say.
Oh, and Sarah – MDB (Male Domestic Blindness) is a serious issue you should not make light of! You know this week they proved the Man Flu does exist, well MDB is soon to follow!
*cough* *sniffle*
[Reply]
Am definitely going to start a waiting-for list – thanks for the tip!
[Reply]
Sarah, thank you I felt much better after reading about ‘Strategic Incompetence’ and how it is used by many individuals. I am list making and follow up person.
I have noticed at work, some times if I go to someone’s desk and approach them it is much more effective then sending emails and follow ups.
So I am not crazy! Just because I want to do things correctly the first time
[Reply]
[...] for’ items can pose to a perfectly efficient task list, as described by Sarah Wilson, whose post on strategic incompetency made me go very quiet and then go ‘hmmmmm….’ Viewed in a productivity light, [...]
[...] Sarah Wilson on being strategically incompetent [...]