Had some thinking about my time and how I’m managing.   It came clear to me that just in a way that I have organized my tasks, I need to organize my time, so that the various tasks that I have, get their allotted time.   So, my task tracking is setup, BUT my ‘zones’ for working on those things are not.

In addition, I haven’t ‘moved’ the organization to the new management style – which I now can, given that Gerry, Mina, Carsten are onboard.

So, this email to allstaff, best describes the changes I will be making.

Dear all:

Over last few days I have been evaluating how I working and have noticed that my personal productivity has been suffering. I have looked at it closely and have determined that I have not been very efficient in how I manage all the things that come my way – leaving me with little time and energy to focus on the important things – like helping us get to $125mm in sales! 🙂

So, starting middle of next week I am planning to make some changes to how I work.

I will need your help in this.

My work schedule and the work that I will do will be as follows:

Admin work means I will approve PO, etc. – any paperwork that needs to be approved by me will be kept by Bianca until the Admin times – at which time I will look and work through the paperwork. So, I would appreciate it if you could all structure your approval needs etc. to fit this schedule.

Strategic issues – on those two days I will still of course be working with all of you – however please do not be surprised if I defer some questions or discussions that are NOT related to strategic issues – to the day when I will be working on those.

Team – during these periods I will try to visit with you, and catch up, see how things are going, provide guidance or advice – these would be periods that you could make appointment with me to discuss issues that don’t fit into strategic slot but still need to be discussed.

Tactical/Operational: time for issues that require my work and effort related to operations and short term goals.

One-on-one Lunch: my goal is schedule a one-on-one lunch with Senior and Team Leads – to get some personal time with the team that I will otherwise be missing.

Networking: This is my time to meet with outside people, develop network and work on business development

Me: that is time I scheduled for myself to read, self-development and fun J

Other changes:

For emails:

Please think very carefully before you email me, request a chat or otherwise. Please think that every 5 minutes of my time costs $50usd – or $500usd / hour. Please think if the question you have requires that much attention (and cost) or if your supervisor or team leader could help you.

Because I will he meeting regularly with senior mgmt. – every week – if you have issues that may need my attention – please submit them to your team lead – first – you will be:

1. helping your team leader in doing their jobs – which is to lead

2. you will get faster response than me

3. you will be helping me!

So, to further streamline this – next week Bianca will have access to my emails. She will be instructed to push out as many emails out of my inbox to the person that should be able to handle it – and keep my inbox reserved for those issues that truly deserve my attention.

I will be checking emails only one time a day – towards the end of the day.

Delegation:

So, beyond this – with Mina, Carsten and Gerry onboard – I will be:

1. delegating approvals, oversight to this team

2. if in doubt who has approval rights or who should be dealing with things – your highest level should be the above team

3. it is that team that will then escalate things up to me if they are not able to handle

I have complete trust in Mina, Carsten and Gerry – and their decision making abilities – so please

Tasks and Projects:

Beyond this, to help me make sure that I don’t get out of touch with all the good things we are doing, I will be:

1. asking the senior mgmt. to begin to heavily rely on SharePoint and project task tracking.

2. The new rule will be is that of you are working on something it should be either a task or a project in SharePoint.

3. My responsibility will be to make sure that Mina, Gerry and Carsten support me in this – which I know they will

4. What this means for you – is that there will be a of focus placed on take and project tracking.

I will be asking Bianca to supervise this for me, and on Fridays during my Team time I will be looking to see how we are all doing as a company. I will

really appreciate your support in doing this – I realize that it is different than before – but it is necessary for us as we begin our growth.

Best,

Paul