The First Secret - Start Simply

 

    There ARE secrets to actually create time using technology, instead of just sinking time into it.  And once you've learned how to create time, you can use that new time to do the most rewarding things for yourself and your business.  

    If you want to benefit from the 'promise' of technology: efficiency, automation of routine processes,  maximizing productivity, speed to deliver your product or service, improved marketing and communication, all "with the click of a button" - in other words Create Time - you have to learn and use the First Secret - Start Simply.  
    Start simply. What a great, complete sentence. So great that it can even be reversed and still have meaning. Simply start. Both versions of this sentence have great meaning when it comes to realizing the promise of technology and creating time for doing the important things you want to do in life and in business.

     Starting simply is like the old saying about eating an elephant. How do you do it? One bite at a time. You keep your eye on the larger goal, but you take small bites that provide value as you move toward eating the whole thing. (OK, enough of the eating the elephant metaphor - it's kind of gross but it gives you the picture). 

Think of it this way: when you have something big you want to achieve, there are a ton of things that get in your way. So many, sometimes, that all you end up doing is slowly spending time and money inching toward your goal instead of reaping the benefits of having achieved it. Sometimes it takes so long to get anywhere because of all the stuff you really have to do that by the time you get close to the goal (if ever) it no longer really is what you wanted to achieve, or technology has evolved to the point that what you had in mind is out-dated.
     There have been many many many times I've seen major corporations go through this very thing. They've spent millions of dollars and countless hours implementing technology to automate a business process and when they finally complete the project, sometimes years later, they discover that the world and their business have changed and that the problem they were trying to solve has evolved so much that the solution no longer solves the problem! Heads really roll when this happens. Usually the the wrong ones.
    This very thing has happened so many times in the corporate world that new methods of handling technology projects have evolved that are more agile, more flexible, and more quickly deliver the solution to the problem or the capability to take advantage of a money-making opportunity.

    What many corporations have learned is this: They have learned that having a large, long-to-achieve technology goal is not only expensive and time consuming, it almost always solves the wrong (no longer existing) problem or the money making opportunity has long since passed them by.  They have learned that it's better to start simply and complete something more quickly and get value out of it than it is to wait months or years before any benefit is realized. They have learned that getting the benefit sooner - even though it's much smaller than whatever the long range "pot-o-gold" looked like in the distance - is more valuable because not only does it return a real, tangible result more quickly, the approach allows them to adjust direction if necessary and not end up at the wrong place in the end!
    The result? They have learned that if they can free up 10 people in 3 months by implementing a simpler technology project rather than waiting 2 years to free up 100 people, that those 10 people can be used to provide more value on the next project, maybe another simple project that moves them closer to the larger goal, exponentially increasing the benefit achieved in the first place. 
They have learned how to Create Time. 


What does all this mean for you and your business? Here's a simple everyday example. Maybe you want to consolidate your various contact lists into your phone contacts software. Today you spend 10 minutes looking through all your lists to find one phone number. You could put a task on your to-do list that says "consolidate contact lists". Guess what? You'll never do it because it's too big and too time consuming.  You'll continue to waste 10 minutes every time because it's still less time (by a lot) than what it would take to accomplish the whole thing.  If you spend 10 minutes finding 10 phone numbers in a week, that's 100 minutes! How many better things could you do with that time? It's more than a lunch with clients or a 1 hour massage. 
    If instead you decide to spend 10 minutes every day updating your phone contact list with a small set of the info that exists elsewhere, it won't be long before all your phone numbers are in one place.  You can add a contact to your phone in less than a minute.  The next time you need that number it will take less than a minute to find it.  To find the same 10 phone numbers it now takes less than 10 minutes.  You've created 90 minutes with a 10 minute investment. That is Creating Time. Go get that massage. 

The lesson for you? Know what you want to do with technology and identify 1 or 2 smaller, simpler steps. Identify the created time that each step will result in. Start Simply. 
    Then execute the steps one at a time. As each step completes, enjoy the benefit of the time you've created.  Use it to check your longer-term goal, make adjustments if conditions warrant them, and then take the next step. Simply Start.

You can Create Time with Technology if you Start Simply and Simply Start!

Next time I'll be sharing the next secret to Creating Time with Technology.  The Second Secret: Connect.   I hope you'll tune in and follow me!

Thank you!

Cindy (June 5, 2011)

The Secrets to Creating Time with Technology

The Secrets (an introduction)

There ARE secrets to actually create time using technology. Some people, maybe you, would say these aren't secrets at all, but simply represent common sense approaches to using information technology effectively. 

What you do know is that 'time is money'.  So, whether you call them secrets or common sense, I hope you'll think about each one I write about and determine whether 1) you're already doing it (great - I would love to hear about your experience and how much time it created for you!); 2) you're "sort-of" doing it and could use more guidance (a good start); or 3) you're not doing it at all and think you'd like to try it to see if it works (I'm here to help).

It might seem that technology for you is just another time sink, a must-do, or in some cases a waste of time. It might seem to you that the 'promise' of efficiency, speed to deliver, or improved marketing and communication is not worth the 'cost' of your time or $$ that you're spending on technology.

Perhaps you're using technology to run a business process like accounting or order fulfillment and you know a lot of information is going into it, but nothing really useful is coming out. Maybe you've bought a piece of software or subscribed to a software system in the cloud because you knew it could be really useful, but instead it just sits there costing you money without delivering the benefit you had hoped for. It can be so frustrating!

I've been 'working with computers' as my mother would say, for a long time. What I've actually been doing, mom, is problem solving-- Learning what different types of businesses are trying to do so that they can make more money. Learning about what problems they run into as they try to make more money.  Learning where they are wasting their time & money.  Then helping them to make more money by guiding them in how to use information technology (software, databases, websites) in the best (aka: least expensive, fastest) way to make more money.  And I've seen that similar methods work no matter the size, shape or function of the business.

So, to make it more interesting, I've decided to turn my learnings into Secrets that I can share with you, so you can create time and your business can make more money!

In the coming weeks, I'll be writing about what I've learned are the top 5 secrets to creating time with technology. I hope you'll tune in and follow me. The first Secret: Start Simply. Look for it to post next week!

Thank you!
Cindy (May 29, 2011)