How do you decide and keep focus on the "right" things?

Mark Campbell
14 replies
We're a small team with so much to do - and one of the things we sometimes struggle with is setting our focus and sticking to it. Keen to hear any tips or tools you use on how to choose where to best spend your team's limited time and then stick to those chosen directives.

Replies

Matt Li
Seasons Journaling for iOS
Seasons Journaling for iOS
Deciding on what to do always feels like part art and science. You've done your research & analysis, but it'll always be an unknown if you're actually doing the "right" thing. You need buy-in and commitment from the team to see an initiative through, at least until you get enough data to show if it is moving the business forward or not. I think at the heart of this is strong leadership. More practically, there are some frameworks that help with decision making. I've used the ICE model to score potential ideas/features before. I really like it, but again, it falls apart really quickly if the team doesn't buy into using it or any other framework for that matter. Short answer, it's really hard! Good luck! :)
Mark Campbell
@mattli I do think trusting your gut is a big part of it! thanks for the insights
Joonas Hämäläinen
Eisenhower Matrix (urgency & improtance) is great tool to help deciding where focus should be. And being critical while using that, so those not important things wont creep into todo -lists. Having really short goal in mind, and then deciding to do things to only achieve that on minimum level is best way to use resources best way possible.
Mark Campbell
@kerberos thanks for the reply... I do like these kinds or prioritisation matrix exercises
Murali Gottumukkala
Just believe in yourself
Shawn Park
Along with some great comments here, I think it's also important to make sure that the team is sharing the same goal. When the concentration is dispersed among the team, I think it was usually due to obscure goals. Hope the very best for you!
Mark Campbell
@shawn_park_f12 yes we've definitely seen if we don't have the same alignment it makes it so much harder to stay focused
Edgar
In my opinion, the best focus is to set MVP goal, then gather feedback and implement the most wanted features one at a time making sure everything keeps working along the way. Be sure to divide everything into small tasks not to feel overwhelmed. Good luck with your startup! I'm focusing on our today's launch right now :)
Mark Campbell
@edgar_neau great result - congrats! We're launching next week so hopefully get a similar result
Mark Campbell
@edgar_neau thanks! Hope the launch went well
Edgar
@mark_campbell_outlign it did, reach top 4. Thanks!
Adithyan Selvaraj
There is no direct answer to this question. 1. You should use project management tools like Trello, Slack, etc. 2. Break down complicated things into the small task and try to complete that one by one. 3. Definitely you'll get distracted in the middle of work due to some unexpected task. Try to get it done by allotting some time to your schedule. 4. Make sure your team understands that everyone is on the same boat and they're sailing towards the same goal. This may look simple and create an adverse effect on your overall performance. 5. Document or Journaling is one of the key ways to stay focused. It'll help you analyze your work in the future. Try to spend time on things that actually matter.