The Strategic Semester Plan: getting (transformative) stuff done
Years ago, I read Essentialism and this image stayed with me:
focusme.com/blog/the-philosophy-of-essentialism-part-1/
I had it sketched on the corner of my whiteboard as a reminder. The concept is simple: we can either advance many things a short distance OR we can undertake fewer things and move them much further along.
This is challenging for me because I always try to defy the theory. Despite knowing better, I often attempt to advance many significant projects simultaneously, but the outcome is inescapable.
This idea was echoed recently on Cal Newport's podcast, where he discussed his inverse law of accomplishment:
The more impressive (or remarkable) the goal you are pursuing,
the less other things you can also be doing.
Cal’s inverse: do a few big things or lots of smaller things
The lesson is clear: the more tasks and responsibilities you take on (workload), the less time you have to focus on (and complete) complex initiatives. Juggling numerous meetings, projects, planning sessions, emails, and committees leaves little room for the kind of deep long-game work that leads to truly innovative results. The scarcity of time, energy, bandwidth, and resilience hinders the ability to produce imaginative forward-looking efforts.
Each semester, I refine my productivity system. See: the buffet problem. In Fall 2023, I experimented with a goal-setting concept, assigning myself 97 tasks for the term. These tasks varied in complexity; some were multifaceted, while others were straightforward. They spanned a wide range of domains:
My Fall 2023 “priorities” dashboard. Each category corresponded to a slide detailing the variety of tasks within that bucket.
The outcome? Let's say the foreshadowing in this post is revealing. I completed 52 out of 97 tasks—not too bad, but still a disappointment. I had aimed to complete over 90 but was hindered by time and energy constraints. I also underestimated certain levels of difficulty on some items. Plus there were unexpected family travel needs and a series of distracting dental work. But there are always going to be unanticpated issues as well as new priorities that suddenly emerge. Additionally, some items became less important and dropped away, while others were postponed or rescheduled.
A key mistake was referring to all these tasks as "my priorities." It's challenging to try and manage 90 things, each competing for time and attention. In the vein of Cal Newport’s inverse, I managed to complete many tactical items but fell short on advancing significant projects.
This dilemma is common: the obligation to handle our core responsibilities—improving operations, meeting with colleagues, attending to emergencies that pop-up, and moving ongoing projects forward,These day-to-day duties consume significant bandwidth.
However, my role demands a focus (and delivery) on strategic development, an inherently ambiguous aspiration. So here’s my updated approach for Spring 2024. I've identified six "transformative actions" that I believe will have a substantial and strategic impact on my organization. These actions stretch beyond current operations. They are more like startups. Here is the dashboard:
Outcome Driven Innovation (JTBD); Literature Reviews; Transition Design Seminar; Strategic Foresight (futurist) Dashboard; Infrastructure for Library AI; Opportunity Incubator; Library Technology Portfolio & Roadmap
Each transformative action contains a set list of outputs.
I understand that six might still be considered too many, but my aim was not just to decrease the total amount, but rather to amplify the potential strategic impact. These are not just tasks to be completed; they represent opportunities to explore and address interesting problem spaces. They each possess an intrinsic quality and are highly tangible and pragmatic. This increases the odds of success.
I will share more about each transformative action as they unfold, along with further insights on balancing strategic work with tactical and operational roles. I know this is something many of us struggle with: it’s a favorite topic of mine.
