How The 'Backlog Experiment' Worked Out

by Glenn Fisher

Tuesday I posed a question...

How best to deal with a backlog of work?

We put on our lab coats and proposed an experimental approach.

My theory:

To round up all the work you’ve got outstanding and for each item ask two simple questions...

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Does it need doing today?

Does it relate to my ultimate goal?

By doing so I hoped you’d be able to identify what was most urgent and what was most important to your success.

Did you have a go?

I did...

How the ‘backlog experiment’ worked out

I took a look at everything that needed doing.

What didn’t need doing that day, I moved to the side.

So naturally, I was only left with the stuff that really did need to be done.

This helped.

Then I went through each piece and asked the second question: did it relate to my ultimate goal.

I figured my ultimate goal was to provide a useful and profitable service to my readers.

So, I applied that to the jobs I had.

As an example here are a few of the jobs I had to do on Wednesday...

First, I had to write that day’s issue of Shortcut Bulletin.

(I guess it’s pretty obvious why that would be needed to be done that day.)

I also had to order a new amplifier for my bass guitar.

(I needed it for this weekend and Wednesday was the last day I could order it to be delivered in time, hence it being something that needed to be done that day.)

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Another thing I needed to do was review a new trading product that I’m hoping will be a good income generator for you.

(It needed doing that day as the creator of the product was coming in for meeting so I needed to have my feedback ready.)

So, that’s three of a fair few jobs that made it into the ‘definitely need to be done today’ list.

Working out what counts toward your ultimate goal

OK. Once you’ve vetted your jobs for the urgency factor...

It’s time to work out how each job applies to your ultimate goal.

In my case: providing a useful and profitable service to you.

Well, the Shortcut Bulletin always get priority, right?

That’s the first and most important thing for me to do each day. I mean, it’s the way I provide the useful and profitable service so it gets top billing.

But ordering a new amplifier for my bass guitar?

Sure, I needed to do it that day but it’s not really helping me provide a useful and profitable service to you is it?

So, that can go to the bottom of that day’s priorities.

Meanwhile, finding new income opportunities for you...

Well, that is important, so that gets more priority points and therefore gets done before I order a bass amp.

See how it works?

It’s pretty straightforward. But as I said on Tuesday, I wanted it to be that way.

The upshot is...

I got all those jobs done and managed to knock a chunk off the backlog.

Thursday I did it again and bingo, another chunk.

And now today I’ve got a bit of free time to hopefully get a few other not so urgent things done.

Hurrah!

So, if you’ve got a backlog of jobs that’s getting you down, it’s definitely worth giving this simple technique a go to see if it works for you.

If you’ve already given it a go this week, make sure you let me know how you get on.

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Remember, it’s just a case of hitting reply.

This weekend I’m out of town, popping up to Leeds to catch up with some friends and put that new bass guitar amplifier into action with a bit of a jam.

So I’ll be back on Monday.

In the meantime, I hope you have a great weekend.