December 5, 2006 - Management by Procrastination Part 3

Now we have a prioritized list. Has procrastination paid off yet? Actually, it has. By taking the time for prioritization you have made it clear to the stakeholders that the complete wish list can not be tackled. That means some of them fall under the 90% category and we can continue to the next step.

Deliver. We’ve narrowed it down to the hypothetical 10% you can’t avoid. Put the tasks into the schedule and assign resources. These tasks will take away from your team’s productivity and impact the delivery dates so they need to be tracked. Placing them into the schedule shows that impact.

Then do the work. It sounds simple, but if you have committed to it and your stakeholders are expecting it, you better get it done.

Track the progress to completion. Treat them like other tasks in your plan by collecting status and time reporting to see the continued effect on the schedule.

Finally, announce completion of the significant items. This loop back builds the stakeholders’ confidence in both the process and the team.

So don’t put it off any longer. Begin procrastinating today.