Adding tasks to ‘to do’ lists is not the same as promising to complete something by a time certain. Placing high priority on a to do list task doesn’t address evaluating wherewithal, estimating time for completion, and allocating a block of capacity to perform the task.

Thankfully, my wife hasn’t caught onto the finer points in this discussion. Otherwise, there’d be no blogging, the apron would be on, and I’d be mumbling something that I dare not put to print.

Thanks for engaging your colleague and offering your views to other readers. I didn’t mean what either of you are saying.

The usual ‘to do list’ is just that, a list. There is no way to allocate capacity to the task on the to do list. Some people assign priority to tasks, but still we see high priority tasks not get done when promised or needed.

Instead of a to do list, how about we start using an ‘as promised list’ that is part and parcel of ones calendar. This provides the opportunity to block the time in the calendar. That one step is the single most important action you can take to increase your reliability. And even better…you can have your team members do the same.

Oh, and don’t be shy about examining team members’ allocation of capacity. You get to see it anyway when you approve their timesheets. Why not make sure they are doing what they need to do to be reliable?

And for those of you who think I’m being an untrusting micro manager, you are missing the point. Only half of the tasks promised each week get done as promised. This creates enormous waste on our projects. having your team members estimating and allocating time at the moment they promise will have reliability soaring in no time. Then you can get to work on more value-adding tasks.