We have all been there. ‘We needed that yesterday’ or ‘We need that in 5 weeks (when it is clearly a three month effort).’ Many folks that have made a career out of being the one to deliver, to make something out of irrational data points, are lauded for their ‘magical’ abilities.
It is important that everyone set up a work environment and delivery methodology that is capable of responding to change, but that should not come at the expense of vision, direction, and focus in the short term. When you constantly distract a team with different demands and timelines, it actually hinders productivity; the team is always reacting versus working. It is rare that things within an organization are changing so much, across different extremes, and so frequently that it actually makes sense to operate distracted.
On the other hand, if you allow the team to focus on what you have placed right in front of them while you work with delivery managers on what could be coming next, you will get to a point where the team is able to output at a constant level. This consistency is valuable:
- Consistency shows everyone that no matter what the requests are, this is the amount the team can deliver over a set period of time. This is something anybody will be able to ‘set their watch to.’
- Consistency allows managers to communicate in a more straightforward manner what and when requests will be delivered. Using other levers, like prioritization, to determine what should happen first, second, and so on.
- Consistency allows the team to relax and not let external factors hamper their productivity. When the team can just focus on the immediate while other figure out the future, they can also put more time and effort into becoming even more productive with the time available. This is a big factor in a team’s long-term happiness.
Having a work management methodology that promotes and values consistency also gives you a mechanism to communicate when requests come in that don’t fit the mold. You can highlight on these requests will actually decelerate production because they will take the team out of their rhythm and ensure stakeholders truly understand the complete nature of their requests and their impact on the delivery team.