Smart Work Read online

  It is great to see that Dermot has finally published a book! His ability to help individuals and teams transform their work practices is second to none!

  — Ed Box, Banking and Finance Executive

  I first met Dermot in 2002. At that time Dermot was an expert in managing time and priorities using a paper-based system. Over the years Dermot has evolved into the leading coach in utilising devices, Microsoft Office and systems to manage time and priorities. Thirteen years after first meeting Dermot I still use his principles and we use him in coaching our teams to become more effective. The skills Dermot teaches are life changing and I have no hesitation in endorsing Dermot and this book.

  — Scott Boyes, Vice President Operations, Accor Hotels

  Smart Work is the upgrade we needed to have. Triage your life and read this book.

  — Matt Church, Founder, Thought Leaders Global and author of Amplifiers

  Learning to work productively in the digital age is the critical business challenge of our time. Dermot Crowley has taken a seemingly insurmountable problem, distilled it down to three key concepts, and provided a step-by-step process to revolutionise productivity. What David Allen's Getting Things Done did for the noughties, Smart Work is set to do for our technology-driven time. Dermot's work has had a profound impact on me and my team, and transformed not only the way we work, but also what we even consider possible. If you want to achieve more, stress less, and spend more of your day doing work that matters, Smart Work is for you.

  — Peter Cook, author of The New Rules of Management

  The brilliance of the techniques that Dermot teaches is that they are so simple — and yet so incredibly effective. Anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information in their daily workload should read this book.

  — Nick Dempsey, Head of FICC Compliance, Macquarie Bank

  If you have ever answered ‘Busy’ to the question ‘How are you?’ then this book is for you. Dermot provides insights, solutions and practical tips for anyone who needs to manage their time, technology and energy better. In an age where we are constantly asked to work smarter … Smart Work shows us how.

  — Gabrielle Dolan, author of Ignite

  Smart Work is a great read for any busy executive who is struggling to stay focused on the important work in a workplace driven by urgency, meetings and emails. Dermot's approach to productivity is practical, relevant and smart.

  — Susan Ferrier, National Managing Partner, People, Performance & Culture, KPMG

  Dermot's work is magic. The ideas in this book will add hours to your day and weeks to your year. So! Liberate yourself from draining, dumb and defunct ways of working — discover how to work smart today.

  — Dr Jason Fox, motivational scientist and author of The Game Changer and How to Lead a Quest

  They used to say ‘If you want something done, give it to a busy person’. In my opinion, this maxim should read, ‘If you want something done, give it to Dermot Crowley’. Dermot is, without question, the master of productivity and doing what works.

  — Dan Gregory, CEO, The Impossible Institute and co-author of Selfish, Scared & Stupid

  Life is as busy as it has ever been. Effort is key, but time is of the essence. We have to adapt, we have to improve, we have to be more efficient and work smarter. Dermot Crowley is Australia's thought leader on this extremely important subject — working smarter. He has positively impacted captains of industry, executives, executive assistants, and so many other people in so many ways, enabling them to simply focus on what's important and to have a lasting impact. This book will enable and guide you to do exactly that.

  — John Karagounis, Managing Director and CEO, The CEO Circle

  This is a very simple, easy to follow book that promotes great productivity tips beyond the high level concepts by providing practical day-to-day recommendations that integrate into the tools that we use all day, every day. Well worth the read!

  — Caleb Reeves, General Manager, Customer programs, Commonwealth Bank of Australia

  Dermot helped me make fundamental changes to the way I use technology and organise my time. I always recommend him to people who are looking to become more efficient, effective and productive.

  — Michael Rose, Chief Executive Partner, Allens

  I have worked with Dermot for over three years. He has been my personal productivity coach and also trained more than 500 people for me. In both my own experience and for many who adopt his ideas there is a big ‘ah-ha!’ moment which makes you realise you have become a slave to the urgent and have lost sight of the important. Worse still, the tools for your own productivity were in front of you but you see them as the problem and not the solution.

  Once you adopt his methods you suddenly feel in control and your stress levels will drop. I have had people tell me ‘It saved my life!’ as they felt they were drowning at work from information and contact overload. Another moved from 5000 emails in their inbox to having white space in it!

  It's not easy as you have to change from old but well established bad habits to new ones. However, with persistence and the odd relapse, I promise these ideas and this book will change your working life.

  — James Sheffield, Financial Services Executive

  Dermot Crowley is one of the most important people that I have met in the last 25 years. This importance has not come from anything specifically that he did, but in the way he empowered me to act in an organised and proactive way each day. Dermot's approach to staying in control of our increasingly complex daily lives through the intelligent use of technology is easily implemented and actually works! I have followed his approach to personal productivity for the majority of my working life and I could simply not imagine working any other way.

  If you wish to produce a higher quality more consistently; if you wish to have more time to actually think throughout the day and most importantly; if you wish to have more control over the balance between your work and personal life, then Smart Work is a road map to assist you in achieving this and more.

  — John Slack-Smith, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Harvey Norman

  Dermot's book sets the benchmark on how to get the most out of yourself and every day by focusing on the behaviours that are required to build the successful habits that lead to good outcomes — not just the technology. Applying his approach has helped me gain greater control at work, generate better outcomes and create more balance between work and personal goals. I recommend it highly for anyone who is looking to master their agenda and get the absolute most out of their time.

  — Angus Sullivan, EGM Retail Products & Strategy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia

  SMART WORK

  CENTRALISE, ORGANISE, REALISE

  HOW TO BOOST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

  IN 3 EASY STEPS

  DERMOT CROWLEY

  First published in 2016 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

  42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

  Office also in Melbourne

  Typeset in 11/13 pt ITC Berkeley Oldstyle Std by Aptara, India

  © Dermot Crowley 2016

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

  Creator: Crowley, Dermot, author.

  Title: Smart Work: centralise, organise, realise / Dermot Crowley.

  ISBN: 9780730324362 (pbk.)

  9780730324386 (ebook)

  Notes: Includes index.

  Subjects: Management — Handbooks, manuals, etc.

  Businesspeople — Life skills guides.

  Time management.

  Dewey Number: 658

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for
the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

  Microsoft, Project, Office, OneNote, Outlook, and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

  Cover design by Wiley

  Internal illustrations by Michael Fink

  Disclaimer

  The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

  CONTENTS

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Preface

  Introduction Productivity in the 21st century

  The integrated productivity system at a glance

  Making the system work for you every day

  The Smart Work roadmap — nine productivity skills

  A note on leveraging technology

  PART I: Centralise Your Actions 1 Consolidate your Work Meetings vs tasks

  Meeting tools — the shift from paper to electronic

  Task tools — stuck in the 20th century

  Centralise absolutely every action

  Consider — Capture — Commit

  Types of actions — hard to soft

  Zoom in, zoom out

  Use undated task lists

  Capture mind clutter

  2 Schedule it Forward Decide when and schedule

  Plan your time using a weekly workflow

  Use action horizons

  Focus on the start

  Balance your workload

  Don't dilute your task list

  Next steps only, please

  Track it back

  Information at your fingertips

  3 Focus your Day Start each day with a daily plan

  Highlight the critical work

  Manage the change

  Update the progress

  Key practice: Prioritising

  PART II: Organise Your Inputs 4 Reduce the Noise Reduce email noise

  Turn off the alerts

  Check email proactively

  Batch information emails

  Delete decisively

  Tell them to SSSH

  Reduce the disruption of interruption

  5 Keep it Simple Simplify your filing system

  Learn to search

  Make important emails easier to find

  Take the pain out of archiving

  File on the run

  6 Process to Empty Treat your inbox like your letterbox

  Clear the backlog quickly — the Mount Rushmore technique

  Schedule email actions

  Be decisive

  Process all your inputs

  Key practice: Processing

  PART III: Realise Your Outcomes 7 Identify your Value Clarify your critical roles

  Reconnect frequently

  8 Make Time to Plan Build planning time into your schedule

  Monthly planning

  The Good, the Bad and the Great

  Weekly ROAR planning

  9 Fight for Importance Make it visible

  Watch out for the procrastination pixie

  Blocking strategies

  Delegate early and well

  Key practice: Planning

  Next Steps

  Index

  Advert

  EULA

  List of Illustrations

  Introduction Figure A: traditional to 21st century workplace

  Figure B: integrated productivity system

  Figure C: the Smart Work roadmap

  Figure D: workload management in Outlook

  Chapter 1 Figure 1.1: meetings and tasks

  Figure 1.2: hard to soft scheduled tasks

  Figure 1.3: activities in Outlook

  Figure 1.4: undated tasks in Outlook

  Figure 1.5: a sample mind map

  Figure 1.6: mind clutter strategies

  Chapter 2 Figure 2.1: the proactive zone

  Figure 2.2: the proactive schedule

  Figure 2.3: example of weekly workflow in Outlook

  Figure 2.4: scheduling horizons

  Figure 2.5: email-related task in Outlook

  Chapter 3 Figure 3.1: the five-step daily planning process

  Chapter 4 Figure 4.1: types of emails

  Figure 4.2: SSSH

  Figure 4.3: modes to manage interruptions

  Chapter 5 Figure 5.1: three types of filing system

  Figure 5.2: the risk/searchability folder matrix

  Figure 5.3: refine search toolbar in Outlook

  Chapter 6 Figure 6.1: Can Mount Rushmore help you with your email?

  Figure 6.2: OneNote meeting actions

  Chapter 7 Figure 7.1: what are your three BIG roles?

  Chapter 8 Figure 8.1: bad, good and great work

  Figure 8.2: ROAR weekly planning process

  Chapter 9 Figure 9.1: the delegation matrix

  Figure I: the integrated productivity model — (iii) planning

  Figure J: personal planning framework

  Next Steps Figure K: the learning mastery curve

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Dermot Crowley is a productivity author, speaker, coach, trainer and thought leader. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and moved to Sydney, Australia, in 1993.

  He has more than twenty years' experience working in the productivity training industry and has run his own business, Adapt Training Solutions, since 2002.

  His passion for helping modern executives work more productively with their technology has led him to work with many senior executives and leadership teams in organisations such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Citi, Deloitte, Allens Linklaters and KPMG.

  Dermot lives with his family in sunny Sydney. When not training or writing, he can be found coaching cricket or playing over-35s soccer on the weekends.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  So I have written a book. This is an achievement that I am enormously proud of. But as with anything, the great things that we do in life are likely to involve a support cast that inspires, encourages and pushes us. Here are my thanks and dedications.

  To my partner Jane, who has always helped me to stay grounded and to cut out the BS. I could never have written this without your love, support and encouragement. To my son, Finn. You were a baby when I first dreamed of this book, and now you are taller than me. What took me so long, I hear you ask.

  Tony, thank you for many years of support and inspiration. Thank you to my mentor and friend, Matt Church. Matt challenged me to write this book, and shone the light on the path for me. I will always be grateful. Thanks to Peter Cook, who helped create an environment that challenged me and many others to give it a go, without fear of failure. And thank you to all of my thought leader companions who are sharing the journey with me, striving to be the leading thinkers in their fields.

  Michael, thank you for your patience and brilliance in bringing my ideas to life with your hand-crafted graphics. Lastly, thank you to Lucy, Chris, Jem and all at Wiley for trusting that I could deliver, and making my words and ideas bigger and better.

  PREFACE

  In July 2001 I excitedly (and nervously) started my own business, Adapt Training Solutions. I had a vision and was confident that I could make it come alive. Fourteen years later and I am still bringing that vis
ion to life.

  My vision was to help corporate executives to harness the power of their technology and to work more productively in a rapidly changing workplace. A workplace that was becoming busier, increasingly pressured and more and more urgently driven. The email workplace.

  My business name, Adapt, had been suggested by a friend. It was short and snappy and seemed a perfect fit. I did not think too much about any deeper meaning. Adapt it was. Over the years I have thought hard about what I do, about the true value of what I bring to my clients. During that time I have come to realise that I could not have picked a more apt business name. Most people would place my brand of training, coaching and speaking in the categories of productivity, time management and email management, as I did for many years. I have now come to realise that my passion sits at a level above these labels. I believe that my calling is to help people to adapt. And we need to adapt now more than ever.

  We are now at one of those critical turning points in the evolution of the workplace. We are working in what some have labelled the Third Industrial Revolution. The first was launched by the mechanisation of the textile industry in Britain. The second saw manufacturing techniques vastly accelerate due to the brilliance of the likes of Henry Ford. The third (also known as the Digital Revolution) saw computers change the face of the modern workplace.