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Recently my brother-in-law was promoted to be a manager. As we discussed on his new role, I recollected the years that I myself have been one and reflected on what made me effective.

What follows is a set of questions that I ask myself whenever I take up a new task. In fact I go over these questions (almost) on a daily basis to keep myself effective.

What is expected of me?

To be effective, first and foremost, you need to be clear of what is expected of you – said otherwise, the output of the task given to you.

• Mock Screens
• Detailed Project Plan
• Working Demo
• Presentation on Sales Process

Get this clear and precise. Else you’ll be working hard to produce a wrong output – a disappointment to you and to your boss (or the one who requested it).

What is the priority?

Asking this question serves two purposes.

First one is the obvious one. Given the list of tasks that I’m already doing, where does this fit in. Should I jump in right now or can it wait. Learn to distinguish urgent tasks from important tasks.

You may not get an answer always to the second type, but it helps: where does this fit in the grand scheme – within the project, within the department, within the organization. Knowing the answer for this question, will help you understand the importance of your work.

What is the timeline?

Sometimes you’ll be asked to give a timeline; and sometimes it will be given to you. In both cases, you should be certain that you can deliver within the specified time period.

In reality, situation will almost always demand you to squeeze timelines. Yet, don’t confuse effectiveness (delivering what is requested) with efficiency (delivering by using less resources). Unless you’ve mastered effectiveness, you can’t be efficient.

What do I need?

You need to be expressive and explicit in this area. Be specific about the need to complete the task – 2 technical architects, a video conference link, 1 GB RAM. Whatever be it; be specific.

Often times in a postmortem study (when it is a failure) we’ll say that I could’ve completed the task successfully only if I was given a, b and c. And invariably the boss (or other stakeholder) will question, ‘why didn’t you say so?’.

What can go wrong?

Oh! this is a big part of being effective. Mostly this comes from experience; but intuition can help. The least expected will go wrong to make the trivial tasks urgent.

How much ever you are prepared, things will still go wrong; but that is no excuse for you not to be prepared. Though it is practically impossible to think of ‘all’ that can go wrong, you should have a ‘Plan B’ for the obvious ones. As you grow in experience, the list of the ‘obvious ones’ will increase and it will increase your instances of being effective.

Learn to apply these principles in the little tasks assigned to you; then they will be imbibed in you to accomplish greater tasks.

Go forth and be effective!