• Agile & Scrum Basics

Ask yourself these 4 questions if you want to ram away loose ends

Yes! For the first time in weeks, the alarm clock rings again. You slap aside the comforter, slip into your shirt after showering, and moments later are on your way to work for the first time in the new year. Fancy new opportunities. Clean slate. Fresh start. Clean sheet. You high fived with the colleagues you ticked off all the projects with back in Q4, only to go full steam ahead with new challenges. But just before you step into the office you fall down. There you are, stumbling over last year’s loose ends. Recognizable? Then get started with the 4 questions I ask you in this article.

Clean slate. Fresh start. Who wouldn’t want that. To start the new year with new opportunities and not owe anything or anyone. Because remember: in Q4 of last year you had a blast, completed all projects and looked back with satisfaction during the retrospective. A nice idea.

Often there are still a number of loose ends from the previous year on the shelf. You didn’t quite get around to it and you didn’t have the energy to tie up those loose ends during your well-deserved vacation. Okay, and if you’re completely honest, you may have secretly thought this too in Q4:

‘Agh, that’s not a priority right now for a while, we’ll just slide it over.’

You don’t want to keep tripping over those loose ends in the new year. That’s going to be a ball at your feet. Time to tackle those unfinished business effectively. How? Give yourself some answers to these 4 questions.

1. What is important and urgent?

Don’t immediately sprint to infinity or juggle all loose ends. Waste of time. First pause very briefly. Reflection moment. Focus. Identify the most important unfinished business and then prioritize them based on their impact and urgency. Sounds crazy: some things are important but not (yet or no longer) urgent. Anything that is not important and not urgent goes straight into the trash. Everything that is important but not urgent is delegated to someone else. Only what is important and urgent is tackled first.

2. Is it still an issue?

Contact relevant parties and discuss unfinished business. Communicate openly and transparently. Ask the crucial question: we are now several weeks on, what has fallen over now that we have not yet taken the action or is something still in danger of falling over? In short: is the loose end actually still an issue? Some issues are no longer relevant or simply cannot be resolved. If a completed matter no longer adds value or cannot be resolved in a reasonable amount of time, it may be time to let it go and focus on what can be resolved. You will find that many items on your list are resolved immediately. Actually by doing nothing except being very clear in your communication.

3. How much time do you give yourself?

Now that you have clarity on which unfinished business is a priority, it’s time to create a detailed action plan. Break each task down into manageable chunks and assign concrete steps to specific time frames. This ensures a structured approach and prevents tasks from piling up. In doing so, it can help to take one day to clean up debris: block your calendar and ram through prioritized loose ends within one day. Trust me, that takes energy when you’re busy, but it cleans up so nicely. Don’t want to or can’t muster that day? Then schedule a moment every day for a week (when you are most fit, for me as early in the day as possible for example) and work through your loose ends. After a week, you’ll be fully committed to the new year.

4. How will I do things differently this year?

Prevention is better than cure. Use the unfinished business from last year as learning points for this year. What actually caused the delays? Are there patterns you can recognize? By using these insights, you can proactively address future challenges and avoid repeating the same mistakes. Sure, the turn of the year is still a long way off, but you want to make sure this time around that you can start next year without any loose ends.

Bring on that fresh start

With steps 1 to 3, your slate will be clean again. And with step 4, you’ll keep it clean, too. Want to do more (structured) work on that this year? Then take a look at the ancient Eisenhower matrix, which is still really effective. Divide your open actions with it and you will see that you will have much more space left to do valuable things this year. Actions that will energize you. Actions that will immediately prevent future loose ends. And that in turn ensures that you can hold on to your fresh start moment for a long time. Want to know how you can apply this optimally within your team(s)? Ready for the start… contact Gert-Jan.