Technology Won't Organize Us, it Creates a Greater Need to be Organized

Technology was supposed to make our lives simpler, and it has – provided you have discipline and realistic expectations.

One thing it will not do is organize our lives for us.

The inspiration for this post was an article on the Clientwise blog referring to an article in the New York Times recently by productivity guru David Allen. I am a huge fan of Allen's, and over the last few years I have worked hard to incorporate his principles into my daily routine.David Allen, founder & CEO of The David Allen Company

A common complaint I hear relates to information overload. There is just too much we have to process every day. Technology can put information overload on steroids. But it is not the information, it is how we handle it. As David Allen is fond of saying, if the sheer quantity of information were the problem then every time we walked into the library our heads would explode.

Technology is not the cause of our struggle to get the right things done but used poorly it can make the problem a lot worse. Allen's principles can help us do more than get organized (hugely valuable in itself), but can help us tame the technological beast and put it in our service. He suggests a series of five steps to optimize your focus and resources:

• Capture everything that has your attention, at work and at home, and writing. The first time you do this may take as much as six hours to "empty your head." A big project to be sure but a necessary one if the rest of the system is going to work.
• Clarify what each priority means to you. Decide what results you want, and what actions are required.
• Keep an inventory of all your projects someplace where you will see them often, and organize reminders for the to-do lists you create.
• Regularly review your inventory of commitments and projects.
• Deploy your attention and resources appropriately.

As I gradually learn how to utilize technology to apply Allen's principles, I find myself more consistently completing the important tasks I have committed to. I find that the more diligent I am about having discipline in following his ideas, the more productive I am and the more technology helps me accomplish things rather than burying me deeper in a tidal wave of tasks and information. If you struggle with overload of any kind, I strongly encourage you to take a look at some of the articles on Allen's website or to get his book Getting Things Done. His ideas have been a career changer for me.

Top 10 Habits to Drop

In a recent article on Morningstar advisor, Allyson Lewis, author of The Seven Minute Difference, describes how to implement better practices by letting go of bad practices. It's worth a read.

I'm dedicated to helping financial advisors consistently do what's important, and this article has lots of good tips for accomplishing exactly that. Included in their practice management list is a reminder of the importance of something that I focus on, having repeatable systems and processes.

Lewis also names other productivity killers including telephones, e-mail, disorganization, unfinished tasks, lack of goals. I will go further than she does on a couple of the recommendations. The article jumps from mission and vision to 90 day goals. I think there's value in one-year, if not three- or five- year goals. David Allen refers to these as the 30,000 and 50,000 foot views of life.

Lewis also recommendations setting aside 30 minute blocks of time unbroken by phones or e-mail to work on projects and tasks.  I prefer the discipline of checking e-mail at specific times of the day, limiting it to three to five times over eight hours.

One item I especially appreciate is the recommendation on the importance of roles. Knowing who should do what, and dedicating time only to those activities that fit within your role, is a crucial time management discipline. With this article as inspiration, I may post some thoughts about roles as well.

Lewis has assembled some valuable tips in a quick read that's worth checking out.



Maybe a financial advisor’s most important checklist

This is a blog about checklists as a financial advisor practice management tool, so you might expect that the most important would be about investments or customer service.  In my view, the most important checklist a financial advisor can employ helps assure the next actions receiving precious attention are the ones that contribute the most to the goals of the practice.

And that checklist is the weekly review prescribed by productivity guru David Allen.  It is the single most important way to keep up on your commitments.

My biggest practice management challenge is follow through.  It is to to remember to do things when the follow up doesn't have to be immediate, or when other tasks take higher priority at the moment.  For most of my professional life as a financial advisor, my follow up was terrible.  There are still times it stinks.  And when follow up stinks, customer service stinks.  I have a great assistant, and delegation is the best solution most of the time.  But I still have my own commitments to fulfill.

A well designed and implemented checklist reminds you of the important things that can easily be overlooked, freeing your mind to express expertise and creativity.  Remembering to follow up on the proposal or transfer paperwork I sent a week ago requires neither creativity nor expertise.  Nor is it urgent.  But it is important.   And, without a system to remind me, I would probably drop it.

The weekly review is an inventory of all your outstanding projects and commitments.  Does each project have a next action on your current to-do list? Do you know the next action for each?  Are there deadlines approaching on any of them?

This assumes, of course, that you have all your projects listed in one place.  Collecting your projects is the basis of a "Getting Things Done" system, and the weekly review is its cornerstone.  You can find out about GTD and the Weekly review here.

Miss doing this conscientiously, and you will constantly be compensating.

Running through the checklist that is the weekly review, you are systematically reminded of the commitments you made.  And always being up to date on your commitments is the most important place a financial advisor can be.

I’m lost without my checklist!

A friend of mine recently closed his financial advisory business in New York and moved south, re-establishing his practice, and he described a great case study and the value of checklists.

His practice revolves around corporate benefits.  Recently, he received a call from a business prospect in the new area who accepted a proposal.  "Yes", said the new client, "let's get that insurance plan on our executives and we'll move our 401(k) to you as well."

Great, a no-brainer.  The kind of transaction he does dozens of times a year, but wait -- before his move, he had a staff to actually execute all of this once the client said “yes.”  They had been trained to be meticulous about setting up a case and seeing it through.

Instead of a staff, he now had a big pile of paper on his desk and was not sure where to begin.  Not that he doesn't know how to proceed; he's done this business for years, but he has to think about it, and he had to remember.  And when it comes to doing, it's valuable not to be thinking at the same time.  (More about that in another post.)

Have you ever had the experience of doing something again for the very first time? It seems silly doesn't it?  But every time you do something you've done before, and you have to think about it, that's exactly what you are doing.  Engage your brain to create, not to recall, whenever you can.

As he built his business, he carefully developed processes, created lists that address each type of activity, and systematically trained staff to carry them out.  The product was a successful business with consistently high quality service.  Of course, those processes and lists are still in a box someplace.

He dug into the paperwork.  As he went, he drew on his experience to recall the requirements of these types of accounts, these product companies.  Okay, these forms are complete -- oh, and I need one of these.  Then we need to do this and this, and, oh! I forgot this.  Two hours of work took all day.  Without simple, written instructions, he essentially had to design a new process as he went, even though he had done the same thing hundreds of times in the past.  He will be unpacking that box very soon.

Do you perform any routine processes by memory?   That’s fine for the simplest ones that never change – brushing your teeth, recording your voice mail message, scheduling an appointment.  But as the number of steps and the number of options increases, the more likely a missed detail can derail a smooth outcome the first time, the more you can benefit from written prompts and reminders.  No one I know uses a checklist before starting a car.  Every pilot runs through one before starting a plane.

Of course, midway through his process, his wife, who's business he had just set up with carefully designed processes and instructions, walked in.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure I have everything I need to process this case.”

“You should have a checklist!”

“Thanks, dear.”