Department of 1 getting requests from many, needs help in managing
Anonymous
A coworker came to me because he is having some issues managing his workflow and requests that come in to him. Essentially, he is responsible for all aspects of reporting so requests come from management, they come from Finance, they come from sales, etc. Most of the time they are "ASAP" items and he is finding that his list keeps getting longer and longer instead of ever getting shorter.
I have been asked to help him work through this and create a structure that will help him manage work coming in, "stakeholder" expectations, etc.
Normally, I would say some kind of scoring on each request should be done but I don't think the individuals would score their work objectively and the reporting person would not necessarily have a true feeling for the priority.
With the requests coming from so many different parties, I can't think of an experience in my past that would help manage this.
Can anyone else help?
Thanks. Saving Changes...
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Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
How about organizing a task force of the stakeholders and let them prioritze the requests every month or so. That way the Stakeholders are in control and they might find reason to add more support.
Goog Luck Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Hi Michael. First off, thanks for putting your book in the mail, I look forward to reading it.
The suggestion is a good one but one I don't think will work in this situation for a few reasons - most requests he gets are asap so the meetings would have to be at least weekly in order to be realistic. 2- It would involve too many people from too many areas to actually even come together. I wish it were that simple. For such a small company, with very minimal beuracracy, this may be one of the only places we run into this issue! Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Anonymous, one approach that I have seen work well in small company, zero-bureacracy, environments is for the work resource (your co-worker) to create and manage a very simple structure and work-in-process "report request status" on behalf of and for the report "requestors". Sounds like this is what you are doing with your co-worker. As you said, since the requestors are many people from many areas, you co-worker is not likely to get them together and on the same page to involve them in the process. So, do it for them. Own, define, and set up the process the way you think it should be and be mindful to keep it simple. So, receive the report request, review and rank it for them, inform them of your schedule date for completion, fulfil the request and notify requestor, handle exceptions and/or close-out, note and/or apply any process improvement suggestions. This entire process can be described in the heading area of the status report. For the report itself, you can use the tools that you already have. For example, an excel spreadsheet on a network file share or an HTML page on the dept intranet is all you need to maintain the status report and collaborate with others. If you have more sophisticated applications and platforms such as Lotus, Sharepoint, Project Server, etc., all the better. To the extent your customers, the "requestors", have ideas and input for improvement, incorporate them. If the "requestors" are happy with your process, then good. If they, on the other hand, are not happy with your approach, then you can make yourself available to meet with them, individually or as a task force, to discuss ways to better serve them. Hope this helps. Good luck! -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
Hi again, tyranny of the urgent comes to my mind in you case. The first step to resolving the TOO MANY MASTERS syndrome is to apply structure to the situation. ASAP to me means as soon as everything else with a REAL delivery date is complete. Your co-worker needs to take control of the situation and take the leadership high ground. What would they do if in his frustration he quit or got hit by a truck? Big, small makes no difference. The principles are the same; structure, leadership and rational thinking.
Good Luck
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Many years ago I found myself in that very situation, with many demands from varied (high-level) origins that each felt that I was responsible to provide their information -- according to their schedule, by the way. Upon analyzing the situation, I found that often times they were just requesting their "view" of the core data that I managed. By designing a system by which I could effectively manage the data, network inventory for example, I found that their report was both quick and easy, although not always particularly useful. Frequently I was able as the provider of the information, to improve the value of the reports, and in some cases the processes for which the reports were provided. Incidentally, those requestors were excellent sponsors to help me get the resources that I needed to manage the database to which they all later subscribed. Saving Changes...
