The downside of saying yes
Which do you find easier: saying yes or no? Most people prefer to say yes. We are social beings. Yes connects, Yes is positive. But surely you also know the other side of the coin: You said yes and now you are angry about it. You have extra work to do. There is potential to disappoint someone. There are still more tasks to juggle.
Where do we encounter yes and no in everyday (working) life? For example here:
- When tasks are assigned to us or taken away from us
- When we plan our day
- When someone asks us for a favor
- If we want to help someone
The WIPs of our everyday work
Work In Progress (WIP) is the totality of our work in progress. And the whole is always more than what we have on the task board. On the board is the official WIP. But there are also plenty of other WIPs, such as courtesy WIP, helper syndrome WIP, recognition WIP, career-making WIP, and more.
After Littles Law The simple equation is delivery speed = work in progress / throughput. So the more WIP, the slower. Or just increase throughput? It is clear that your WIP (and that of your team) has something to do with saying yes and no. But simply saying no more across the board is also not an effective solution.
The no and its unimagined potential
In his session on the eleventh Tools4AgileTeams Conference hat Reiner Kuhn examines the yes and nos of working life in more detail. In it he shows a few everyday strategies for saying no. And a cultivated saying no opens doors, creates options, enables personal growth, creates context and builds trust.
Here is the recording of the inspiring, entertaining talk:
Agility at scale with Atlassian tools
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Further information
Tips for even more efficient processes in lean portfolio management
Declaring war on time wasters: Four tips for a better workflow with SAFe® and Agile Hive
Team workflows: Atlassian Jira helps make work processes repeatable and scalable