sampath kumar Arunachalam's Key Ideas from Urgent!
by Dermot Crowley

There are two types of unnecessary urgency

1. Fake urgency - self inflicted or external influencer
2. Avoidable urgency - something could’ve been avoided and wasn’t - created based on procastination or by poor time management

Both can kill a planned workday. Save urgency for important matters that are critical and unavoidable

• Always act in ways that maximize benefit – and minimize harm
• Create a Plan of action
• Working in a way that makes team members lives easier
• Measure twice and cut once - strive to do things right the first time
• Prioritize by importance
• Minimize procastination
• Plan multiple steps ahead

Cultivating a proactive mindset can help control the kinds of urgency you accept and propagate. use urgency with care, and avoid creating unnecessary urgency for others

Implement a proactive system to manage your work effectively and boost productivity. when requesting work, state the deadline, and make sure your team does the same. Stay organized and manage activity by time

Manage urgency by balancing the following, tune each dials based on the situations

1. Time
2. Scope
3. Quality
4. Bring in more resources
5. Use budget to outsource things
6. Risk - reduce risk by cutting

For external urgency, try to be responsive and not reactive.

When there is urgency,

1. Pause your work
2. Acknowledge the task
3. Evaluate
4. Prioritize & decide on course of action

Ask why the issue’s urgent – or whether it’s really urgent at all. If you do this politely and firmly, people will see that you’re focused on what’s important.

To mobilize the team into action, you’ll need to communicate deliberately and clearly the task at hand.

That starts with demonstrating that you care about the task and committing fully when it’s truly urgent.

Some key points,

1. set accountable deadlines
2. Cultivate a culture of accountability
3. Allow team to ask "why of the task" question
4. Inspire actions by acknowledging and rewarding the team