To want to discover the secrets of extremely efficient work colleague

[crissymoomoo]

It's astonishing. You will email her at 9:02am asking for her to bring a report to you at her earliest convenience. 9:04 I get a reply 'of course. I am on my way'.

She replies to all emails within 30 mins max. Has all tasks completed within an hour max and she's super busy in a profession well known to be stressful and busy.

Anyone else know someone like this?

I'm that person. There's no big secret. You just have to get on with things basically. Make a decision to do something, then do it.

Bringing you the report for example. A lot of my colleagues would take a minute to think about it, decide to start on something else first, forget about the report, eventually remember, then again think about it and decide something else needs doing first. On and on and on. In the end if you added up all the time they spent thinking about bringing you the report they could have just done it 20 times, and that goes for everything else they do. They spend more time thinking about what they should do than actually doing anything.

I think part of it is them not having any confidence in their ability to prioritise tasks, but the thing is that even if they got it all wrong they'd still get to the important stuff much faster if they just got on with things. Sometimes I realise partway through, say, my tenth task of the day that it's urgent and I should have done it before the other nine. But meanwhile many of my co-workers will still be faffing about deciding what to do about the first and only email they've read that day. So regardless of my mistake, I'm still way ahead of them.

I must read the link further up!

I just don't join in with the coffee breaks, cake eating, chatting about cats and kids... I'm very get it done and do it now which apparently comes across as bossy but I can live with that.

The only thing about that Dailymail is that learning a little about your colleagues helps you work better and more efficiently with them.

You don't have to like them but it really helps if they like you.

Finding the balance between joining in with just enough social chat to grease the wheels of teamwork and getting on with your work is a fine art.

Being a good team player is one of the things that makes me an efficient worker. You need to talk to each other.

Great tips here. Two questions for the super organised.

If you reply to stuff straight away, isn't it constantly interrupting you and making it hard for you to get on with your bigger tasks? That's my worry.

And if you have a super system for filing and monitoring emails, doesn't maintaining that take lots of time? Or is it just me who would use it as an excuse to procrastinate?

No. I have my outlook set so I get the transparent notification window come up each time one comes in. A quick glance can determine if I need to read it or not. Then usually it's a 5min read and ignore or read and reply or read and schedule a block of time to action it.

BenLui I couldn't agree with you more! I work in a very busy and often demanding environment and I manage a core team as well as numerous other people who work on the team project by project.

I am very busy but very ogranised and quick. I work part time so have to condense all my work to fit those hours. The last person to do my job was full time and there has been no change to to job profile!

No matter how busy I am I take tie every morning to have a tea / coffee with the team and visitors and it really helps to lubricate the wheels of teamwork...also allows me to suss out any issues in an informal way before they become big issues.

I am a very good multi-tasker and keep many balls in the air at once but it is important to give each person your attention as you are dealing with them no matter what is also going on in your head.

I have a very very good memory

If you reply to stuff straight away, isn't it constantly interrupting you and making it hard for you to get on with your bigger tasks? That's my worry.

Yes. I check mails first thing, after lunch, before going home. Other times I will ignore them if I'm in the middle of work that needs focus, but if I'm less busy, I'll deal with them as they come in.

Rain I check my emails about once an hour if I'm working on something big. Otherwise I check them as they come in an deal with them appropriately.

I use Outlook tags to set reminders or flag things for filing or action.

Files are set up by topic, person or project. Anything flagged for filing gets cleared first thing/lunch time/end of day.

I keep electronic action lists (in excel) per project and keep a record of completion/outcome and date which I can refer back to if challenged later.

Deadlines and reminders to prep things are also noted in Calendar.

Once set up it doesn't take long to keep up to date.

This could be me too.
Every job I've had I become renowned for doing the job that it would usually take two people to do.
As others have said, I take a quick look at each email that comes in and get it sorted at once if it's a quick thing. Flag longer tasks as to do and get to them as soon as I can.
I'm a very, quick efficient worker who can flip back and forth between tasks easily.
It makes my blood boil listening to others constantly moan about how busy they are, when if they just quit the talking they might actually get some work done. I not saying I never stop and chat but only when time allows. If I'm busy I work flat out.

ebearhug your method sounds like mine and I too am known for getting through things quickly and efficiently.

While of course there are HUGE amounts of magic and witchcraft involved first thing in the morning and at lunch I check my emails and if it's a 5 minute task it's dealt with there and then as otherwise it really does take up unnecessary brain space and taxes 7 x longer to do. Longer tasks are done after that and while doing them I don't dip in and out of other things / chat / check emails. I regularly listen to music to drown out office noise faffing .

Before I go home at night I spend the last 30 minutes clearing out the 5 minutes tasks and writing a to do list of normally no more than 5/8 things that I will action that next day. Barring something urgent coming in overnight I work steadily on that list the next morning.

My inbox is my to do list.

Things are neatly filed immediately upon clearing so I can easily find them.

Some people just process information with speed and they are also quick decision makers.

I was like this till I became ill. I remember assisting a colleague who was getting in a flap. I went through what she was doing and then asked her how long it would take. Apparently all day, for myself 2 hours. From the other side of the fence it means you can find people frustrating.

@Rainatnight Exactly what @PlayOnWurtz said -
I don't find it a distraction. The only time I'd turn off notifications and put my out of office on is when I'm writing something creative that's very long or complex (I'm a communications manager). As for whether it takes a lot of time to maintain, not at all. I've got an email folder set up for each project and I either action immediately and file the emails away, or set a to do in the task pane and then file the email away.

I also have a rule set up in Outlook that puts a copy of every email I send into my inbox so I can file it away with the email I'm responding to in the relevant project folder easily. That keeps everything together and makes it easy to find at a later date.

My default setting is efficient but I find it can cause resentment from colleagues who don't react as quickly. I was told I was a hard act to follow once - not said with admiration though! I get stuff done, don't agonise over decision making, thrive on being busy - not stupidly busy but manageable so.

I have slowed down a bit recently mainly because I am working with an unappreciative cow. The more you do, the more she expects. She has sussed that I can free her up to do.....well get a spray tan springs to mind.....and now I have stopped being so cooperative and a bit less responsive she is becoming very demanding and Queen Beeish.

My colleague basically just does everything straight away. I've copied her and got more efficient. I used to prioritise a bit more but now i just do it. The other thing is that 80/20 rule where 80% of stuff is quick and easy so you whizz through that, then do the slow stuff next. I have got better at working with constant interruptions too. I used to really need to focus on somethings but I've got better at just doing it, getting interrupted and then picking up where I left off.

MJ I'm going to try that.

On an average day I get 4-500 emails. Plus constant pings, endless fucking calls etc.

I could cope pre baby but I'm struggling now. That looks sane and doable.

I do that.

I think it's because it means I can clear my inbox and pretend to be working really hard while putting off the complicated detailed stuff I really need to think about.

My attention to detail is not as good as it could be if I actually really focused, but a lot of work doesn't need that focus.

I have an excel spreadsheet to do list. It is my pride and joy. Im admin/office management so get requests from all departments so its split into Admin/Dept1/Dept2/Dept3.

Each job is listed - and I mean everything. Regular stuff: Check emails Mon am. Check emails Mon Pm. Check emails Mon last thing. Code invoices mon/tues/weds etc. Check stationery.
One offs: Retype Bills letter. Cost up online training. Book conference etc.

Jobs are either marked S for short (under 10 mins) or L for long.

Every few hours I drop into my to do list and colour the cells of the jobs ive done. I add anything that Ive been given that day.

10 mins before I leave I count up what Ive done that day, read through whats left for the week. I also (fucking saddo) have a little table on it which calculates how much ive done over the week, so I left this eve having done 91% of my total weekly jobs. Feel quite good about that as the rest are long term projects so oretty much as efficient as I can be.

Oh and it also helps to have a next step in mind. I know which department I want to move into, so that manager gets everything done first

I can't remember the last time my inbox was empty (probably the day I started.) I go on. Call for half an hour and I have another fifty drop in. All need reading, a large number need some sort of action. Very few can be done and filed as discrete tasks.

I would love to be more organised, and I would Also love a job where I'm more tsk based and can have some inkling of what is to be done :(

I don't think having a bulging inbox is necessarily a bad thing. I have 60,000 in my inbox. It's my filing system 😊
I'm pretty efficient. Respond to lots. Prioritise ruthlessly. Miss a few.
One good tip is at the end of the day write down everything you haven't achieved that day and that's your to do list for tomorrow.
Also block out diary time for tasks.

One thing I need help on though - how do you stop meetings over-running? Mine always end tardily and then I have to run to my next one 🏃🏼‍♀️

With constant interruptions you need to be assertive. "Is it quick? Summarise what you want to know as I'm busy if I can answer now I will if not I'll come find you when I'm free"

Ben and Play I understand that and that's why I block time out to do 1:1s, weekly meetings and team nights out.

I don't need to fill my day with being involved because we catch up and learn about each other in the times set above.

Great thread op really interesting to read.