In 2016 Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown University, published Deep Work. He defines deep work as “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration” that “push your cognitive capabilities to their limit.” Its opposite is shallow work, the tasks that divert us easily and demand little thought.
Suckers for Irrelevancy
In 2009 researchers at Stanford University tested about 100 students. Those who often used many media at once were constantly distracted by irrelevant information in the tests. “They’re suckers for irrelevancy,” said Clifford Nass, one of the researchers.
Forty-Seven Seconds
Gloria Mark of the University of California, Irvine, began studying attention at work in 2004. Then, people spent about two and a half minutes on one screen before switching. In her 2023 book Attention Span, she reports an average of 47 seconds. After an interruption, it can take up to 25 minutes to return to a project. People check email on average 77 times a day.
Inbox Zero
In 2006 Merlin Mann coined the term Inbox Zero in a series of articles on his website 43 Folders. Each message is handled with one of five actions: delete, delegate, respond, defer or do. The goal is to bring the inbox down to zero.
In 2020 Mann said that the term had been misunderstood, and that he does not keep his own inbox empty.
Open Loops
In 2001 David Allen published Getting Things Done. He calls unclear, unfinished commitments “open loops.” Each project gets a desired outcome and a single “next action.” A task that takes less than two minutes is done at once. In 2007 Time called it “the self-help business book of its time.”
Closing the Loop
Let’s close the loop on this. — Let us finish it and confirm that it is finished.
Check the box. Cross it off the list. — The task is done, and the list shows it.
What are the next steps? Who owns this? — The questions at the end of a meeting.
Let’s wrap up. Tie up loose ends. — Finish what is still open.
Get it over the finish line. — Complete it, even if the last part is hard.
One more thing off my plate. — One less open task.
Action items
The American meeting produces action items, and a meeting that produces none is described as having gone nowhere. Not conclusions, not understandings, not positions. Items — countable, assigned, with a name next to each.
The status column
American project tools display the state of every commitment as a field — green, amber, red, or on track, at risk, blocked — updated by the owner and visible to everyone. The design assumes the status changes. A system built for agreements that hold at the level they were set would not need the column at all.
The statement of work
The American SOW closes with acceptance criteria stated as testable facts — the system processes a thousand transactions without error, fifty users complete training and pass assessment, the sponsor signs off.
The guidance is explicit about why: these become the finish line, and everything else is a change order.
The definition of done is written before the work begins, because everyone involved expects the request to grow.
Ask !
In May 2014 John Barrows – a sales trainer for companies like Salesforce, Box, LinkedIn, Marketo, Zendesk – posted the following advice on follow-up in SalesHacker:
Question: How do you follow up effectively with a potential client without being annoying?
1. Ask for guidance on the best way to follow up with them while adding value and not being annoying. You know who does know how to effectively follow up with the client The client. Ask them.
2. Ask what their preferred form of communication is and if they will respond. This is different than asking them about the best way to follow up. This is about their preferred form of communication and getting them to commit to a level of responsiveness. I literally ask people – “what is your preferred form of communication moving forward here? Is it cell, e-mail, text?”
3. Make sure you always end each conversation with a clearly defined next step. It kills me how often I see sales reps get off the phone after a good conversation with a prospect without a clearly defined next step scheduled on the calendar. The easiest time to get a commitment on a next meeting is at the end of the meeting you just had.
4. Summarize your conversations and get written confirmation. At the end of every decent conversation, I always send an e-mail that summarizes what we talked about and asks for their confirmation.
5. Always have a reason to reach out and never just call to ‘touch base’ or ‘check in’. I am on a personal crusade to get ‘touching base’ and ‘checking in’ out of the vocabulary of sales professionals.
Add value. Don’t annoy.