Focus. #deliver Stop the Busywork
How do I stop wasting time on routines that add no value?
Audit your meetings, habits and processes. Kill the ones with no heartbeat, decline the meetings you do not need, delete the steps that do not improve the outcome, and spend an hour on leverage that saves ten. Look at where your time really goes, sort what is urgent from what is important, and treat friction as feedback instead of fighting it.
Subscribe To Focus. #deliver On LinkedIn →
Prefer email? Get one Scrum tactic and a free cartoon every Saturday: join the Implementing Scrum list.
The tips, one per Thursday
36 editions of Focus. #deliver on this theme. Each links to the full article on LinkedIn.
-
July 17, 2026
Find the meetings and habits with no heartbeat — "we've always done it this way" — and kill them.
-
July 2, 2026
Spend an hour today on a template, automation or documented process that saves ten hours next month.
-
May 21, 2026
Audit any process with a dozen manual steps or three sign-offs and delete the steps that don't improve the outcome.
-
May 13, 2026
Find a "force multiplier" (an AI tool, a template, an automated calendar rule) and build a repeatable process instead of doing it by hand.
-
February 19, 2026
Make the "how" of a task 50% simpler; if the process is convoluted, you're doing too much.
-
February 5, 2026
Stop trying to be a superhero for everyone; it ends in burnout. Delete one internal "rule" that makes your work needlessly complex.
-
January 29, 2026
Audit the "helpful" processes you've added over time that have become barriers to delivery, and delete one rule that makes your work needlessly complex.
-
November 6, 2025
Ask where a force multiplier could get you off the hamster wheel, and use leverage to do less.
-
July 10, 2025
When things get overly complex, get simple again: untangle the workflows that only exist because "we've always done it that way."
-
May 8, 2025
Ask why before you do the next item on your never-ending list.
-
May 1, 2025
When a task is unclear or makes no sense, give it up on purpose, not by quiet quitting or going passive-aggressive.
-
January 9, 2025
Review all of your lists (to-do, paper, electronic, calendar) so you can decide what to do less of.
-
December 19, 2024
Your to-do list has probably become noise: punt on the items that keep piling up instead of carrying them all.
-
September 19, 2024
Look at the last thing you eliminated: was it actually helpful? If yes, continue; if not, rethink eliminating.
-
June 6, 2024
Look at your time audit, notice the patterns, and watch what happens when you start seeing them.
-
May 30, 2024
Today, jot down on paper how you actually spend your time. Awareness is enough.
-
January 25, 2024
Pick one thing you do on autopilot, such as a recurring meeting where you have nothing to add, and decide whether to keep doing it or let it go.
-
January 18, 2024
Clear off your desk and take a before-and-after photo. Keeping it clear takes daily work, but less clutter makes a difference.
-
November 9, 2023
Do less: what's ONE thing you do repetitively that you could stop doing right now?
-
October 12, 2023
Break "we've always done it this way" by changing one simple thing you do on autopilot, such as your calendar view.
-
September 21, 2023
Do different: change one thing you do on auto-pilot, such as your route, which wrist your watch is on or which hand holds your toothbrush.
-
August 3, 2023
Pick a recurring meeting that wastes your time, decline it and all future events, and block that time back for yourself.
-
June 22, 2023
Stop reading everything: remember the ONE book you'd re-read cover to cover to help you get stuff done.
-
March 9, 2023
Drop what's neither urgent nor important: delete it, say no, and mean it to yourself.
-
February 23, 2023
Get real: not everything is Urgent and Important. See what you can move out of that quadrant this week.
-
February 16, 2023
Stop spinning: draw an Eisenhower Matrix on paper and brain-dump everything you have to do onto it.
-
February 2, 2023
Apply the 80/20 rule: find the vital few causes behind most of your results and focus there so you stop feeling overwhelmed.
-
January 12, 2023
When "we've always done it this way" keeps you on the hamster wheel, ask what ONE thing you could learn and apply today to break out.
-
January 5, 2023
Look at your next couple of weeks and decline or delete the meetings you don't need, recurring ones included, then block that time for yourself.
-
December 15, 2022
If you start lots of books and never finish them, stop: read less.
-
December 8, 2022
There's a difference between saying you'll do less and actually doing it: time to do it.
-
November 10, 2022
Reflect often on where and how you can improve (in Scrum, the Retrospective) so you don't run on autopilot.
-
October 6, 2022
If you spend more time estimating than working, consider stopping: "estimate" appears zero times in the 2020 Scrum Guide (a thought exercise if stopping would be career-limiting).
-
September 29, 2022
If you're in meetings where you aren't present, decline them in future, especially recurring ones, and see what happens if you're not there.
-
May 26, 2022
Stop the busy: the next time you catch yourself saying "I am SO busy," stop and think about it.
-
May 19, 2022
Follow along for one actionable tip each week on increasing your productivity by doing less.
More Focus. #deliver themes
- How do I protect my focus when everything is urgent?
- How do I recover when I'm exhausted, overwhelmed or stuck?
- How do I finish work instead of juggling half-done tasks?
- How do I avoid building things nobody needs?
- How do I lead and communicate with less noise?
- How do I connect and collaborate with other people?