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I love big, audacious ideas. Ideas that could quite possibly change the world in their own way. As a result, I surround myself with people who have similar big, audacious ideas. We spend a lot of time discussing how to make our Big Ideas happen. The problem with our Big Ideas (and probably yours) is that it takes a lot of time and energy to accomplish our Big Ideas, and there’s a lot of things we need to do to make our Big Idea a reality. A good example is the company I run, DataSync. It’s going to take us 5 years and countless hours to make our Big Idea a reality.

The main issue at stake is how to break your Big Idea into manageable, daily tasks. The problem about us humans is that we can only think about things in small pieces. Trying to solve a giant problem all at once simply can’t be done. Our brains choke on that. Instead we must break down big challenges into manageable task that each help (in their own small way) to accomplish our Big Idea.

So the solution is to break your Big Idea down into a detailed plan. The plan is a roadmap to getting from where you are today to where you want to get. In theory the whole process is simple. Doing it is complex. Here’s how I break down my Big Idea into tasks I do each day:

1. Define your Big Idea – My most prominent Big Idea is DataSync Suite, the software package we’re building. Make sure your big idea is big and challenging to achieve. Otherwise it isn’t a Big Idea.
2. Define ‘current state’ and ‘desired state’ – Practically define where you’re at, and where you want to be at the end of your Big Idea. We call this “current state” and “desired state”. Be specific.
3. Define projects – This high level view will get you to your desired state, so organize them according to the impact they will will make on your Big Idea.
4. Build out milestones – Break each project down into “milestones”, or required achievements to accomplish the project successfully.
5. Build out tasks – Break down each milestone into manageable tasks that can be accomplished in less than a few days.

Note that #5 is broken down far enough to actually accomplish in a given workday or a few workdays. That means you’ll be able to wrap your head around them.

The five steps I outlined above seem simple enough, but how do you actually keep track of them, and measure progress? I’ll take each section and offer some tools that will help.

1. Define your Big Dream – Mind mapping software such as FreeMind will help here. Make sure to have a date in mind to accomplish your Big Idea, otherwise you’ll have nothing to shoot for.
2. Define ‘current state’ and ‘desired state’ – Generally a good, concise document will accomplish this. Maybe a powerpoint. Probably both. You should be able to communicate your current and desired state concisely and with enough detail to define areas that need work.
3. Define projects – I’m a big fan of using a “strategy map’ to do this. A strategy map asks tough questions including the impact, effort, project goals are. Based on this info, you then make a judgement call on what the priority of the project should be. See an example we use here.
4. Build out milestones – This is where you bring in project management software. Base Camp, SugarCRM, activeCollab and others will help you out. Use something that fits what you’re working on. At DataSync, our engineering department utilizes ‘agile development’, so they use a special homebrew application. Use what works for the project you’re working on.
5. Build out tasks – This is where your solution varies widely. If you’re using project management software, use the task management built in. If you don’t use project management software or that software doesn’t do what you want, pick your own solution. Many people I know use OmniFocus. I am a BlackBerry junkie so I use ToDoMatrix, and I couldn’t live without it. The key is to find something that works for you. Make sure whatever tool you pick allows you to set the following: area, priority, and date due. Those 3 indicators should reflect what you defined in your milestones and strategy map.

I want to point out that no one software application is right for everyone, and no one software application will do it all for you. Managing your time effectively requires constant reassessing of values and making sure your day to day tasks are aligned with your Big Idea. Every minute you spend working on tasks that have less than maximum impact on your Big Idea, the slower it will take to get there. Many folks get so distracted that they never achieve their Big Idea. Don’t let it happen to you. Look at your Big Idea, strategy map, and milestones often and make sure you stay on track. I do it every day.

As I mentioned at the top, I haven’t figured this whole problem out yet, but I’ve made a lot of progress. I would welcome feedback and ideas on how to do this more effectively.

Tags: getting things done, productivity

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 7th, 2009 at 12:27 pm and is filed under DataSync, General Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.