Ascendant leaders make good decisions about the focus of their work, especially when overseeing a portfolio of projects. There’s no formula for this, but here are questions and concepts which I’ve found helpful in project oversight. Which resonate the most with you? Any you would add?
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What problem, if fixed permanently, would make a whole bunch of other problems disappear?
It’s never Problem vs. No-problem. What problems do you prefer to have?
What’s good enough, so we can divert resources to creating breakthrough and high ROI deliverables?
For what am I willing to be yelled at?
Use imagination in planning: What story do I want to be able to share, with whom, when? What position do we want to be in, relative to competitors, in 3 years?
Am I solving something just for my area, or something greater? (Greater attracts funding from top-down)
Beware of over-complicating: NASA built a zero-gravity space pen; the Soviets used a pencil.
Who to go with? Which people (sponsors, leaders, stakeholders, execution team, etc.) give you the best opportunities for brag-worthy results?
Old wisdom: You can’t solve a problem at the same level the problem exists; either go up a level or down a level.
It’s possible to time-slice yourself into zero deliverables.
