Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to designate fix it times to improve operations
Speaker 1: and reduce wasted time and frustration at work and at home.
Speaker 1: This tip comes from Kim Scott's book Radical Candor. This
Speaker 1: book teaches readers how to be a great boss who,
Speaker 1: as she puts it, cares personally about our team and
Speaker 1: also challenges them directly. There are lots of helpful management tips,
Speaker 1: but even if you're not leading a group, you can
Speaker 1: use some of her ideas to make things better both
Speaker 1: at work and at home. Designating a fix it time
Speaker 1: is one of these ideas. Scott explains that engineering organizations
Speaker 1: often have fix it weeks, which she calls the equivalent
Speaker 1: of spring cleaning. As she explas, everyone will stop working
Speaker 1: on new features for a week and fix bugs in
Speaker 1: the current product. She contrasts fix it weeks with hack weeks,
Speaker 1: when the focus is on developing new ideas. Fix it
Speaker 1: weeks provide a chance to fix old and annoying problems
Speaker 1: that have been bothering people for months. If you're like me,
Speaker 1: you can probably think of all kinds of bugs at
Speaker 1: work and at home that you'd love to eliminate. Maybe
Speaker 1: you want to set up your printer to scan directly
Speaker 1: to email so that you don't need to plug a
Speaker 1: flash drive into your printer every time you want to
Speaker 1: turn a paper document into a PDF. Maybe you want
Speaker 1: to create a launch pad by your back door at
Speaker 1: home so you can stop feeling frazzled every morning as
Speaker 1: you're looking for your keys or umbrella. Maybe that towel
Speaker 1: rack in your bathroom is threatening to come loose from
Speaker 1: the wall and don't get me started on random burned
Speaker 1: out lights, or that you find yourself typing the same
Speaker 1: answers over and over again to people who request a
Speaker 1: certain document. Keep a list of these bugs, things that
Speaker 1: consume time, drain your energy, or cause frustration. This could
Speaker 1: be a document on your computer, a page in a
Speaker 1: bullet journal, or just a list stuck to your fridge
Speaker 1: anywhere that's convenient to see. If you lead a team,
Speaker 1: ask your colleagues to keep a running list of bugs.
Speaker 1: Ask your home team, that is, the people who live
Speaker 1: with you or come to your house regularly, to keep
Speaker 1: a list of bugs as well. Then designate periodic fix
Speaker 1: at times. Ideally times when you don't have too many
Speaker 1: other constraints. Maybe you're off for a holiday but your
Speaker 1: kids aren't. That could be a great time to eliminate
Speaker 1: some bugs at home. Or you could choose a friday
Speaker 1: at work that you've intentionally kept clear to deal with
Speaker 1: these problems. Yes, you could keep putting these things off.
Speaker 1: There's no real harm caused by having to use the
Speaker 1: memory stick on your printer, but it will also feel
Speaker 1: really good to cross them off and not be bothered
Speaker 1: by them ever. Again. Although Scott talks about annual fix
Speaker 1: it weeks, you can experiment with the duration and frequency
Speaker 1: of fix it times that work for you, your team, and
Speaker 1: your family. One day per quarter might be a good
Speaker 1: starting point. In any case, it's easy to underestimate how
Speaker 1: much time we lose to the bugs in our life
Speaker 1: and how much frustration we needlessly experience. Fix It times
Speaker 1: can help us reclaim wasted time and energy, which we
Speaker 1: can then use to progress toward our goals. Are there
Speaker 1: bugs at work or at home that are annoying you?
Speaker 1: If you try a fix it time, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear how it goes. You can reach me at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com in the meantime. This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at BUA for Breakfast pod, that's b E
Speaker 1: the number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can
Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.
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