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