Breaking Projects into Smaller Tasks to Increase Productivity

The first post about improving productivity outlines exact steps in assessing your current productivity level as well as identifying the obstacles to that productivity. The second step in this process is to:

Evaluate Individual Tasks / Break Projects Up into Smaller Tasks

Small business owners that work from home (which is the primary audience for which these tips are written) can become overwhelmed by their everyday duties. When duties are taken apart and made into separate tasks that are actually part of a bigger project, completion is quicker and easier. For example: As a business writer, one duty for my day may be to "write press release" for a client. In all actuality, I need to dismantle this into specific duties like 1. brainstorm subject and catchy press title 2. gather required information 3. first compilation 4. spell check 5. send to client for proofread. Doing so will show me how productive I am throughout the day.

These individual tasks will help increase my productivity because I now have a mental picture of the individual things I have to accomplish before the project is complete, and also allows me to see other tasks I can fit in between. I am not advocating multitasking, rather breaking each duty into smaller tasks so that if there are breaks or spaces in completing the whole project, that time can be used wisely and be efficiently scheduled (more on this in a later post). In the example of writing a press release, I may spend a lot of time brainstorming the title or searching the internet for keywords but after the first compilation and it is sent to the client for approval, while the entire task is not yet complete, I am able to fit in another task from another project.

The individual tasks are also helpful in case there are legitimate reasons you have to leave your home office. While taking a family member to a doctor appointment, you can write down press release titles and possible keywords you want to incorporate. Prior to breaking the duty into individual tasks, if you are only concerned about writing the entire press release but unaware of the specific tasks involved, time spent at the doctor is not productive. The point is that you are making each moment within your workday count. When you begin to break all of your overall duties into smaller tasks, they are more manageable and easier to benchmark / measure the effectiveness of your productivity throughout the day. That 4 hour workday just increased by an additional 30 minutes just because you are prepared for your time out of the office.

While there is much debate on whether or not multitasking is effective, I would suggest that if multitasking is something you do, breaking projects into these individual tasks will greatly help you. Back to the previous example of the press release, lets add to the to-do list editing a professional document for a client. For that day, you may not be able to completely edit that doc, but in between tasks for the press release you may pick it up and begin to edit it in chunks.

The goal is that eventually the document is completely edited and the press release is done. Factoring in the inevitable presence of obstacles in your workday, you have greatly improved the amount you are accomplishing in both tasks when you evaluate the individual tasks involved in completing both projects. While neither the press release or book editing is yet complete, within 2 days the press release can be done and the book editing well on it's way. Without evaluating specific tasks for these, you may be hesitant to put off the book editing until you have more time. But more time is not what you really need, it is more efficient use of the time you have.

Waiting for the perfect work day to accomplish bigger tasks will never net anything and keep you frustrated as your bigger projects pile up. Every day has its own unique challenges and demands. Instead weave the smaller tasks of the big project into your day, even in between other tasks (in case you get bored with one task easily like myself), and you will see a dramatic increase in your productivity. Instead of not even beginning to edit that book, within 2 days you could have two chapters complete when you have already broken each project up into individual tasks.

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