Automate Your Busywork (eBook)

Do Less, Achieve More, and Save Your Brain for the Big Stuff

Aytekin Tank (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-1-119-90175-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Learn to automate your busywork and focus on what really matters 

In Automate Your Busywork: Do Less, Achieve More, and Save Your Brain for the Big Stuff entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Jotform Aytekin Tank delivers a can't-miss blueprint to help you make the most of your most precious asset: time. You'll explore what's possible when you offload repetitive tasks, why automation has democratized innovation, and how you can use cheap-or even completely free-no-code automation tools to transform your ability to focus on what truly matters in your business and life. 

In the book, you'll discover: 

• Why the future of business is no-code, and how you can use an automation-first mindset to unlock your productivity potential 
• How to move from busywork to less work, and finally to having the time you need to accomplish your most important work 
• How you can use delegation and automation to achieve 'timefulness,' the state of having enough time 

A must-read handbook for every entrepreneur, founder, business owner, and freelancer who just doesn't have enough hours in the day, Automate Your Busywork will also earn a place in the libraries of managers, executives, and other business leaders looking to maximize their most valuable resource. 

AYTEKIN TANK is the founder and CEO of Jotform, an online form builder with 20 million users. He regularly contributes to columns in Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and Lifehack.

Inhalt

Introduction 1

The Revolution Will Be Automated 7

Chapter 1 Automation Fundamentals 13

Identify Your Busywork, Define Your Meaningful Work 14

Trash Your To-Do Lists 17

Introducing the Automation Flywheel 20

Chapter 2 Divide and Conquer 25

DIVIDE: Learning the Power of Workflows 30

Master Your Workflows, Master Your Work 32

Workflow Candidates 35

Workflow Models 36

Workflow Elements 38

Sorting Out the Steps 40

CONQUER: Spotting and Plotting Workflows 42

Developing an Automation-First Mindset 44

Corralling Your Workflow Candidates 48

Plotting Your Workflows 56

Chapter 3 Design and Implement 59

DESIGN: The Power of Maps 60

Visualize Your Workflows 61

Workflow Design in Action 66

Two Design Tips 71

Breaking Down Complicated Workflows 74

Common Business Workflows 78

Choosing Workflow Software 87

Elements of a Good Workflow 89

IMPLEMENT: From Design to Deployment 92

Take It Step by Step 94

Start Where You Are 95

Consider the Cloud 96

Choose Recommended Products 98

Conduct a SWOT Analysis 101

Chapter 4 Refine and Iterate 103

REFINE: Measure What Matters 105

Establish Your KPIs 106

Prioritize Your KPIs 107

Apply Systems Thinking 111

Improve the Outcome, Not the Output 113

Scale Your Expectations 115

ITERATE: Test, Change, and Innovate 117

Tools and Techniques of Process Improvement 117

Continuous Improvement 121

Iteration and Innovation 132

A Final Note About New Solutions 134

Chapter 5 Design a Life Without Busywork 137

Automate Your Memory 138

Automate Your Peace of Mind 144

Automate Your Communication 150

Automate Your Creativity 157

Automate Your Growth 163

Automate Your Happiness 168

Conclusion 175

Appendix 179

Technology Review Platforms 180

To-Do Lists (Individuals and Teams) 180

Personal Development/Self-Management 181

Communication: Incoming 183

Communication: Outgoing 186

Alerts and Reminders 188

Meetings and Events 189

Managing People 191

HR Concerns 193

Money and Finances (Personal and Business) 194

Content Development and Information Management 196

Online Presence 200

Sales and Marketing 204

Order Fulfillment/Customer Service 207

Miscellaneous Management and Automation 209

Notes 213

About the Author 221

Index 223

Textauszug

1
Automation Fundamentals

If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.

—Lao Tzu

First, I want to share an assumption I've made while writing this book. I believe that some of you are so awash in busywork that you don't currently have time for thinking and plotting—you're just desperately seeking quick solutions. You'll find such solutions identified as Quick Fixes, and the first one is just ahead.

And yet, I also know from experience that deeply productive automation can't be simply unboxed and plugged in. To truly conquer your busywork, you'll need to put in time and effort to determine precisely what needs to be automated. But I promise you, the benefits will come back to you in spades—in part because you'll likely identify tasks that could be greatly reduced or even cut out completely. So I ask you to trust me. Take advantage of the quick fixes to save some time now, and then please also commit to designing and implementing the automations that will ultimately revolutionize your work life.

Identify Your Busywork, Define Your Meaningful Work

First, picture for a moment your most dreaded busywork—the stuff that just thinking about makes you want to leap into the ocean, never to be seen again. Pretending to tame your never‐ending to‐do list? Invoicing? Heading into yet another meeting? Invoicing?

No matter what your busywork is, there's a good chance it can be partially or even fully automated—if not now, then likely soon. As for right now: even if it's not yet possible to automate an entire task, it's almost certainly possible to automate parts of it. This is where mapping out your process comes in. By breaking each task into its smallest, most basic parts, it becomes more apparent which steps you can streamline or automate and which you can reduce or abandon. And once you've identified individual elements of a task, you might find that solutions for that element are already available. (We'll cover this process in detail in the DESIGN portion of Chapter 3).

Exercise: What Do You Want to Fix the Most?

In the appendix (starting on page 179) you'll find an extensive categorized list of digital solutions to various kinds of busywork. Peruse those that interest you. As you go through them, flag those you can imagine benefiting from at some point with the number 2. Flag with the number 1 any that you'd like to check out sooner. (We'll return to this in a later exercise.)

Next, grab a pen and paper. Or ask Siri, Alexa, or a digital assistant to take notes for you—this is a book about automation, after all. Take 15 minutes to describe or sketch out your vision of work that matters to you and your career. What do you enjoy doing the most? What would you like to save your brain to do more of? What delivers the most impact? Include as many details as possible. Don't worry about a perfect breakdown at this stage; just get down as much as you can.

As you continue through this book, keep this “meaningful work” vision nearby, and perfect it as you go. It will be a valuable compass on your journey through automation.

Now that you've identified part of what you're seeking, the first step of exploring the fundamentals of automation calls for shattering key myths about work and productivity. You've likely been given all sorts of advice about how to work and what “good” work can and should be—but all too often the guidance of even career experts and well‐meaning teachers and parents is actually counterproductive. So it's essential to face these narratives head‐on before you can create new ones for yourself.

As you'll come to see, slashing your busywork is as much a mental exercise as a technical one because, ultimately, there's no point in automating rote, repetitive tasks if you haven't addressed why you're doing them—or even if you need to do them at all.

• Myth #1: WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE TO OUR COLLEAGUES, AND WE SHOULD RESPOND TO MESSAGES AS SOON AS THEY ARRIVE. (For some, this imperative refers to “during work hours”; for others this is expected 24/7.) Of course, speed and round‐the‐clock availability are critical for certain careers, such as, say, on‐call surgeons—but for the rest of us? Not essential.
• Solution to round‐the‐clock availability: BLOCK OUT PERIODS WHEN YOU FOCUS ON DEEP-THINKING WORK. Enlist your colleagues in determining both (1) that this approach is acceptable and (2) when such blocked‐out periods should and should not be scheduled. In other contexts it can be helpful to announce that you check your messages once per hour, or three times per day, or whatever suits you.

  Exercise: Start Setting Boundaries

  
  

  I didn't go from 0 to 100 overnight. Before I could even begin to eliminate my busywork, I had to set boundaries—which was hard. I turned off notifications when I left work and kept them off at home. I had to learn how to consciously switch my mind away from work. But over time it got easier. I didn't cringe every time I said “no” or “tomorrow, not today.” These might not sound like big steps, but when you're in reaction mode, doing anything with intention can feel revolutionary. I also realized that boundaries prioritize your attention. Instead of responding to an email the moment it hit my inbox, I chose to continue the critical work I was currently engaged in.

• Myth #2: PROCRASTINATION MUST CONSTANTLY BE KEPT AT BAY. The reasons we avoid a task, in any given moment, are extremely personal—and can be highly confounding. Countless experts have promoted how we can outwit our own avoidance tendencies, and over the years I've tried various techniques to battle my own procrastination. Eventually, I learned there was always a reason why I put off certain activities—which in turn revealed an underlying problem I needed to address.
• Solution to procrastination: AUTOMATION IS THE ULTIMATE PROCRASTINATION HACK. The more systems we establish, the less we can procrastinate. Automated expense submissions, for example, don't wait until they're in the mood to sort and classify receipts.
• I'm always reminded of the power of systems when I visit my family in rural Turkey. They own a small olive farm that runs like a well‐oiled machine. When we harvest the fruit, everyone knows what needs to happen and in what order. With no room for guesswork, we silently slip into our roles and get the job done.
• Success doesn't require extraordinary motivation. If you think something is boring or unpleasant, you need to take your feelings out of the equation and decide in advance exactly how and when it will get done. In other words, you need to automate it.
• Myth #3: MAKING A LIST AND CROSSING OUT COMPLETED TASKS IS THE BEST ANTIDOTE TO FEELING OVERWHELMED. It will feel great to check off each item, they say. When you reach the end, you'll be free, they say. But the truth is there is no end.
• Solution to feeling overwhelmed: Automation. Many of the items on your regular to‐do lists can be automated off your list.

Trash Your To‐Do Lists

You've probably heard the story of Sisyphus, a mortal who angered the Greek god Zeus and who, as punishment, was condemned to a life of battling an endless to‐do list. Every time it looked like poor Sisyphus might finally reach the end of the list, it would regenerate as if by magic—and he'd have no choice but to start again. It was a terribly cruel punishment, more arduous than, say, just pushing a boulder up a mountain. Every day.

Staring down the barrel of our own constantly regenerating to‐do lists, it's easy to wonder: What god did I anger? When will this end? The bad news: it doesn't end. The good news: you're not Sisyphus, and you're not chained to your to‐do list for all eternity.

One of the biggest problems with to‐do lists is that every item seems to carry the same amount of weight regardless of the time or focus needed to complete it. Putting TAKE OUT THE TRASH on the same list as APPLY TO GRAD SCHOOL is a bit like comparing an orange to a nuclear power plant. Whether a modest chore or a life‐changingly significant undertaking, in the end both earn the same checkmark. This unevenness often makes us prefer blasting through the easy items on our list rather than struggling through something difficult, even when that difficult task is meaningful. And because these throwaway tasks are never‐ending, it's very easy to avoid meaningful work indefinitely.

Some Truths About Productivity

• Studies show that most of us have trouble completing more than three hours of productive work each day. What's more, we tend to conflate urgency and importance, which is called the “urgency effect.”1 A series of studies published by the Journal of Consumer Research in 2018 found that, when given the choice of (1) easy tasks with short deadlines and small rewards and (2) easy tasks with longer deadlines and bigger rewards, people...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 4.5.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Bewerbung / Karriere
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management
• Schlagworte: Arbeitsorganisation • automating processes at work • automating work • Automation • automation tech • Business & Management • Business & Management Special Topics • busywork • Delegation • jotform • Low-Code • low-code automation • Management • No-Code • no-code automation • no-code automation tech • no-code tech • Organisations- u. Managementtheorie • Organization & Management Theory • Personal Career Development • Personalwesen • Productivity • productivity improvement • Robotic Process Automation • RPA • Spezialthemen Wirtschaft u. Management • task automation • Wirtschaft u. Management
• ISBN-10: 1-119-90175-8 / 1119901758
• ISBN-13: 978-1-119-90175-4 / 9781119901754