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How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

ashleyjanssen.com

11–20 of 33 posts

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#11
post #6

I think one of the major things missing from this post is that if you are going to drop a ball, you should communicate you are dropping it to the relevant stakeholders / family / friends / etc. That generally lessens the blow of dropping it significantly in my experience.

Typically there are three throws per second. Communication latency to stakeholders is too low while juggling to achieve desired goal.

What does this even mean? Especially the first bit

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#12
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typically there are three throws per second. Communication latency to stakeholders is too low while juggling to achieve desired goal.

What does this even mean? Especially the first bit

It means they're for some reason talking about juggling balls.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#13
post #6

I think one of the major things missing from this post is that if you are going to drop a ball, you should communicate you are dropping it to the relevant stakeholders / family / friends / etc. That generally lessens the blow of dropping it significantly in my experience.

Sometimes, but sometimes that communication is itself a plastic ball that you can drop without issue. Even if that person never speaks to you again, if you are not close it may not matter.

What does matter is reputation though. If you have promised to do something than communication becomes a glass ball if you want to be "a man of your word". Have a good reputation is important, but exactly what good reputation means to everyone is different and that is okay.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#14
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typically there are three throws per second. Communication latency to stakeholders is too low while juggling to achieve desired goal.

What does this even mean? Especially the first bit

3 throws per second is the rate of action required to perform juggling literally. The implication is that communicating between the miss that causes the fall and the event of dropping the ball must happen in less than 1 second. Translating back to the metaphor, communicating that the ball is being dropped before it hits the ground is a task as hard as the juggling itself.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#16
post #3

Honestly this is stupid, if you want to have integrity the answer is to have less balls in the air.

That is a bad idea. Some of those balls in the air are things you should be doing but can skip. Exercise is a perfect example - we all know that it is important for good health, but it is also something that if you skip a day here and there it is okay (just don't let one day skipped lead to a week). Similarly I practice my musical instruments, but I often skip that when something else comes up, but I have no interest in not having practice as a ball in the air even though I drop it more often than not.

Life only rarely goes perfectly to plan. You will have to change plans at the last minute because of emergencies, but planning to do nothing just in case there is an emergency is a bad plan. Your boss will ask you to work late. Your kids will get sick. You will get invited to a last minute event. It is likely that you will be involved in two different activities that schedule an event at the same time. All of these are a sign of a fulfilling life, not of a problem.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#17
post #6

I think one of the major things missing from this post is that if you are going to drop a ball, you should communicate you are dropping it to the relevant stakeholders / family / friends / etc. That generally lessens the blow of dropping it significantly in my experience.

Typically there are three throws per second. Communication latency to stakeholders is too low while juggling to achieve desired goal.

Yeah but only in earth gravity. Depending on your remote work location things change substantially, though I’m not sure exactly how in your mixed metaphor.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#18
I see there are two big ways people approach success in life, either supporting others or pioneering some thing. This seems like a good way to look at priorities if you take the support approach. For pioneering, you just don’t know what is glass or plastic, that’s what you’re trying to figure out. I wouldn’t stretch this metaphor to cover that situation.

Re: How to Juggle Priorities (2023)

#20
post #6

I think one of the major things missing from this post is that if you are going to drop a ball, you should communicate you are dropping it to the relevant stakeholders / family / friends / etc. That generally lessens the blow of dropping it significantly in my experience.

I support this.
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