Tell me if this happens to you: no matter how many things you cross off, your to-do list just keeps getting longer. Things are getting added faster than you can cross them off, and you’re feeling overwhelmed, busy but not productive, and scattered. Enter: Agile Methodology. I used this workflow when I worked in tech + startups, and I’m sharing it with you today because it’s still my favorite way to make massive traction on my work without feeling overwhelmed or scattered, and also maintaining my freedom and easeful lifestyle.
There are two ways to work:
#1 Waterfall
This is textbook firefighting. Something comes up, you deal with it by putting out the fire, and by the time you’re done, another to-do has surfaced and you switch over to putting out that fire. Waterfall is cyclical and reinforces feeling “busy”. It’s also hard to measure your progress, track KPIs, and stay on a deadline when you work this way, since you’re absorbed in the moment and never looking ahead.
A sign that you’re working this way is: Your to-do list is always growing no matter how many things you cross off.
You constantly jump from one thing to the next, your plate feels really full all the time, and you have your hands in so many different things you can’t even count.
Working this way will lead to burnout. You’ll get tired of spinning in circles and you’ll have very little to show for it.
#2 Agile
Agile is a cadenced, methodical and intentional way of working, that allows you to make week over week progress (that’s easily trackable with KPIs) and do less, better.
Here’s how it works:
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Set a predetermined cadence (I love one week). This is called a sprint.
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At the beginning of each sprint, outline the tasks you’ll complete during the sprint and/or identify KPIs you want to have met by the end of the sprint
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You focus only on those tasks during this sprint
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If anything comes up in the middle of your sprint, it gets added to a future sprint – not the current one (assuming it’s non-emergent)
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At the end of your sprint, do a retrospective to see what to start, stop and keep doing, what did and did not work, what tasks are complete and what tasks need to be rolled over to the next sprint since they were not completed. Then, create the next sprint and get started!
This means you’re always planning and scheduling at least 1 week out, which allows you to manage what’s on your plate more effectively, and strategically plan for the future to make more traction on your goals.
This workflow is great if you’re a visionary, multipassion, prone to distractions, or love to start projects but struggle to finish them.
The Benefits of Agile
Sticking to this framework, guarding my time and energy with passion, and setting firm boundaries around this gives me so much choice and control over what my day to day looks like, it supports me in maintaining the lifestyle I want, and it also keeps me on track to meet my goals.
Because I follow this framework, I’m able to achieve my goals to completion and on time AND also make time for the things that matter to me and live a really aligned and balanced lifestyle.
Agile allows you to make tangible week-over-week progress on long-term projects, reverse engineer your way to success using weekly, monthly, and quarterly KPIs (key performance indicators), and maintain focus so you can see things through to completion. It also reinforces the idea of essentialism: less, but better. Do fewer things each week, and do them better. This allows you to work at your highest point of contribution, be productive (not just busy), and feel less stress, overwhelm, and chaos. The best part: you can apply Agile to any and all areas of your life!