Curious how others deal with this: if I focus on one vertical slice of a long project (e.g. some design problem), I become annoyed that everything else remains frozen for long periods; if I work on a horizontal slice (a few pieces at once), bulk progress is very slow. Any escape?
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The key question: What’s the most important thing I could be doing right now to make progress on the project?
Do that. Don’t worry about the parts that remain frozen. If you keep answering the question, eventually, their time will come.
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I really like this angle, Ken!
Sensing into why I hesitate to do this: I think it's because the scope/definition of my projects are often so contingent, continuously-negotiated. And so I feel (right or wrong) I need to pay attention to the rest to shape the scope/def'n over time
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My projects are similar, Andy. I’m not great at it, but use two heuristics
Mainly: what would I be most proud to have faced today
Once/week: shortest job first
“Most proud” differs from Ken’s to give more weight to my own fears, desires re legacy, treating ppl a certain way…
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That's a nice distinction. I can imagine myself interleaving both "most important" and "most proud." eg: I have an email I'm ~afraid to reply to. It'll never be "most important," but I'd be more proud to have answered it than to have done the "most important" work I'll do today.