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This Productivity Hack Gets Hard Tasks Done Quickly
(and often better)
I’ve done some of my best work under pressure. I was always an exam guy not a coursework guy.
It’s not necessarily enjoyable at the time, but when your back is against the wall and you have no option left but either do a task, or miss the chance, often you do it pretty well.
There’s a way to harness the good parts of this process without feeling on edge constantly.
The Workshop Challenge
In a recent workshop I attended we learnt the basics of customer research — how to pick people to survey, the various ways to speak to and learn from them.
The course leaders asked us to, in our groups, design a day’s worth of activities for a fictional customer research group.
Then straight after lunch they sprung this on us: In the next hour, do it.
There was no possible way we could organise a proper customer research day in an hour, but we had to do something, so we adapted.
We took the best questions, then each of the 3 of us tried to talk to at least one person through different means (in person, on the phone, over WhatsApp and on email). We asked our mates to help us out.
