I don’t have time to deal with that right now—I’m on a deadline.
I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard that. Guess what? Before you finish this project, you are going to start talking about the next one, so there isn’t going to be a good time if you’re waiting for a significant break, and when the “that” is your network, you are not only rolling the dice on a rather dicey bet, you are seriously shooting yourself in the foot.
Let’s say that your digital storage could use some TLC. Loading times can be a particular problem, especially with video and other large file types. You just clicked to open the file, and you’re so stressed you don’t have time to talk to an Engineer right now. But it’s still loading.
While you’re waiting anyway, let’s talk about wasted time. If all of the annoying loading times were eliminated, maybe as simply as upgrading so things can digest in the background while you continue to work, would you get more done? Would you be less stressed and happier at work? What about the work itself—do you ever feel like all those tech interruptions are getting in the way of your creativity and concentration, because they are even if you haven’t noticed it, and your work can and will improve if you get everything else out of the way.
Still loading? Ok.
You’re working on a pretty labor-intensive part of the project and so are other people. It’s really important that you keep track of who has the file, what they are working on, etc., so you don’t waste time by working on the same thing or accidentally save over someone else’s work. Those set-backs can be so damaging that people tend to create personal procedures to avoid them, such as keeping an additional copy of the file in a safe place in case it gets lost, but that tends to mean multiple versions of files that may be missing recent changes, which can make workflow plans pretty challenging. It would make the whole process faster if more than one person could work in the same folder at the same time—the actual file is locked so only one person can work on it, but someone else could be working on a different segment in the same folder with the built-in collaborative software so the whole project can be done more efficiently.
Loaded yet? Really? That stinks. Anyway…
This deadline you’re facing would be so much easier if you could get twice as much work done every day. But I get it—you don’t have any time to talk about effectively doubling your available time. You know, it’s like you left your house on foot and are walking three hours to work because you don’t have the time to go back and get your car. Do you realize you are going to be late this way, and if you stopped power-walking in a panic and went back for your car you’d have time to stop for coffee on the way and still be early?
You’re not even listening, are you?
Did it load yet? Oh. Well, good luck with that. I hope it loads soon.
I won’t waste any more of your time…