“And how big is Ron’s job right now?” I asked.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Eduardo protested. “I am just trying to get my arms around measuring the size of the job by using Time Span.”
“I understand,” I replied. “So, think about it now. Measuring the size of the job using Time Span will become clear.”
“Okay,” Eduardo started. “Ron’s role now is to manage two supervisors with a total staff of twelve people. That’s two supervisors and ten workers.”
“So, what are the tasks and what is the Time Span of the longest task?” I prodded.
“Well, Ron has to teach his supervisors to use the same process he used when he was a supervisor. But he had all that in his head, so now he has to either write it down, or draw a picture, flow chart it out, or something. He has to create the system for his team.” Eduardo stopped. “This is really a different job. I think one of his supervisors isn’t doing that great and needs to be replaced. Ron is going to have to figure out what skills would be valuable to interview for and then he has to go out and recruit.
“He also has some equipment that needs to be replaced with more sophisticated machines, get a bit more automated, but he is going to have to make his case. And he has to budget for it. And he has to get that budget approved. Our budget process alone is done on an annual basis.
“Without thinking much more about it, I think the Time Span required for Ron’s job, now, is about twelve months.”
“So, based on Time Span,” I said, “the size of Ron’s current job is twelve months?” Eduardo was nodding. Time Span as a unit of measure was beginning to sink in. -TF
Timespan is some way to measure the weight of a job. To me it comes down to this: How further away the goal/time is , how more confused we are because it all becomes more cloudy. We, as humans like something to hold on to. When we lose that grip, we reach out for it someway or another and seem to struggle. As a manager, giving those who seem to struggle a hold, by example planningskills, might set them back on the right track. Goethe once said: “Treat people as they are, and they remain the same. Treat people in a way they could be, and they will become that way.”