I looked at the breakout session on the hotel marquee. Today in the Yeehaw Room was a symposium on Best Practices.

I smiled.

Best Practices are necessary but not sufficient.

Past experience may be helpful, but seldom covers all the bases. Past experience seldom anticipates all the change. Past experience often misses critical elements that will be different in the future.

Best Practices are what we teach in school. Those who live by Best Practices will find themselves perfectly equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Accomplishment always happens in the future. -TF

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

As a follow-up question regarding the necessity for a Manager to think into the future.

Question:

The question(s) are: How do you determine the time frame that a manager should be thinking into the future? Given your garden-variety project, do you figure out “lead time” for the group? Example: team has to prepare documents for an audit in two weeks, we have an existing pool of docs to update. You’ve discussed this in the past, however your thoughts would be appreciated.

Response:

This question sets the perfect trap for the manager with short term thinking. Of course, this short term project has to be completed prior to the two week deadline. But here is what a manager needs to be thinking about.

What audit projects do I anticipate receiving during the next twelve months? What is the scope of those projects, how long will they take and what technical work is necessary? If I chart out a timeline of the number of projects over the next twelve months, how many overlap, or are there quiet periods in between?

Who will I need on my team to do the technical work, the research, the preparation and the review? Who will I need to perform the administrative work of tracking all of the elements and packaging the audit when the work is completed?

Who do I have on my staff now and who do I need to recruit? What impact will that have on my budget, in terms of expense to the anticipated revenue? When do I place the ads, when do I interview and when do I make the hires?

How long will training take to get these people up to speed to perform this audit work? Who will do the training?

All of these questions require way more than two weeks. These are the issues for the successful manager. The typical timespan (working into the future) for any working manager is twelve months. -TF

“But, what about today?” asked Kristen. “It’s great to think about the future, but I have to get stuff done today.”

In class, we had been talking about how a manager has to think differently.

“The anchor for the manager has to be some specific time point in the future. Every action we take only has meaning related to that future time point. Call it planning, call it a milestone, call it a goal.

“You are right. You have to get stuff done today. Action occurs today. The role of the manager is to inspect that future time point and create today’s effective action. Here is the question. What is the destination, and what is the most effective action we can take, today, to get there?” -TF

We kicked off a new management program last week. With every class, I have a new manager, recently promoted, on the cusp of a brand new role.

“What’s the biggest difference? What will change for me? What do I have to learn?” The questions reveal the chasm, a chasm that requires a journey full of twists, turns and decisions to be made.

“The biggest difference,” I begin, “is time span. As a manager, you will begin to think further into the future.

“As a team leader of a crew, you might think about what needs to be produced this week. As a new supervisor, you also have to think about what the schedule looks like for two weeks. The big project three weeks from now will require more prep and staging time.

“As a new manager, you have to think about your system that captures forecast data and translates that data into materials, people, equipment and timelines.

“Becoming a manager, at any level, requires you to think further into the future, using your own discretionary judgment.” -TF

Audrey had been silent for almost thirty seconds, eyes deep in thought. “So, identifying the Time Span for a project is pretty easy, because it has a deadline. Does Time Span apply to other jobs that are not quite so defined?”

“Of course. We always have some timeline in mind for any task. Elliott Jaques called it the Timeline of Intention. Time Span can be used to define not only specific tasks, but also to define specific roles inside the company.

“Let’s take payroll, for example. Every week, the payroll clerk prepares the timesheets, calculates the additional elements of each paycheck, like 401(k) and such. You might say that payroll has a one week Time Span. In reality, payroll is a bit more complicated because of its reporting at the end of every three months.

“Payroll clerks know that every payroll transaction has an impact on that quarterly report and if something gets screwed up on a payroll run, it is going to be screwed up when it comes time to prepare that quarterly report.

“Even though payroll may be run once a week or once every two weeks, the payroll clerk is always focused on the quarterly report. The Time Span for payroll is three months.

“Here, take a look at this. It’s a list I put together. I collected a number of roles in a typical company and identified the Time Span for each position. You might find this helpful.” -TF

If you would like to see the list I showed to Audrey, just drop me an email and I will send you a copy. It’s a couple of pages, quick read.

“So, Time Spans can be anywhere between a few minutes and a month?” Audrey asked. We had been talking about how to identify the complexity of a task by how long it takes to complete.

“What if you had a task that takes longer than a month to complete?” I responded.

“What could take longer than a month?” Audrey’s curiosity was touched.

“Look at some of the outside projects that your Project Managers run. How long does it take for one of your longer projects?”

Audrey pulled a memo out of her in-basket. “Well, we just got this project last week and it won’t be completed until next June. And actually, with some of the delays we anticipate, this project will probably take eighteen months.”

“Can you give that assignment to one of your junior Project Managers?” I asked.

“No way. This will be a complicated project. We have no idea what material shortages or cost escalations will occur. To make this profitable, we have to have someone who is comfortable working way into the future.”

“Big job?”

“Big job.”

“How big is big? Use Time Span to describe it,” I directed.

Audrey stopped. “The Sun Tower Project has an eighteen month Time Span.” She stopped again. “So, when we pick a Project Manager, we want to pick someone who has run a job for eighteen months before. Only two of our Project Managers have that kind of experience.” -TF

“Identifying the Time Span of the first task is easy,” Audrey continued. We were talking about the Time Spans of different tasks to figure out how big, big is. “The first task is just moving some junk out of the way in the loading bay, so forty five minutes.

“But, the second task, where we have to anticipate all the different things that move through the loading bay, that will take longer to think about. Plus we have cargo containers that get loaded in the bay, so we have to stack things in different places when that happens. If I had to create a policy for how we move things through the loading bay, I would have to think about all those things.”

“And if we set perimeters around the loading bay using safety tape to mark zones for received materials versus outgoing materials, would that also be part of the thinking?” I asked.

“You’re right, this would be a big job,” Audrey concluded.

“Okay, how big of a job? Use Time Span to describe it.”

“We are going to have to talk to the Shipping Manager and get his input. We will also have to get with our Freight Coordinator to find out what kind of vehicles and containers we load. The Purchasing Manager can tell us about incoming materials. The Safety Director can help us understand the physical perimeters and safety zones, how high we can stack stuff. Then we will have to write the policy, present it through a couple of meetings to get more input and revisions. This will probably take a month. I will say the Time Span of this project to be about a month.”

“So, when you think about how big a job is, we can use Time Span to more precisely describe its complexity?”

“Yes,” replied Audrey. “And it will also help me pick the right person for the assignment.” -TF

“Tell me more about Time Span. I think I understand, but I’m not sure,” Audrey was curious.

“Do you ever wonder about how to judge the complexity of a job, ever wonder how to describe its mental difficulty?” I asked.

“Well, yeah. Sometimes when I delegate something, I don’t know who to choose. Or I don’t know if the person can complete the task without a lot of my help.”

“Exactly,” I said. “We use different words, like, it’s going to be a big job. Or it’s going to be a tough assignment. Well, just exactly how big is a big job, and just exactly how tough is a tough assignment. Would you like to have a measuring stick that describes precisely how big, big is?”

Audrey leaned forward. Her eyes grew wide. “Yes,” she replied.

“The answer is Time Span. Think about the complexity of task related to how long it takes to complete it.”

“Give me an example,” she said.

“Okay, tell me the time span for this task? Please move all the junk away from the loading bay so we can get this stack of product loaded on a truck that arrives here in :45 minutes.”

“That’s easy,” she said, “Forty-five minutes.”

“Okay, tell me the Time Span for this task? Please arrange the loading bay and create a policy for material flow to accommodate all the different products that we load on all the different vehicles and shipping containers?

“It looks like a similar task, but it requires a totally different Time Span. What do you say?” -TF

From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:

Tell me more about Time Span. You have mentioned this several times since I’ve been reading your blog, but I do not think I have a clear understanding of what you mean. Give me some details behind the thinking.

Response:

Time Span is the central theme behind an extensive body of research conducted over a period of 50 years by Elliott Jaques. Time Span, as a concept, can be used to understand and measure several elements related to the complexity of a task, complexity of a role and the capability of a person. It has implications for the company org chart, reporting protocols and hiring criteria.

Time Span is defined as “the length of time that a person can work, into the future, without direction, using their own discretionary judgment.”

The Time Span of a delegated task would be the length of elapsed time between the task handoff meeting and the completion of the task. Time Span is used to precisely measure the complexity of any task. The complexity of a task is created by the uncertainty of its elements and its outcome.

The shorter the Time Span, the more certain are its elements and its outcome. The longer the Time Span, the less certain are its elements and its outcome. Time Span becomes the measuring stick.

Now, I am absolutely certain that I have created many more questions. -TF