Keep a focus

With tutors as with apprentices – there seems to be so much to do that it is easy to be overwhelmed. I have found the following helpful:

• Move from pattern to detail. Get the shape of things right first. Do just enough toget going - then reflective learning can kick in
• Prioritise ruthlessly - question the need to do something, at every turn
• Apply Pareto's 80:20 rule, go for the 80 per cent of the work that can be done in 20 per cent of the time that it takes to do the job “properly”. (Or, as my friend Geoff Corner would say “This job is perfect - but it will have to do for now”)
• When following plans, be event-driven rather than time driven.
• Complete each stage to the agreed standard before moving on to the next. If something is broken, stop and fix it before “ticking the box” and moving on. Often. what we think to be deadlines turn out to be just that – dead lines.
• Get help (as in “Build relationship”)

So much for urgency. As for the really important work, I try to capture the timeless quality of what we are doing, and concentrate on that. All else will ebb and flow, and may easily distract us from our core task while it does so.  Our development priorities are listed in table 3

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