I started three tasks at once. The first completion came an hour later.
At 9 a.m., three items need to be sent today.
A quotation, a work notice, and a settlement sheet. Each takes one hour.
To simplify the comparison, let's assume that you handle all three tasks on your own, with no waiting for replies or surprise requests.
All three are finished by noon, but the first delivery time changes by an hour depending on the order.
Two Sequences with Different Completion Times
Finishing one task at a time
- 09:00–10:00 · Quotation → delivered at 10:00
- 10:00–11:00 · Work notice → delivered at 11:00
- 11:00–12:00 · Settlement sheet → delivered at 12:00
Switching every 30 minutes
- 09:00–09:30 · Half of the quotation
- 09:30–10:00 · Half of the notice
- 10:00–10:30 · Half of the settlement sheet
- 10:30–11:00 · Finish the quotation → delivered at 11:00
- 11:00–11:30 · Finish the notice → delivered at 11:30
- 11:30–12:00 · Finish the settlement sheet → delivered at 12:00
The second schedule contains no idle time, yet it produces nothing ready to send by 10:30 a.m.
The Time You Spend Busy and the Time Others Spend Waiting
Suppose someone needs the quotation before placing an order. To them, the delivery time of the quotation matters more than partial progress on the notice and settlement sheet.
In this example, sequential work delivers the quotation one hour earlier.
The total workload is unchanged, but the other person can begin their next step sooner.
When several tasks are in progress, ask which deliverable can be sent first instead of how much of each task has been touched.
This is especially true if there is someone waiting for it to be completed.
Why Limit Work in Progress
In project management, work that has started but is not finished is called work in progress, or WIP.
Limiting what you have in progress forces you to decide what to finish before continuing with new tasks.
Little's Law in operations management describes the relationship between processing speed, the number of tasks in progress, and the time it takes to complete them.
The formula does not transfer directly to a personal schedule, but it highlights a useful question: as more tasks stay open, how long does each one wait to be finished?
Should You Wait Until One Task Is Finished?
The answer changes if the quotation depends on a price list arriving in the afternoon. In that case, work on the notice instead of leaving the quotation open all morning.
Mark the quotation as ‘Waiting for price list’ rather than ‘In progress.’ Recording what you are waiting for and when to check again separates blocked work from work you can do now.
An incident or a nearer deadline may still change the order. The comparison above assumes that all three tasks have equal conditions.
Give a Completion Time with Every New Request
“I’ll start after I finish the quotation. I can send the notice tomorrow morning.”
This answer requires knowing what is already in progress and what remains. It gives the other person more useful information than promising to start everything immediately.
If several tasks are in progress today, consider what changes when one of them is delivered. A sent quotation can release an order that was waiting. One completion can be another person's signal to begin.
ILJI TIME STORIES · 14
