[Recommended Reading] SCRUM: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

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When I first saw SCRUM: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, I was intrigued.  I am a lover of books, and I am also HIGHLY interested in productivity, time management, and efficiency. I bought it immediately. And, because I can listen to the book while I run errands, clean my house (and because I had a gift card), I bought the audio book as well.

Twice the Work in Half the Time

This book isn’t what I thought it would be. I was picturing checklists and graphs and ORDER.  Rules and regulations. But it’s not that at all. It’s more than that.

Scrum is about looking at the way you do things, and being okay with doing them in a different way. It’s about letting go of what doesn’t work, embracing what does, and changing your plan if your results are not quite what you wanted. 

It’s about having a system in place to see how you’re doing AS you’re doing it, rather than waiting until the project is done to see if it is a success or not. There is a lot of focus on teamwork, but the lessons apply to solopreneurs as well.

Half Done Is Worse Than Not Done At All

This is a concept that gets a lot of attention in the book. At first I was surprised, thinking, “surely, if I get SOMETHING done, it’s better than getting nothing done at all… right?”  

Wrong.

When you start a project, you’re using resources (your time, your energy, your money). If you never finish the project, all of those resources have gone to waste. You’re throwing time, energy, and money away. For nothing.

You’re much better off breaking the project down into smaller pieces that are complete works in their own right. For example… you have an idea for a blog post, which leads to a great incentive opt-in, and then to an up-sell, which ultimately leads to a membership/course/coaching package.

Instead of doing a bit of the blog post, and a little of the opt-in, and a few modules of your course, focus on one piece of that sequence at a time.  Choose one piece, set a deadline, and work on that ONE piece until it is done. Once each part of the bigger project is done (by or before the deadline) you can put the whole thing together and start reaping the rewards of your efforts.

My Takeaway

Productivity is about production…. producing. Finishing your project and having a deliverable at the end.  Efficiency is “achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.” Do things well. Do them simply. 

The thing that really struck me about this book is this: Productivity is not JUST about how you do things. It’s about NOT DOING the things that are slowing you down, or stopping you all together. Get them out of your process and let them go.

This is the other side of the productivity coin, and I am definitely going to take a closer look. Yes, I want to find a better way to do things. But, now I’m also looking at what isn’t working (I’m looking at you, Critical Inner Voice) and letting those things go.

Read this Book/Listen to the Audiobook

If you want to take a deeper dive into this book (and I recommend you do, ESPECIALLY if you work with a team) you can find it here:

SCRUM: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time (ebook)

SCRUM: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time (audiobook)

This book is definitely worth more than one read or listen. I think your takeaways from the book will depend on where you are in your business. What speaks to you today will probably be different than what speaks to you 6 months from now. That is an exciting thought, because it means you’re making progress. Take what you will from this book and apply it today. Keep refining your process. Your system will be streamlined in no time.

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Would you like more books to help you Level Up?

In my free resource hub, The Entrepreneur’s Toolbox, one of my favorite modules to work on is called ‘Recommended Reading.’ In it, I share the books I think are most helpful for growing your business, fine-tuning your process, improving your mindset, and increasing your productivity in your day to day life.

To gain access, sign up for The Entrepreneur’s Toolbox today!