Affiliate Disclosure
Do more in less time
No, I didn’t really run today. What the title is actually aimed at is a term from IT. They have been working with a project management method called Scrum for a long time. Most people will probably not be familiar with this term, but I think that the Scrum method is also very well suited for private use, so to speak. In Scrum, a defined period of time is known as a sprint in which a Scrum team completes a predetermined work contingent or achieves a goal. For me, this defined period is one month at a time, or in other words about 4 weeks.
Long-term predictability
In the case of large, longer-term projects, it is often not possible to plan exactly how long certain sections will take. Since at the beginning it is not foreseeable what problems may arise over time. As a result, the ability to plan is rather limited. It would also be too time-consuming to plan for every eventuality from the outset. After all, you don’t even think about most problems at the beginning. Complex projects can be divided into manageable and, above all, plannable sections by means of sprints. Sprints are much easier to manage and more efficient in coping with tasks. So, Scrum is basically a framework or guide for getting things done.
Have a plan
There were times in my life when I literally had “no plan”.
I had no idea what I wanted to do in my life. Actually, I only ever knew very clearly what I didn’t want and thought that was already something.
But I didn’t really have any defined goals, if anything, just vague ideas. I saw everyone else passing me by.
Probably most of my acquaintances in their 20s had no idea what they were supposed to do with their lives, but I always had the feeling that I was missing some kind of roadmap. I had to go through several real low points until it finally clicked in my head and I realized what I really wanted to achieve in my life.
And this with the necessary flexibility, but without ifs and buts. It took me years to finally get on the right track. And I wish I had known ten years ago what I know now, because then I would certainly be much, much further than I am now. But that’s life. And how to find out what you really want is a topic for another article.
Achieving personal goals with project management methods
Have you ever wondered what you really want to achieve in your life, or would you want to, if you theoretically assume that your wildest dreams could come true?
When you have finally found your living space or your “dream life” that you want to fulfill, then the big question arises, how on earth should you achieve that?
At some point, when I realized what I really wanted to do and started doing it without a proper plan, I had panic attacks several times a week for about a year.
It was terrible. I drove myself so crazy and stressed out that I had achieved a lot in the end, but the way there was anything but pleasant and the result was only rather “sufficient”.
Today I know I could have done better. I am convinced that various project management methods can be incredibly helpful. So if you also want to turn your life upside down and perhaps make the seemingly impossible possible, then you should know the Scrum method.
The Scrum method
At the beginning there is the sprint planning.
This determines how long the sprint lasts, which tasks are to be completed and how they are executed. Usually, there are different roles in a Scrum team.
But I am of the opinion that you can also apply the methods on your own or transfer these principles.
A development team theoretically consists of a “product owner”. This explains which goal is to be achieved with the sprint and which tasks have to be completed. The latter are summarized in the so-called “Product Backlog”.
Basically, this corresponds to a to-do list. The development team then completes these tasks. However, these are not distributed by the Product Owner.
The development team decides for itself, depending on capacity, when to remove the next task from the backlog. Scrum is constantly improved through an interactive approach in intermediate results. On the one hand, this is a good antidote if you suffer from perfectionism, which slows you down to delivering actual results. Personally, I can tell you a lot about that. On the other hand, it makes you more flexible and allows you to react spontaneously to minor problems.
So you don’t have to work in the background for months or years to publish the result at some point. Rather, work is carried out constantly and iteratively, i.e. repeatedly, on smaller intermediate results. Fulfilling these results creates a learning effect that can improve the product in the next sprint.
The Sprint Cycle
The Scrum Master supports the development team and helps to ensure that the tasks are completed efficiently and that the Scrum methods are applied. However, there are no hirachies in the Scrum Team.
The sprint cycle then looks like this:
The Product Owner makes the Backlog product available to the Scrum Team. This is taken into account in sprint planning and a sprint backlog is created. In the following period, the Daily Scrum, this is processed and adjusted if necessary. This is followed by the Sprint Review. In this, the expected outcome of the sprint is considered and future adaptations are adapted for the next sprint. The last step is the Sprint Retrospective. In this context, possibilities are planned to further increase quality and further increase effectiveness.
Then the sprint cycle begins again.
A sprint
Applied to our life planning, this could look like this. You set a limited period of time. How long this is is up to you. As mentioned earlier, a sprint is always a month long for me.
On the first day, I plan my sprint, so to speak.
At the beginning of a sprint, I create my to-do list. The tasks with the highest priority are always at the top. This is followed by 4 weeks in which I work intensively on completing and improving the tasks.
Then I spend a day, in the Sprint Review, looking at what I have already achieved or what is still open and what consequences this might have if I didn’t achieve these short-term goals by the end of the Sprint. On this day, for example, I also look at my analytics. The next day, in retrospect, I plan which routines I could improve in the next sprint. Depending on how long a month lasts, I treat myself to a recovery time in the last few days. The focus there is not on completing tasks, but only on how I generally dealt with the tasks in the past sprint. What was difficult for me, what was easy for me, whether I had planned enough recovery periods, etc. And then the whole thing starts all over again.
Applying Scrum
So if you want to achieve a certain goal within a year , you could start to roughly plan the necessary steps, i.e. your product backlog.
Then you sort them by priority and divide the tasks into 12 parts, according to the number of months. Then you put away the out-of-date “parts” and concentrate on the first or following section.
This should contain the tasks with the highest priority. During your sprint planning, you will then create your sprint backlog based on these tasks. So you divide the tasks into further subtasks if necessary.
Then think about how you could work through them best and most efficiently. Then you get started.
In your Daily Scrum, you will concentrate exclusively on the small, sufficiently defined tasks in the following weeks. If difficulties arise, you solve them, but don’t let yourself be thrown off course and continue to follow the timetable. After about 4 weeks you can certainly look back on a lot of completed tasks and be justifiably proud of yourself. Maybe you didn’t make it all. Never mind. Then you will know how to better assess your capacities for the next sprint and plan accordingly. Don’t forget to reward yourself for your hard work and give yourself some rest before you start the next sprint.
If you want to know more details about Scrum or project management methods in general, feel free to ask me in the comments. Then I would be happy to plan further articles on the topic.
I wish you a motivated and successful new week. 🙂
All the best,
Christina
“We usually did most of it in the time when we thought we were doing too little.”
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
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About the author
Christina Ernst is the founder and CEO of Linen & Quince. She is also a designer, writer and real estate expert. She shares her experience and knowledge not only in her personal blog on christinaernst.net , where she writes about financial literacy, business start-ups, real estate knowledge and personal development, but also on our Linen & Quince blog. There she regularly writes about interior design, fashion and lifestyle topics. She loves interior design, art, antiques as well as elegant, sustainable and high-quality fashion.
