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Breaking Down Tasks

As chair of a committee that reviews proposals for professional development, I often have a complex set of responsibilities in terms of communicating with my committee, summarizing their reviews of proposals, proposing draft courses of action, soliciting feedback, and articulating a consensus of how to proceed.  My day job (teaching) is much easier for me in contrast.

Because I don't have the same comfort level I have to work hard to execute the will of the committee. Much of this comes down to outlining:  listing main responsibilities in outline form, subdividing each responsibility into sub-tasks that are more and more manageable as the become articulate.

Tasks that involve other people have to come first so that there is time for them to proceed as well as accountability for them to do so. Then other tasks have to be prioritized.

I think this has been one of the most important lessons that I've learned in my career. Insurmountable tasks must be broken down and articulated. They may yet not be done if the cost-benefit analysis comes out the wrong way but inarticulate work doesn't ever get done or done satisfactorily.

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