The job of your staff is to populate your to-do list

....not the other way around.

What the hell…? The job of my staff is to do the stuff I tell them to, surely?

Well, no. The problem with a CxO/manager telling the staff what to do is that the staff are closer to the customer. Or the systems. Or the problem.

Now, this isn't intended as a recipe for corporate anarchy, or some sort of democratic leadership. The CxO has a job in terms of putting in place the structures and processes which ensure that the work gets done. (cf. 5 Rules, 8 Commandments). From that point on, the CxO/manager's job is to respond to what the customer/problem facing team is telling them - or needs from them.

So, the CxO/manager having decided that they/you want, say, an agile development team where the focus is on frequent releases at a production level of quality with low risk, it's the CxO/manager's job to get in place:

The simplest tool you can find.

The simplest, clearest, fewest guidelines necessary.

The simplest, clearest, smallest organisation structure you can define.

Then, let the guys on the ground talk to the customer, do their job, work within the tools, guidelines and org structure that's been prepared for them. The CxO/manager's job is to support them.

(You don't need someone to draw really complex processes that look great and never get followed.)

(You don't need to invest in something expensive or complex.)

(You don't - and as a former Programme Manager this pains me - need MS Project.)

For instance, managing a small development team on an agile software product development project, we have:

• Tool: Defect/issue management software TRAC (an open source solution). 
• Guideline: We flex enhancements in favour of defects for a weekly release.
• Org structure:
• One person takes responsibility for the crucial production trigger points 
• Everyone has a specialism.

Our sales team approach is looser as the team's smaller:

• Tool: Salesforce.
• Guideline: Find new & interesting people to work with.
• Org structure: One person per sector.

The beauty of this approach is that it's scalable. Want to expand the sales team to talk to more sectors? Duplicate it. Again and again. Want to scale up development? Duplicate it.

Every time you duplicate you increase the value of the information the CxO/manager supplies their teams as it can be used by each duplicated unit. Therefore you increase the value of every question that's asked of the CxO/manager.

Therefore you increase the value of every item your team places on your to do list; you increase the value of your contribution to the company.

I'll let you know how we get on.