Here are some notes from the book called Simply Brilliant by Fergus O’Connell, this has been a great help to me in getting things done in a common sense way.

Many things are simple Many things are simple - so why make them complicated:

• Ask yourself what is the simplest thing to do?
• Can you describe it on an elevator ride?
• How would you explain it to a 6 year old?

Lastly always insist on simple explanations.

Know what you are trying to do To me this has been the best lesson - sure we think we know what we are doing, be sure you can answer questions like these:

• How will we know when we are finished?
• What physical things will it produce?
• How will the quality of those things be determined?
• What things are definitely parts of this?
• What things are definitely not parts of this?

In other words you must know when you are done.

There is always a sequence In all project there is a sequence of events:

• Make a journey in your head and do it in as much detail as possible.
• Use knowledge and assumption you have made.
• Find alternative ways, there always will be other ways to solve the problem.
• Note what actually happens and look for connections.

Things don’t get done if people don’t do them This is so obvious it is often overlooked - make sure someone is responsible for each item that needs to be completed.

The book uses the concept of dance cards (A dance card is used by a woman to record with whom she will dance each successive dance at a formal ball. from Wikipedia) In the same way each team member has a card with all the tasks they will undertake, and every task needs to be on someone’s dance card.

Things rarely turn out as expected Things hardly ever go to plan, so you need to consider the risks and have contingency in place to cover the inevitable.

I ask people to put down their top 3 risks, that way it is quick to get a picture of the main risks:

• Which risks are likely to affect our undertaking
• Likelihood of each of these risks happening
• Impact of each risk
• Calculation of our exposure

Things either are or are not I use this to consider what had been done, a task is finished or not - avoid the part progress reports of small task.

Look at things from other peoples viewpoint It’s true to say that things are simple, but take the time to consider the problem from different points of view. For example in my field considering an issue from the perspective of software developer and a customer support associate can provide a crucial insight.

Do things in the shortest possible time Finally the book shows great techniques to getting things done in the shortest possible time; an example is the “One Day project scoping exercise” this really works.