Have you created the checklist to perform better? I think this is the most effective way to perform everywhere, either in your office or if you are shopping or doing anything. Checklist reminds you the necessary things that you need to do or I can say your expectation from you. I can remember the quote from Mary Decker, an American runner
I’ve always got such high expectations for myself. I’m aware of them, but I can’t relax them.
She was an athlete and she always tries to set high expectations to motivates herself to prepare more and more. Now, can we do it in our daily work or personal life?
The answer is YES, we can. Now the question is how can you set your expectations from you?
I just wanted to share a few tips to do it. It is possible that some people may disagree with me. But, that can suggest me better idea within comments.
Before sharing a few tips, I just want to start with my own story.
As a software engineer or Senior software engineer, I was very good but I was working as my way. My work was based upon my likes, dislikes, my timings, processes that suit to me etc. I did never like the processes imposed on me. I was the person who was the believer of work, not the processes.
It was the time when I was promoted as lead, I started following the same rule as I followed as the software engineer and yes, the result was a big ZERO. The first sprint under me was failed. I was shocked. My seniors called me up and tried to get the reason. They asked multiple questions to me but two questions hit me hard.
- Have you done your introspection?
- Have you set your own expectation from you as a lead?
“No…” — I said,
He interrupted: “Take your time and do it”.
I came back to my desk, closed my eyes. Started thinking of every moment in the sprint and tried to identify the moments where I made mistakes and started listing all of them.
Let me tell you, it is as easy as your unit testing in the application. You just need to know the acceptance criteria and impact area.
Once I got the list I did a team meeting to know are they feeling the same? In the meeting, my senior was also present. The list was very long and with every point, I found that they agreed with my points, they also suggested some points.
On my list all the points were for team and people practices but what about me? Was I perfect? No, I was not, it was clear that I made mistakes. And then I came to his second question. I was just thinking if I am leading myself, what should be my expectation from my lead and this was the time I started adding my expectation from me as a lead.
I started with some basic practices.
Table of Contents
List your tasks
In the field we are in, there is a chance of missing some important task daily. To avoid this, just make a list daily to prioritizing your task. Some of them should be ritual for you like Jira task lists, team members task status etc.
Some of them should be time bound like Standup meetings, team discussions etc.
It is important to capture everything in the list so that you must not miss a single task.
Create goal-based action item for you
If you are not able to see the future vision of your leadership, let me tell you, leave the leadership. You don’t need to do that or it is not for you. Always think of the future goal. I advise that rather than thinking of how my leadership is beneficial for others just think of How my leadership is beneficial for me. Start thinking about the future of my leadership and this thinking will lead you toward the goal.
Set your target based expectations from you
It is very important to have a target based expectations otherwise you will miss many things. Set leadership tasks for you, define a time duration for it and practice. It will help you to improve always.
Read case studies
Reading case studies are always beneficial. Your problem is not always your problem, this might be of many people in the world. Some of them write about their experience and that will always be helpful.
Make some notes of the important points that will always be in your mind to guide you.
Discussion
A discussion is always helpful. If you have a problem setting expectations, try to discuss with seniors or anybody who has observed you. That will beneficial for you.
All the above points are based upon my past experiences, Please let me know if I can improve in it.
