Top Tips: Got too much work?

Most of us take whatever work we are asked to do, and for many reasons:

• My manager wants to load me up so as to maximize my time utilization.
• We're short-staffed, and everyone is working harder.
• Project management issues. Deliverable dates got moved in, multiple projects got consolidated.
• Project scope was re-defined, ill-defined or is suffering from scope-creep.
• Insecurity. If I have a lot on my plate, it justifies my continued paycheck.
• My manager doesn't know how much is too much.
• My manager can't say "No" to his superiors.

How do you know when you have too much work?

• I am prone to more mistakes. This is especially bad when someone else points them out.
• I get snappy or short-tempered.
• I get less efficient. This is due to context-switching, either between concurrent projects or tasks within a single project. Time is needed to reacquaint myself with a task that didn't get completed or the overall status of the project.
• I work late. As I abhor working late, it is very annoying to me.
• I come home with work-related stress, or can't get work off my mind.

What can you do about it?

• Get super-organized. When I prep for a meeting, I can usually commit to memory all the important points of a single project, or one or two points from multiple projects. But it's much more reliable to take notes, create and maintain a project status on each project.
• When things really get busy, I need to also keep a daily journal - full of bullet points. I can do this in a written binder, or utilize the journaling feature in Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes.
• Re-prioritize. Ask myself or my manager, "how much documentation is adequate?" Then re-define my strategy or my project's definition.
• Push back. Let my manager know that quality will suffer if I get overloaded. After all, any programmer can whip out a readme file in 5 minutes. Know that I am here to represent the customer, and to put quality into my documentation.
• Let the schedule slip, and see what happens. This is literally a cry for attention when the other methods don't work. Letting the schedule slip is putting my foot down and standing up for what I believe. In my current assignment, I have numerous documents, scheduled sequentially and concurrently, all of which "need to finish by ..." a somewhat arbitrary business process deliverable date. It is only because I can see that the worst could happen only if I don't do my job properly.

How do you go about finding help?

• Try load-balancing. This works great if there are other technical writers on the team. but if that's not the case, I can always ask people on the project team, such as engineering, tech support, marketing, even QA. Their product still needs to go through a tech writer to get cleaned up, but at least it takes a load off for a while.
• Elevate the visibility of the problem. Start with my manager. If that doesn't help, try the project team. Do this early so it doesn't look like I waited till the last minute. Make sure I show that I've tried every other conceivable option before going to them. I also want to provide some possible solutions, so I don't look like I'm merely delivering them a problem.
• Do a better job at doing my job better. Learn from my past mistakes. Know my weaknesses for inefficient use of time, surfing the web or writing my blog.