Post Holiday = Cold Start

Today is the second time that I am returning from holiday in the last two weeks (I had a week off work, a week at work and then another week off).

Today is, therefore, my second cold start in the same period.

Cold starts are those occasions when you return having been away for a little while. Things have moved on and you haven’t.

• Your email has piled up.
• The anti-virus on your machines need updating.
• Some of the software on your machine needs updating.
• More updates on other machines that you use.
• Projects that you were running with have carried on being progressed by someone else.
• Business priorities have moved on.
• Colleagues lives have moved on.
• Of yes, and lots of blog to read.

It’s like I’m stood at the side of stream which I need to get back into the flow of.

I used to undertake these cold starts like an endurance competition. It didn’t matter how fast the stream was running I was going to jump in and start swimming.

These days I follow a different approach so that I don’t feel like I’m drowning.

1. I turn on my mobile and change the voicemail message.
2. I then start my main corporate laptop and start my IM/UM client. I know that if something is urgent the people who need me will chase me. This machine is likely to need some updates and want to be rebooted. I’ll delay the reboot until around lunch time so people can contact me in case of an urgent request.
3. I’ll then sit down with a piece of paper and write out a list of things that need to be done today (yes, paper). This list will be everything for today. It won’t be a week plan or anything like that. It’s just today’s must do list.
4. The first items on the must do list go something like this:
1. Turn on all machines.
2. Make coffee.
3. Check diary for today.
4. Listen to voicemail messages.
5. Skim read blogs.
6. Skim read email.
7. Talk to colleague – about project x.
8. Talk to colleague – about project y.
9. Talk to colleague – for a chat.
10. Tidy desk.
11. Go for walk at lunchtime.
5. There are a set of things I don’t do before I’ve done all of these:
1. I don’t respond to any email.
2. I don’t answer the phone from and number I don’t recognise.
3. I don’t read any documents, slides, spreadsheets.
4. I don’t start organising my inbox.
6. Having done each of these things I then sit down with another piece of paper and start to plan the rest of the week.
7. If there happens to be any time left I start to do things on the week plan.

I find that doing things in this structured way allows me to understand fully the priority of the various things. The main thing it does, though, is sort out the wheat from the chaff. If I respond to things too early I find that I am responding to things that are no longer an issue which is a waste of time.

The most important lesson that I am trying to bring out is this:

If there is something really important that needs to be done someone will let me know, I don’t need to go looking for it.