One of my go-to tools for prioritizing and managing my to-do list is Trello. I use this collaboration tool to handle all my tasks and projects, and I love how easy it is to work with other members of the Practically Perfect PA team.
So, it’s no surprise that I’m a frequent reader of the Trello blog. They have fantastic content on time management, leadership, and productivity.
Recently, I came across a post about the ‘rule of five,’ a concept introduced by Joel Spolsky, Co-Founder of Trello, to help his team manage priorities. I thought it would be a useful approach for Assistants when communicating their priorities to their Executives. Let’s explore how you can better communicate your priorities using the ‘rule of five.’
The 1:1 Meeting Template for Executives and Assistants gives you the steps to ensure that when you have a one-to-one meeting with your Executive, you get through all the work you need to cover and maximise your time together.
It can be hard to give Executives a true picture of our daily work. Some Executives are fine letting the “magic happen” and don’t want to be too involved in the details. Others are simply too busy to keep track of your workload. Now that many Assistants work remotely, understanding what everyone is working on is harder than ever.
If you’re lucky enough to have an Executive who wants to understand your work and priorities, you might be tempted to list every task on your plate to show how busy you are. But as Lauren Moon explains in her post:
“Let’s be real, though. While these tasks aren’t necessarily a complete fabrication, they’re also most likely not an accurate representation of what you’re truly spending your time doing. It’s natural to want to prove that your work is providing value to the company. But ask any manager, and they will tell you that instead of the twenty one-off tasks you have on your to-do list, what they really want is to get a gauge on the most important ones.”
The rule of five simplifies updating your Executives on your priorities and gives a truer reflection of your daily work. It’s quick, easy, and particularly helpful for Assistants working remotely.
So, what is the rule of five? It’s simply sharing:
Let’s break this down because I know for many Assistants, only sharing what they’re doing in a day sounds intimidating (who only does two things in a day!?).
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