CHAPTER VII PLANNING THE DAY'S WORK He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows out that plan holds a thread that will carry him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.-VICTOR HUGO. The Economy of Well-Planned Activities The mechanical aids, standardized office, competent subordinates and dependable memory so far discussed, afford a reliable basis for personal system, but they are only the basis. Each of these factors must be skilfully applied to specific tasks before a full mastery over routine is attained. In large measure, this skilful application to specific tasks depends upon planning. The items which comprise the day's work must be surveyed, analyzed, ranked in relative importance, and attacked in a carefully organized way. Such systematic procedure, while of importance to every business man, is of especial importance to the executive, since in his capacity as business general, superior results or lack of results, as the case may be, are multiplied manifold in the activities of subordinates. On the Offensive The plan as an instrument for the attainment of results exalts imagination and foresight, instead of "hindsight" and vain regrets. Precision is impossible without prevision. "The marksman who had no bull's-eye to aim at," very truly observed President Cottingham of the Sherwin-Williams Company, "never made the top record. I believe in knowing just what I am doing, and where I hope to land." The plan keeps a man on the offensive; "push the work, don't let it push you," is the ideal it makes realizable. The man who does not plan is crowded by unexpected tasks and is haunted by yesterday's loose ends. He is always on the defensive, while others with more foresight wage wars of aggression. "I have found it most satisfactory," observed the late President Easton, of the Columbia Graphophone Company, "to so systematize my work that the weak spot is evident long before the leak appears. This leaves me the strength that some men put into the losing fight, to devote instead to the initiative." Definite Accomplishment The mental health which comes from planning one's work is not the least of its benefits. Dr. Adolph Meyer, one of the most distinguished alienists of the present day, made the discovery that among the untransmitted causes of insanity none counts more prominently than the big idea; the idea that never can be fully made over into concrete reality for the very reason that it is so big. The far-reaching scheme, the still unsubstantiated venture, the revolutionary theory, the momentous but unperfected invention-all have it in them to take possession of a man; they hold him day and night; he cannot get away. The road back to healthy-mindedness is to be learned from the man who works at smaller tasks. He attacks these jobs directly and successfully. They are finishable; and as one after another is put out of his way, he enjoys the satisfaction and the sense of freedom which come from a definite accomplishment. The big idea broken into parts becomes similarly get-at-able. Neither its magnitude nor its compelling lure dissipate the confidence as the parts, according to pre-arranged plan, are attacked in turn. Thus planning does more for the distracted worker than clear away the day's work, it insures for him a healthy mind and a positive attitude toward life which keeps him mentally on the offensive. A well-considered plan of procedure may appear slow to some readers, who with a fine disdain for system, are accustomed to push directly into the day's work. "Strenuosity," "hustling," the attitude of "pushing things through," are indeed traits which as a people the Americans have long admired. But all traits, however long admired, must be judged by results. Can planless strenuosity meet successfully this test? Colonel Roosevelt An Orderly Worker The name of Colonel Roosevelt is synonymous with "strenuosity" in popular thought. But Colonel Roosevelt represented the very incarnation of order and regularity in his work. "Every morning," wrote "K" in the American Magazine, during the Colonel's term as president, "Secretary Loeb places a typewritten list of his engagements for the day on his desk, sometimes reduced to five minute intervals. And no railroad engineer runs more sharply upon his schedule than he. His watch comes out of his pocket, he cuts off an interview, or signs a paper, and turns instantly, according to his time-table, to the next engagement. If there is an interval anywhere left over he chinks in the time by reading a paragraph of history from the book that lies always ready at his elbow or by writing two or three sentences in an article on Irish folk-lore, or bear-hunting. "Thus he never stops running, even while he stokes and fires; the throttle is always open; the engine is always under a full head of steam. I have seen schedules of his engagements which showed that he was constantly occupied from nine o'clock in the morning, when he takes his regular walk in the White House grounds with Mrs. Roosevelt, until mid night, with guests at both luncheon and dinner. And when he goes to bed he is able to disabuse his mind instantly of every care and worry and go straight to sleep; and he sleeps with perfect normality and on schedule time." Such careful planning as this stands the test of results. The man who neglects to plan, but is merely “pushing," tears his way through great heaps of correspondence, sends hurryup calls, answers the telephone, rushes away to conference in whatever sequence these tasks force themselves upon him. This poor man is, as he puts it, literally "worked to death." For all that, because of his defective system, he gets little done; concentration is lost, perspective is lost, output cannot be secured. A Survey of the Day's Work The executive convinced that planning can secure for him an increased capacity next considers how to put such planning into practical operation. Here he faces a problem, whose solution has not yet been worked out with completeness. Factory processes, office furniture, the work of subordinate officials and clerks and the like have become highly standardized, but just what is the executive's routine and just what methods should he employ? Any authoritative answer to these questions depends upon records, analyses, and classifications as yet incomplete. It is safe to say, however, that everyone finds awaiting him when he reaches his desk in the morning material of four kinds: 1. Unfinished tasks which are on file in the "pending" pocket of the day's work file, or in the folders of the vertical letter file, or in a desk drawer reserved for such material. 2. The morning mail plus telegrams, telephone calls, or other special messages that have arrived. 3. The tickler or its substitute, such as a calendar pad, The basis for scientific planning in factory management was obtained from a great many experiments taken with stopwatch, slide-rule, etc. Out of the multitude of individual records, generalizations and averages emerged at last, and reliable, convenient rules for general use were formulated. The man in an executive position can do somewhat the same thing with regard to his own work. The Elements of Planning In surveying these various items with the object of weaving them into some systematic arrangement of his time, the executive raises certain questions which are basic in all planning: 1. Object. What is my aim or purpose? 2. Methods. Which of the various methods available 3. Equipment. Under what standardized conditions as 6. Time. What is the standard time, if any, for com- 7. Inspection. By what standards will the results be tested? An intelligent plan based upon the information called for by these seven questions represents a most important step toward the attainment of results. |