‘Working smarter, not harder’. If you’re involved in social media or reading design or business articles, this is most likely a phrase you’ve heard. There’s an awful lot of chat about this topic, and for good reason. However, a lot of people are just telling you why you should work smarter instead of how to actually do so. In a sector as complex as design, working effectively and efficiently is crucial to stay ahead of the curve. While each person and business will have different ways to do this, there are a few key ideas that apply across the board.
Structuring Your Time
For most people, procrastination is unavoidable. Instead of trying to avoid it all together, it’s much easier to structure your procrastination. Start thinking about tasks that will make your future self thank you. For example:
- Are all of the design teams assets organised and up to date?
- Are there any ways you and your team can improve efficiency?
- Is everyone in your team having their strengths utilised?
- When was the last time you cleaned your work space?
Allow yourself to feel productive when completing these smaller, yet useful tasks and then you can continue the momentum that’s needed to focus on the rest of tasks at hand.
Shift Focus to the Bigger Picture
In the world of design, it’s very easy to get caught up in the detail and lose focus of the bigger picture. There’s nothing worse than getting an idea and putting all of your time and effort into it only to realise that it may not work out the way you had expected it to. For example, when creating a website, you may spend days working on a part, only to realise it conflicts with the rest of the site.While it’s definitely easier said than done, try to keep the big picture in mind at all times.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
The classic saying, teamwork makes the dream work. This could not be more true in the design world. Trying to fit in a million projects and tasks when you don’t have the bandwidth to execute them properly is a recipe for disaster, especially when you’re battling a deadline. Allowing different team members to tackle utilise their strengths will save time and energy.
Only Multitask If You Can
Again this may seem simple, but it could make a massive difference in your levels of productivity. Some people can multitask well and some annot. If you’re one of those people who can’t multitask, don’t do it. Understanding this is especially crucial when designing a website. You may trick yourself into thinking you’re being more productive because you have a bunch of different things going on at once, when it reality you’re forgetting important aspects or not finishing things fully. To avoid this, if you know multitasking isn’t your strong suit, try just focusing on one or two things at a time. By understanding the way you work best, your productivity levels will skyrocket.
The key to all of this is to remember that just because you’re working really hard doesn’t necessarily mean you’re at your most productive. You can apply these tips to yourself or to your team. Changing the way you operate one step at a time can yield great results. Hopefully these tips will get you thinking about more ways you can start working smarter and save yourself time in the long run.