I had a hectic autumn phase since I was simultaneously involved in too many projects. We completed the 3rd quarter and interim audits, which ended my last busy phase. I managed to win the best award for Kaizen (continuous Improvement) for the group in 2021. We completed and sent out our Management representative letters a week before our due date. It was challenging; however, I felt accomplished having met all the requirements. My next busy season starts once the fiscal year-end is over. Since there are only two weeks left until our year-end, I intend to rest as much as possible. At the same time, I want to prepare for the upcoming year-end. I want to write about how I spend my time between my busy seasons.
Take Time to Reflect on My Last project.
Whenever I complete a project, I reflect on the project, and I am most interested in the parts where I can improve the process. I try not to forget the details I did well because I want to continue good operations.
When I find something I need to improve, I list them separately. I use an app called Notion to track the things required to improve to contemplate them in the future. I incubated these ideas for a while, and I thought about any possible solutions, which would end up on my quick notes for the day. Once I have more thoughts on improving the process, they become a sprint backlog for future projects. Some items are easy to complete as I need to document the change of the process. Some sprint logs can take a few weeks to complete, so I may have to make a schedule to tackle them.
It is essential to be careful of a few things when reviewing your work. To avoid biases, I try to create some quantifiable—measurement tools—for example, the percentage of the tasks completed on time.
Unfortunately, I also need to look at qualitative measurements. Sometimes, they can be obvious such as getting an award. Not all qualitative measures are apparent, and If I am not careful, I will end up in a trap of self-review biases. To acquire better qualitative feedback, I seek feedback from other people. Since self-review, it will be a good idea to seek input from various people. There is 360-degree feedback, a performance review tool where you obtain feedback from your superiors and colleagues, customers, or vendors. Internal and external auditors are good reviewers for past projects, and they often provide feedback on something I did not notice.
I recommend you write down feedback or things that bother you as soon as you think about them at any moment. Otherwise, you will forget most of them. When you spontaneously have many projects as I did for the past three months, you do not have time to contemplate those items right after completing a task. However, you have items to work on later. The most important thing is to reflect on what is good and bad about the last project to organize my thoughts about them.
The Best Time to Fill GAPS
A designated professional must complete some continuous education. Between projects is a good time for meeting continuing education requirements. I work on achieving them throughout all seasons, but I found it ineffective to try to learn while under great stress. Whenever I know something new, I think about how to apply it. For example, I took an Inventory audit class recently. I improved our accounting process and documentation process from what I learned. Whenever I am under tremendous stress, I cannot do the application process very well. So, I try to get more learning done between the busy seasons.
An excellent time for writing Business Cases or Seeding
I wrote a proposal or a business case for the next Kaizen (Continuous Project). If the project has a cost associated with it, the best time to submit a proposal for our organization is in July or August since we do the budget for the following year in October. Some projects require approvals from head office or the board, and I may need to spend some time to obtain the authorizations. In some cases, I will need to spend several months or a few years to convince them. Next time, I will talk about initiating these projects or business cases. I call the initiation of any projects “seeding.” If you want to implement a change in an organization, you will need to seed as much as possible.
Preparation of The Next Busy Season
The best time to prepare for the next busy season is between the busy seasons. I had only three weeks to spare this time, and I spent time planning for our upcoming year-end and the year-end audit. For example, I updated the contact information for audit confirmation letters since I knew we would send out audit confirmation letters to the group companies. I also arranged who would be responsible for checking and signing these confirmation letters internally.
I communicate with my external auditors and key personnel to ensure the due dates for each task for our upcoming year-end and financial audit. Working in finance management for years, I realized my priorities are not necessarily the same. The Japanese may call this “nemawashi,” which helps others be aware of their responsibilities to eliminate unnecessary confusion.
I also updated audit working paper files and internal to-do list for financial audit and year-end for the upcoming audit. We need to submit some analyses, and we can complete some before the actual fiscal year-end. I also updated our internal to-do list for the Financial Audit, and I decided when each task on the to-do list could be completed. I will need to send out reminders to people in some cases.
Take Vacation Time
I take a vacation during my slow phase, and I plan to take a week’s break this Christmas to refresh and spend with my family. I could not spend the last couple of years with family, so this will be an excellent opportunity to do so.
Each item I wrote maybe a trivial thing; however, I consider it critical to prepare for busy seasons. When I was young, I did not consider reflecting on my last project, and I bet I lost many opportunities to improve my process. The slow phase is an excellent time to complete an impressive sprint list or complete the backlog before initiating a new project. Finally, do not forget to take a vacation because a block of time from work helps you replenish your energy. So, these are things I do in my slow phase, and I hope this blog helps some of you.