Someone told me today that I’m like the Easter Bunny.

That wasn’t really a compliment.

I have been delegating assignments, and when one comes across my desk that belongs to someone else, I give it to that person. I get a form, and if the form has this one job checked, I need to pass it along. But I can’t always just hand the paper over – several different people need it.

So yesterday I had a bunch of these jobs, and I emailed them over to the person whose responsibility it was. Today I got some more before that person came to work, so I wrote them down on a sticky note and put it in their bin where they would see it when they came to work. And then after they arrived, I got another one (part of the reason I gave this job away – it just doesn’t quit!), and called it in.

Just like the Easter Bunny, I spread the assignments all over the place. I wasn’t purposely hiding them, of course, but it certainly wasn’t the most effective way to get the message across. Because do you know what happens with Easter eggs that you hide really well so that they’re never found?

You find them next year.

We actually did that once. In early March, I found a hard-boiled egg from the previous Easter. Didn’t even smell.

But things don’t work out that well in business. When you misplace a note in the office, business doesn’t get done, and people get upset. Maybe it’s not critical, but maybe it is. And really, handing notes, phone calls, emails – doing all three isn’t very organized.

What is the best way to organize the passing of assignments? Paper? Then I have to make a trip from my office to theirs, and who knows how many times a day I’ll have to do it. Email? I’m trying to get away from checking my email – and sending them – a zillion times a day. Phone? The person who gets the assignment isn’t always in when I need to pass them along.

I read about Batching in 4HWW. How could I batch this process without A) forgetting, B) losing the assignments, or C) making a colossal mess of it all. (That last one? I wouldn’t really do that. I couldn’t think of a third thing.)

The obvious is making it a routine. Obviously. How in the heck does one do that?

Start with reminders. Maybe an Outlook reminder that will pop up and drive me nuts. Or an alarm – maybe I could set my iPhone to go off at some time at the end of the day. Except if I’m not in the office, I wouldn’t hear it. Perhaps I could set my cell phone to go off, and then carry it with me – that would be loud enough, and I think I can set it up to go every day.

Well there we go. One less Easter Bunny sighting before Easter.

Oh yes! Before I forget – yesterday morning when I got to work, instead of playing games all morning I pulled out my notebook and made some blog design notes that really helped me with an agent website template, read a chapter in a really boring book that I think I’m going to refuse to read again because why would I waste my time on something boring, and then the day went by really slowly, and I got a lot of stuff done. It was a good day.

Original graphic minus bunny by Hilde Vanstraelen.