After a meeting with a colleague recently I was asked for some tips on time management. I said google "time management tips" and you'll find lots. They looked at me blankly and it struck me that while everything is readily available online, it can be for some people difficult to make use of all this wonderful free information. To fix this, I devised the Seven Source Search. I hope you find it useful.
A Seven Source Search is a structured way to research solutions to problems you face and create an action plan from this research. There are four simple steps:
- Google keywords in a how-to format on the area you wish to improve. The more specific you are, the better. Write how to improve opening a presentation rather than how to improve presentations. the broader your how-to the more likely you are to land on a book sales page. Keep it focussed and specific.
- Choose the seven most appropriate sites from the first and second pages. Cut book sales pages and sites that have millions of articles. Look for expert blogs. Individuals who are blogging about your target area. The best ideas will be here.
- Copy and paste the seven articles into a word or pages document. Delete duplicate points until you have one list of tips. Depending on the difficulty of the task, try and shrink the tips to 12 or 7 items. If your list is too long cut or merge. There should be, if you have chosen your bloggers well, a lot of overlap. Cut duplication.
- Turn your tip sheet into an action plan. Take your summary of the seven researched articles and rewrite each tip using the following format: First, I will...Secondly I will...When you've re-written add in the when you will do the tasks. You now have a simple action plan based on your research.
What type of issues can be solved by a Seven Source Search?
A Seven Source Search is ideal for very specific skills such as how to run better meetings or how to prioritise better. In fact, most of the skills on this site suit a Seven Source Search. Anything that you don't know how to do but could be explained to you by someone more skilled in the area lends itself to this form of learning.
What do you need to do before conducting one?
Your only preparation is to write a one line how-to statement about the skill you want tor research. Be specific and break it down so that it states clearly what you want to learn.
What do you need to be careful of?
As with all searching you can waste a lot of time going to sites that are just selling books on the subject without giving any free advice or very short blogs that don't give enough detail. Also, not everyone claiming to be an expert is actually one. There is nothing I can give you to help you deal with this but there is a reason why it is seven. There should be some uniformity. Most experts will agree on most things.
What do you do with your collated answers?
Don't just throw away your collated tip sheet. It is a useful resource for others. Start collecting them and pull together everyone's tip sheets and share on your intranet. Soon you will build a resource that will be useful for everyone.
How do you measure success?
The big weakness with tip sheets is that people still don't follow their own advice. Make sure you complete you action plan and give yourself a grade on how well you implemented the tips. Keep using the tip sheet until they are second nature and not needed and you are giving yourself an "A" every time.
How do you approach your online research?