PM Hacks

I often observe colleagues in meetings confuse and misuse the terms “efficiency” and “effectiveness”.   As a project manager, it’s our responsibility that we understand the difference between these terms, and most importantly – ensure the both ourselves and our teams are doing both. 

Effectiveness is doing the right things

Efficiency is doing things well.

Do the right things well - Be effectively efficient!

You can excel at optimizing people, tactics, processes, and requirements - this is efficiency.   You can strive to understand your customer, market, and strategic goals - this is effectiveness.  A good project manager knows the difference and lead their team towards both.  Be effectively efficient!

Stepcase Lifehack has a good article on the subject from a personal productivity perspective.  Additionally, Better Projects has thoughts from a professional’s view.

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This is a take off on the popular WYSIWYG acronym.   As a Project Manager our job to keep everyone happy and keep the project moving forward.  Day after day after day.  Despite our best efforts, there will be time when we are not able to help our users “see the light”.  It’s on those days that a saying like this may come in handy, at least, inside your own mind, to help you get through those days.