Drop the ball (strategically)

On my last project, I dropped the ball on a lot of small of things, mostly regarding minor project management type tasks like keeping JIRA tickets updated, small details with paperwork, lots of typos on things, etc.

BUT, I did do the hard thing of designing and creating a dashboard that the customer wanted that didn't exist before.

All my other sins were forgiven (though still slightly annoyed the prime task lead).

I could have done the big things and the small things and been a super star, but hey, I'm lazy.

However, if you're on a project that has you doing a ton of stuff, you probably won't be able to do everything.

If this is the case, you need to deliberately drop the ball ... on the small unimportant stuff.

Best way to do this is to pick the most valuable project to the client, and make steady progress on that and regularly communicate updates to the client about it.

Then, if you can't get to the small unimportant things, let them know and say you either need it off your plate or it will just have to come in late.

Clients remember you for the most valuable thing you did for them, not for all the small unimportant things you got done on time.

Want the full playbook? Check out Going 1099.