Harness CEO: Forget time management—here’s how I stay productive while running 3 companies

Running multiple companies can definitely be challenging. I lead three businesses with thousands of employees around the world. In terms of commitments and responsibilities, on any given day I’m always oversubscribed.

But that doesn’t mean I’m overwhelmed.

So much has been written about productivity hacks, from the latest scheduling craze to the app that promises to change your life. I don’t put much stock in these things. Ultimately, there’s no substitute for hard work and no cheat code to game the system. Most entrepreneurs I know work long hours, and it’s a choice they make consciously.

All of that said, I have learned something important over the years about the power of prioritization. By being strategic about what I do—and the order I do it in—I’m able to turn what could be an impossible to-do list into something manageable. It doesn’t involve any special apps—or any biohacking.

Here are a few common-sense techniques I figured out on the fly, after some trial and error.

The 30/70 rule

For me, being productive starts with creating room to do things that matter.

It would be easy to fill up my calendar with prescheduled, recurring meetings, but I make sure not to let that happen. In any given week, they account for no more than 30% of my time.

As any leader knows, meeting creep is a real problem. Two-thirds of managers say meetings keep them from finishing their work, while roughly the same share say they’re unproductive and inefficient—and come at the cost of deep thinking.

The other 70% of my week is highly flexible, based on what’s important. Typically, I spend half of that time talking to customers and employees. The rest I use for strategy—tasks like fundraising, company messaging, or exploring a new product area.

Impact management, not time management

So many leaders are obsessed with time management—meticulously dividing their calendar into color-coded units for different activities. To me, it’s not about time. It’s about impact.

The gist: If I work on something, will it actually move the needle forward? If I don’t, will it move the needle backward? At any moment at all three companies, I focus on only seven or eight high-impact projects that truly meet this bar.

Often, those projects aren’t neatly defined by one departmental boundary. For example, building the next version of our investor story—the narrative explaining where our company has been and where it’s going—calls for finance, sales, and marketing to work together. That’s where my expertise is most useful.

Lean into your superpower

On that note, leaders who want to make an impact should lean into their superpower. Mine happens to be product, so I make sure I have time to bring that strength to the table—partly by letting the right executives and teams run with other things.

Picking your spots is crucial too. For me, that could mean something strategic or tactical—or putting out a fire. If an executive is being replaced, for instance, I might need to jump in and do that job for a month. What’s important is the ability to switch gears when necessary.

To decide what isn’t a good use of my time, I have a simple rule: If somebody is already in charge of a project and managing it well, there’s no point in putting my energy into that.

Pairing macro and micro goals

But it’s hard to know what counts as impact if you haven’t set goals first.

Too often, people focus on pie-in-the-sky, audacious goals—or are heads-down on day-to-day tasks. My approach: Set a long-term goal, then break it down by year and by quarter, and work on those bite-sized chunks.

That’s how we tackle our five-year revenue targets, for instance. The same goes for product development. For example, our ultimate goal is to be the all-purpose platform for software delivery. To get there, we’re systematically building product modules, rather than tackling everything at once.

30-minute monotasking blocks

When I was building my first company, AppDynamics, I always had a phone in my hand. That didn’t benefit me or the other people in the room.

Zoom calls have taken this kind of multitasking—and the distraction that comes with it—to a whole new level. But I’ve realized that I’m more productive when I tackle single tasks in 30-minute chunks, without checking my email or responding to Slack messages. For example, if I’m working on a new presentation for our annual conference, I set aside a half-hour block every couple of days.

Monotasking helps you gain control of your time. Research shows that when workers are interrupted in the middle of a task, it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back on track. People who shift between tasks can be as much as 40% less productive.

And if someone needs to reach me when I’m monotasking? If it’s urgent, they can always call my phone. But let’s face it: Most things aren’t as pressing as they might seem.

Ultimately, when it comes to productivity, every leader must find an approach that works for them. But in my experience, getting things done isn’t complicated. By staying flexible, focusing on impact, systematically working toward goals, and tackling tasks one at a time, it’s possible to maintain a sense of balance, even when the demands on your time and attention are daunting.

Jyoti Bansal cofounded Harness in 2017 to automate and simplify software delivery processes. In 2018, he cofounded Traceable, an API security platform, and VC firm Unusual Ventures. In 2008, he founded AppDynamics, which he led to a $3.7 billion acquisition by Cisco in 2017.

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