How to deal with fatigue on decision-making

I work as product manager in the "Ecwid». Like the other guys on the team, I make many decisions every day: Just like "what text put under the button ", and complex, as" some urgent task to delay in time to do even more urgent. " I have noticed that often face problems caused by fatigue from the decision-making: the avoidance of making weak "nedoprinyatymi" solutions, the deterioration of productivity and health.

If you are in your work make decisions for the success of the project, team or company, you probably also have to deal with this fatigue.

Below I will talk about fatigue on decision making about their observations, how it manifests itself as the effect on the efficiency and how to deal with it.

Decision making - endurance exercise

When people talk about the resource decision-making is usually cited as an example one study. In it studied the work of the judges, who are considering the early release of prisoners. It turned out that the judge took more positive decisions to release the morning or right after lunch break (up to 65% exempt). And as time went by and the number of the cases becomes greater the likelihood of positive solutions smoothly down to 0%.

This decline is explained by fatigue of the decision. With the accumulation of fatigue from the sentencing judge took often easy solution that requires less effort, that is, the denial of parole. With this solution, the judge observes the status quo and not take the risk to make a mistake and release dangerous to freedom. The decision, based on a weighted opinion, freedom of the defendant deserved or not, it is much more difficult.

Original work of researchers and articles referred to this phenomenon ego depletion, decision fatigue or mental depletion. I like the second - decision fatigue, sounds exquisite.

Decision-making - is an exercise in endurance. Here, as with exercise, the more approaches, the less force qualitatively to make the following approach. Resource decision-making capacity is exhausted, and we are tired. A resource recovery process similar to the recovery of muscle tone: needs a rest (from the decision) and filling calories.

It turns out, not necessarily to administer people's lives to be tired. Even the smallest solution uses the resource and adds fatigue.

Any decision considered

In another study, a buyer offers to try a new range of jams. Some days it was a choice of 24 flavors, in a choice of six others. Stand out from the 24 jars of jam attracted more attention than with a small stand of six cans. However, the decision to buy before the big stand made 3% of buyers, while buyers from the second group, in which the options were less bought at least one bank in 30% of cases.

Select from a large number of similar options - it is also a solution, and, as with other solutions, a person subconsciously avoid this work.

We accept many small decisions every day:

• Ride the tram or bus?
• Make dinner cutlets or stuffed?
• T-shirts have a gray and green, what to take?
• Here eight tariff plans, which one to choose?
• On your desktop there are unused labels. Let's choose what to delete?

All of them are simple. But if making a lot of fatigue comes. A notice of its manifestation is not easy.

What are the symptoms of fatigue decision

Remember your training, jogging or gym class. By the end of training with the accumulation of fatigue you are trying to spend less energy. Depicting the qualitative performance to lull coach: do not end up doing push-ups. Sachkuete or until the coach does not see the cut corner on the next lap.

With the fatigue from the decision-making is the same, only cooler.

First, recognize it in yourself harder than physical fatigue. Muscle fatigue is familiar to all - not necessarily to be an athlete to know that feeling. With the fatigue from taking difficult decisions: can be very tired, not even knowing that it happened. It's like a little bad mood, or is it is worse than usual, or feeling sleepy. "Vitamin deficiency", "not enough sleep", "bad day" - the conventional explanation for this state.

Secondly, in the case of fatigue on decision-making, you often do not notice that poorly performing the following approach. In the example of the early release of the judge at the end of the working day as to make informed decisions. After a negative decision - it is also a solution. And from the outside, and to the judges, it looks like the same decision at the beginning of the hearing. But in fact, the brain "cut the corner". Denied parole - a safe and relatively simple solution. Therefore judge brain resorts to it frequently as fatigue, reducing the chances of a positive solution to zero.

The brain selects the shortest path to getting rid of the need to make a decision. The more tired of the decisions already taken, so this tendency stronger. And that could be bad for efficiency, especially if you have to make difficult decisions, the quality of which depends on the success of your work.

fatigue effects of the decision-making

That is the situation in which I found myself many times. Busy working day with a mass of scheduled and unscheduled tasks is coming to an end, and the list of cases was another very important point. It requires difficult decisions (maybe that's why he turned out to be deferred until the end of the day). But left without the "fuel" for decision-making, I find myself in an awkward situation when making a decision is very difficult. What to do?

The first option - to abandon the decision to move the task to the next. Feeling while unpleasant, "Today was a terrible day. I worked all day and nothing sensible to do not have time. " And the work is suffering: in one day delay can cost a lot.

The second option - to take the problem through force. Making yourself and decide. But resources are depleted, and taken in such circumstances, the decision will nedoprinyatym. This is the "cut corner" - a weak solution, quickly get rid of the problem at the time of fatigue, but, of course, affects the results sooner or later.

Example. User reports a confusing issue when your time comes to an end. There is little information, and the problem is difficult to reproduce locally, not to mention the fact that "unravel" and understand the root cause. Uncertainty bodes complex issues and solutions, and then tired of the decision makes itself felt. You quietly told myself that the problem is not critical and can wait for the study: "It is likely to affect Only one customer, "" Today, I can not reproduce the problem without the help of testers, "" I'm sure the client I screwed up. " The problem is still hanging in the uncertain status of the night, and next morning you engulfing wave of posts about the same problem from other users. You quickly find the cause and fix the situation, but the sediment remained. Nedoprinyatoe solution haunt.

Tired of making decisions in product management

Product manager takes many decisions throughout the day. From "how to write a text on the button 'to' what project to take and which to leave for later, when five-level task team contingency plans." These solutions can be simple, but each adds to fatigue. In the evening, or even earlier accumulated enough fatigue to any problems and, in particular, weak solutions.

A weak solution of the product then causes the user to make difficult decisions.

Here's how it happens. Adding the change in the product, product manager learns how it will affect existing users. If a lot of users, the change divides them into three groups conditionally:

• a change like,
• the second will be all the same,
• Third, it can not be pleasant.

What to do? Changing something right.

• Include all? Oh, it's dangerous. Some have become accustomed to the current order of things and will swear on Twitter.
• Include all except those who do not like it? You can add in another "fork", which will automatically turn off the change for a group of users. But what to do with the new? How do you know what they group? And did not want to add one more crutch to the system.
• Or maybe just add a check mark in the configuration? Who needs - include who does not need - will not.

The decision to check the simple and safe - will not be dissatisfied. And tired of making the brain grabs the salutary check. Several such "cut corners" and your settings page overflow checkboxes and drop-down lists, the purpose of which, remember only you and a few developers. In the best case, if you are wise to the default settings, the user will never see this page. In the worst - he will have to understand it and to string up, deciding whether to enable or disable these ticks.

Of course, it does not have to be tired, to make such a mistake. Please everyone - a great temptation. However, if you are tired, unconsciously more likely to "cut the corner" and pass nedoprinyatoe solution to the user. And it will add fatigue him. If you have thousands of users, you multiply your fatigue for a thousand. Each product manager wants to change the world. But not so.

What to do?

Effective not the one who makes arbitrary decisions all day, but the one who spends the ability to make decisions wisely. I have found for the five techniques that help with this.

1. Avoid making unnecessary

I read that Mark Zuckerberg wears the same clothes every day, not to think, what to wear, and do not spend this resource decision-making. Sounds a bit extreme (I myself do not do that), but the meaning is clear: if you are taking important decisions, spend as little as possible resources on unimportant. In particular, it is necessary in advance to give up the choice, where possible.

For example, I try to use the tools with fewer options / settings / lotions. If you just need to write a note to yourself, do not use this powerful text MS Word type editor or multitool type of Evernote, which is integrated with all that is uneven lies. Try a regular notebook or, for example, Hackpad. Do not give yourself a reason to think about the font, alignment and color of the text - is easier when these features are not present.

2. Do not exercise willpower

The force will use the same resource as the complex solution. So it is better not to use will power unnecessarily. If you choose to drink more water and less coffee, do not let yourself another reason to pass the coffee machine, in order to "harden" themselves or "play the muscles." Dial water in a bottle and keep beside him. If you get rid of the habit of checking email every ten minutes, remove the tab from a browser or a shortcut from the desktop, instead of relying solely on willpower.

3. Prioritized list of tasks

If a lot of problems, select the most important at the moment - it is also a solution, and not the easiest. I noticed that to take such a decision at the end of the day very hard. At this point I do not realizing the report, I find supposedly urgent task, which will remove a major: "I'm going for a month to read this book. Enough to postpone. " Next, open the Amazon, read the reviews, looking for a good edition - and so half an hour. To avoid falling into this trap, it is necessary to set priorities in advance.

I developed this approach. We have a team development cycles (sprints) lasts an average of two weeks, and I tied the planning of the tasks to them. Each time at the end of the sprint, I look at the list of the key tasks that I need to do and choose the most important. The Task Scheduler (I use Doit.im) assigns itself on one priority task for each day until the next "planorki". One day in mid-sprint leave without a key task, knowing that due to unplanned tasks of the day I have four lag behind this plot. Thus, a 8-9 key tasks have been scheduled for two weeks in advance. Every day on my list in advance, there is one key challenge - I do not need to decide to do it or not. It is the most important. The remaining tasks are secondary.

In the real working day all, of course, much more difficult if you have an interesting job, harmonious order of tasks for the day disturbed by noon.

But, anyway, the knowledge of the key challenges for today greatly helps to orient and not to miss really important.

4. Proceed to the complicated problem as soon as possible

Difficult decision is always difficult to accept, therefore, regardless of fatigue, you will try to escape from it. Resist it easier in the morning when tired yet. Therefore it is reasonable to plan the day so that the challenges were the first in the list. It is important to understand that the look-mail, check the unread messages in a chat, to respond to the message "VKontakte" - is also a problem. They are small and pleasant, but imperceptibly added fatigue.

A year ago, I built a working day so that by the time I got to the important task of fatigue was beginning to be felt:

answers messengers analysis → → address planning tasks for the day → Problem is less than 5 minutes → important tasks.

Now I try to start the day with the most important task that you planned ahead of time. It is very good! In the morning, still a lot of strength for difficult decisions and the task noticeably move forward.

In fact, it is more difficult than in words: unforeseen problems are always more than planned, and they are not waiting for the right moment. My scheme is "a key task in the first place," often looks like this:

view post "diagonally" for urgent letters → answer a few questions in the mail and verbally → proceed with the important task.

But it's much better than to postpone important at the end of the day.

It is not always possible to start immediately important. To get started, simply try to bring the key task of the day to the top of the list of cases on one or two positions. For example, try to check your mail at once, but two hours after the start of the day. Dedicate two o'clock challenging task.

5. Stop when tired

Reach for the phone to see Instagram? You open your mail every ten minutes? You are looking for a simple task that allows to put a tick "made" quickly in the task list?

You are tired and walk away from difficult decisions. Stop.

Go have a drink of tea. Or leave the office and take a walk. For example, pay a fine, which has been a month is in the glove compartment. A short break will not restore power fully, but give strength to break the deadlock and allow to make a good decision. If the symptoms are severe and interruptions do not help, it's time to finish today.

UPRLS: Tired make a decision - go to bed.

It is important to remember that the decision-making is difficult even in the morning, even on Monday and even after you leave. The brain is always avoids difficult decisions. Therefore, especially to try to discover in himself the symptoms of fatigue is not necessary: ​​you can find them exactly.

conclusion

Ability to make decisions - exhaustible resource. Tired of decision forces to make bad decisions that are bad for your product and the lives of others. To be effective, and they enjoy their work, try five simple tips from this article:

• Avoid unnecessary decisions.
• Do not exercise willpower.
• Prioritized list of tasks.
• Proceed to the complicated problem as soon as possible.
• Stop, if you are tired.