4 ms·

If it takes great effort to bestow this institutional knowledge on the EA, is it buying you that much of your time back? You already know the algorithm for when

If it takes great effort to bestow this institutional knowledge on the EA, is it buying you that much of your time back? You already know the algorithm for when free time can be most easily made. Just a matter of flipping through the calendar for a brief, few moments, versus the hours spent with the EA getting them up to speed on these nuances.

xeromal 5y ago
Sounds like once there is an initial brain dump, the rest of the year you can unload that stress
jimmyed 5y ago
The calendar flips don't scale as well as the EA does. The holidays are just an example, there are a million similar things that the EA can do with the same training.
- jcims 5y ago
  Not to mention some people are just better at that than others. When I’m operating at my full personal capacity, ‘just spend a few minutes’ is the siren’s call. I’m not an executive but I’d pay out of my own pocket if i could find the right person for that job.
- mikepurvis 5y ago
  Yeah, the proactive part of it could become so much more than "it's been two months since you took a long weekend— I cleared your calendar so you can have next Friday off," it might also be "and here are 2-3 possible options for gifts for your spouse / activities to do with the kids that weekend / options for date night / birthday cards to send to Aunt Flo / etc etc" I've never had someone be this role for me, but I definitely know I waste a lot of time during the day (both working and non-working) thinking/fretting/researching these kinds of things, and I could imagine it being a real boon to be able to fully set that all aside, knowing it was in good hands. Nothing is a silver bullet on being able to focus on the things we want to focus on, of course, but it would be one more set of excuses to remove.
- sulam 5y ago
  Exactly. This is one example, but it scales to many.
marcinzm 5y ago
Decision fatigue is a thing and if you're an executive then there's more important decisions to be made.
sulam 5y ago
We’ve been working together for three years. I wouldn’t try and pull this off on day 1 of the relationship, but after three years of working together we talked about it for 15 minutes in our weekly 1:1 and I have a day off next week that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Win!

xeromal 5y ago

Sounds like once there is an initial brain dump, the rest of the year you can unload that stress

jimmyed 5y ago

The calendar flips don't scale as well as the EA does. The holidays are just an example, there are a million similar things that the EA can do with the same training.

jcims 5y ago
Not to mention some people are just better at that than others. When I’m operating at my full personal capacity, ‘just spend a few minutes’ is the siren’s call. I’m not an executive but I’d pay out of my own pocket if i could find the right person for that job.
mikepurvis 5y ago
Yeah, the proactive part of it could become so much more than "it's been two months since you took a long weekend— I cleared your calendar so you can have next Friday off," it might also be "and here are 2-3 possible options for gifts for your spouse / activities to do with the kids that weekend / options for date night / birthday cards to send to Aunt Flo / etc etc" I've never had someone be this role for me, but I definitely know I waste a lot of time during the day (both working and non-working) thinking/fretting/researching these kinds of things, and I could imagine it being a real boon to be able to fully set that all aside, knowing it was in good hands. Nothing is a silver bullet on being able to focus on the things we want to focus on, of course, but it would be one more set of excuses to remove.
sulam 5y ago
Exactly. This is one example, but it scales to many.

marcinzm 5y ago

Decision fatigue is a thing and if you're an executive then there's more important decisions to be made.

sulam 5y ago

We’ve been working together for three years. I wouldn’t try and pull this off on day 1 of the relationship, but after three years of working together we talked about it for 15 minutes in our weekly 1:1 and I have a day off next week that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Win!