Why Pull Systems are Awesome and Push Systems Kill Your Day

We are surrounded by push systems. Someone sends us an email and that’s at the top of our list. This is a terrible way to work – it’s reactive, and it imposes constant Task-Switching Fees.

In a pull system, when you are done with the task at hand,

you go and pull the next thing.

A pull system is a communications system where you finish what you’re working on and then go grab – or “pull” – the Next Task. You access the system as needed to find information, work on a shared task list, or update the status of a project.

Why is this better than a push system? You’re not getting bombarded by distractions while you’re working on a task. There are fewer task-switching fees, and you’re working proactively to advance your strategic goals.

FACTS:

We are hardwired to react to what is in front of our face and things like email exacerbate that.
Email itself isn’t just someone else’s To Do list, but a mess of actionable items and information for other tasks.
A team should be driven by its goals, not falling into the Urgency Trap.

A pull system doesn’t have to involve a major software purchase or complex implementation. It can be as simple as a shared Word document.

Why not incorporate agile methodologies into your team’s work flow?

It’s like when I’m climbing. I do one thing at a time, and I’m 100% focused on that one thing. When I'm done, I’m done. Then I go to my guidebook and see what the next task is. I can’t imagine climbing with someone standing behind me shouting out random information!

SOLUTIONS:

Set up a pull system with your team. It can be a whiteboard with stacks or even a shared doc.

Have people check off what is done.

Completed stacks get moved from “In Progress” to “Done”.

“The key idea of agile is that teams essentially manage themselves. ... It works in software development, and it turns out that it works with kids.”

– Bruce Feiler,

bestselling author, TED speaker