Squeezing 29 Hours Out of Your Day

They say that the first thing Peter Drucker told executives to do was record how they spent their time throughout each day and evaluate their priorities. Of course, they also say that Peter Drucker is dead. Regardless, I decided to take on the “Drucker Challenge” for myself. I recently spent seven days carrying a little notebook around to record how I spent every minute of each day. I even recorded trivial things such as: “Watched teammates play Worms while waiting to start our meeting – 20 minutes,” or “Talked to Mac about why Supply Chain is better than OB/HR – 5 minutes.” You get the idea.

My purpose was three fold:

1. I was feeling pretty spread thin with all my commitments and I wanted to see where I could eliminate waste (or “Mudah” as us GSCMA’ers affectionately refer to it) in my schedule.
2. I was curious how my actions during each day matched a written list of priorities that I had.
3. I wanted to have tangible proof of how weird I am.

I’m happy to say that this was a fruitful exercise in achieving each of my purposes.

I divided my schedule into four compartments: School, Spiritual, Career Development, and Personal (non-sleeping). Then I plugged each daily activity into one of those compartments. After the week was over I put all my data into an Excel spreadsheet and analyzed the results.

Here’s what I found:

• All school related activities for the week only took 45 hours. I really thought this number would be closer to 70!

• I’m really good at thinking about getting a job. I mean, I can spend hours and hours just thinking. Unfortunately, I only spent 1 hour during the week actually doing something about it (i.e. working on my resume, networking, or applying for jobs).

• I had 40 hours of personal time to spend during the week. My funniest time log? “Legal Obligations – 1 hr 40 mins,” (good old traffic school).

• My “Playing-Halo-with-roommates-to-going-on-dates” ratio was a solid two hours and thirty-five minutes to zero. My ecclesiastical leader may cringe at this statistic, but I’m okay with it.

• I found multitasking to be a great way to achieve a couple priorities in my schedule at the same time (and I’m not just talking about applying for jobs while sitting in class). For example, following the news is important to me but I’ll neglect it when I’m really busy, so I make it a priority to listen to some good podcasts while I’m getting ready in the morning, commuting, cleaning, or performing any other essential task that doesn’t require a lot of thought.

• I need to use the Internet with a purpose. Part of my study time involved going through my web browser’s viewing history and recording where I spent my online time. It was amazing how often I started out with a simple check up on my Facebook account and that somehow led to browsing Jon Hamm’s filmography on IMDB, any national articles praising Austin Collie’s brilliance, or Jim Gaffigan YouTube clips.

I have to admit that logging all my time day after day made me feel somewhat like a robot, and at times really sucked the life out of life. Having said that, I’m glad I did it and I suppose it’s an exercise I’ll repeat in the future. We all will die someday. Peter Drucker has already died. But, while we’re alive, it’s useful to periodically check how the time we spend matches the supposed priorities that we have. And, who knows? Maybe after your own careful time management review you just might realize that you can squeeze 29 hours out of your day.

-Luke Terry, Supply Chain, 2011

Interned at: SearchSino in Xi'an, China

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My OB/HR Baptism

One moment I was sitting blissfully on my orange raft, and the next, I was submerged in shark-infested (probably) white water rapids. It is difficult to describe the experience of being dislodged while white water rafting. The effects are sudden, wet, shocking, and yet, somehow satisfying (at least in the retelling). The OB/HR raft trip represented a form of baptism for me, not just in the Payette River, but also into the world of OB/HR at BYU. In fact, I would like to rechristen this event: Scout Camp meets Gourmet Road Show meets OB/HR. Certainly there were moments of pressure, and perhaps shock (Re: portapotty? Anyone???). A first-year student summed up our first evening with the recruiters: “I feel like I’m on the Bachelorette, vying for face-time.” At first, meeting the recruiters encouraged a small frenzy, but after the first night, the pressure dissipated and we had FUN. We hung out. And, frankly, the most useful information was not facts about the companies, but rather the more subtle and personal details about the individuals.

My favorite conversations were the casual, inane, and downright ridiculous. I would like to record some of those here. (Names have been deleted to protect the innocent):

1. “Our group last year was all the jocks.” Ten minutes later. “I’m a dancer. And I love flower gardening.”
2. “I heart HR [insert 5 minutes of new and strange HR jargon] I heart HR”
3. “People always call me Ryan when they forget my name. Then I found out that my mother was planning to name me Ryan all along! But my aunt used it for her kid right before I was born and my mom couldn’t use it, so actually my name SHOULD be Ryan. Isn’t that weird?”
4. “I love my Harley. Maybe not the best investment...but my Harley makes me so happy.”
5. “Guys, we totally have to have a strategy for attacking that other raft.”
6. “In Russia you can’t throw the garbage away until your guest is safely home, or it’s bad luck.”
7. “My wife is such a good mom. I just got lucky” What a softy. Later: “I am going to attack you tomorrow.” (FYI: he is a man of his word.)
8. (upon viewing natural Idaho scenery): “You guys have really done a great job with the landscaping here. I mean, it must have taken forever to haul in all these trees.”
9. “I have never [fill in blank with whatever you want]”
10. (Singing Aboard Raft à la Titanic): “Sempre libera degg´io folleggiare di gioia in gioia!!!!!”
11. “I have never rooted for BYU...I have never rooted for BYU...define root”

Other significant moments: I showed up without proper gear, but was speedily provided with a sleeping bag, sleeping mat, and flashlight! I am now a firm supporter of Boy Scouts of America, even if they plan vacations without washrooms. Another was a classmate saving me a coveted seat by the fire, knowing how important it was to my survival. These conversation snippets and anecdotes may seem silly and meaningless. But, to me, these are the crucial conversations. There is everything to be learned from small talk. With each exchange, I form my perception of the other person, reflect it back on myself, and begin to shape my professional identity. Unarticulated questions are a running backdrop: Am I like you? Do I like being with you? Could I become like you? Do I want to? Every conversation was a window into OB/HR, and into my future.

While I would like to say that I came out of the OB/HR Rafting Trip with a clear sense of direction (track, company, position, salary, location) - I didn’t. I emerged drenched in questions. What I did come out with was a tangible knowledge that I really like these people. In fact, I like them a lot. And since a church can be judged by its members, I must say that my recent baptism into OB/HR may shortly become a conversion.

Elizabeth Keeler, OB/HR, Class of 2012

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An Ordinary MBA Summer

My summer started pretty early. On April 22nd I was on a plane directed south. After 30 hours (I was lucky to find 3 open seats in a row and I actually slept on a flight for the first time in my life), and after seeing Dallas and Santiago, Chile, from the clouds, we landed in Asuncion, Paraguay. And by us I mean Jeff Baxter, soon to be nicknamed Compañero Jeff, and me.

After a couple of days in the capital we were “abducted” and found refuge in a wonderful little house in the middle of the jungle. We spent 4 weeks there: it was an incredible experience!

a sight of the main square of the school from the main office

We had been blessed with a great education during our first year in the MBA; but even a greater blessing was to be able to apply these concepts and provide very useful suggestions for Fundacion Paraguaya. Fundacion Paraguaya is a non-profit organization whose ultimate purpose is to free people from poverty through work and business. In particular we consulted for their Agricultural School in Cerrito. They teach agricultural principles to teenagers and sell the outcomes of their work (vegetables, milk, cheese). They are struggling. We ran a deep analysis of their business and realized that their main and most pressing problem was the sales method. They weren’t reaching enough people because they didn’t have the right materials. They needed carts to help them carry their products and it was our desire to help them make the carts.

me, Alison (MPA) and a bunch of local kids (indigenous local population)

Jeff is an amazing engineer: do you think that for the team leader of the BYU racing car team (182 MpH!) it is too hard to build 3 carts? Well, without the right material and tools it was a challenge. But we made it! The 3 carts allowed them to touch between 200% and 300% of their customers in the same amount of time!

Jeff working and me zoolandering

Time to say goodbye came soon and I flew back to Utah. But just for 2 days! Then a lone drive to Palo Alto, CA, where I started working for Apple, in its Applecare group—Global Commodity Management to be precise. It was challenging but fun. Apple is not how they describe it. It is better. They are super lean, fast, entrepreneurial, innovative and love their customers.

Of course if I talked about what I did I’d have a Job’s SWAT team blasting my door in 5-10 minutes... So all I will tell you is that they had an amazing cafeteria! Great food.

And Palo Alto weather? Are you kidding me? Constant 80 degrees? Made the swimming pool and the Jacuzzi in the complex so much more valuable.

The last week of my summer was a road trip back from California. I still don’t understand how we could drive (with two friends from Italy) for 2,500 miles in 8 days! Bay Area, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Muir Woods, Yosemite, Sequoia, Vegas (in bed at 9.30), Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, Moab, Arches, Monticello (ok we only slept there) and Provo. Awesome!

Antelope Canyon, AZ

In the end... a great ordinary MBA summer! You’ll hear many like mine. :)

Andrea Cordani, Supply Chain, Class of 2011

Interned at: Apple

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