MYTH 4: You Need Expensive Software To Systemise

The whole point of systemising is to make your job easier.

You don’t need a whole host of complex tools or software — all you need is project management software and documentation software.

The project management software handles the “who, does what by when”, and the documentation software houses your how-tos, step-by-step, and other related knowledge.

This software paired together can be a game changer for you and everyone in your business.

And it’s really that simple.

Timestamps:

0:10 Systemisation creates complexity
0:17 Complexity is the enemy of systemisation
0:45 The two main software components you need
0:55 A project management software
1:27 A documentation software
1:45 Your PM software can reference a how-to document
2:06 Example—systemising with a PM and documentation software
2:57 Grab your copy of SYSTEMology today

Formatted Transcription:

The fourth myth is that you need complex tools to systemise. Like you’ve got to have some kind of magical system kind of software and do this and do that and all that kind of stuff.

Why is that a myth?

Because complexity is actually the enemy of systemization, and at the best of times, systems and processes can have some level of friction, especially if it’s not built into the culture of your company. This means that if a team member can find an excuse not to do something, they’ll come up with one. So you really need to make it as easy as possible.

There are two main software components I believe you should have in place and you really only need those two. You need something for project management, something to handle who does what by when. And with either of these things, it doesn’t matter what software you use, as long as you’ve got something in place.

You need a central place where communication goes through, so a team member or a project manager knows where to go to see where something is up to. So that could be Trello, Basecamp, Podio, teamwork PM—there are literally hundreds of them. You just need a place where projects are stored.

And the other simple software you need is something to house the how-to, which is the step-by-step of how something is completed. And you need a repository for all of that knowledge that you keep separate from your project management software.

So, your project management software can reference a how-to document. If a task gets assigned to a team member and they need to invoice the client, but they haven’t invoiced that client before, or maybe they don’t do this task very often because they’re filling in for Jane who’s gone away on holiday, there is still a system to show them how to do that particular task.

I remember I did some work with an accountant and very quickly we identified that a project management software was missing. And in the accounting space, they’ve got one that’s been tailored for that space called Carbon. So we took Carbon, installed it within the business as we’re going through the SYSTEMology process, and then we also coupled it with systemHUB and it has been an absolute game changer.

Now they have a central location where they can jump in at any point in time to know where a client’s project is up to and who is responsible for the next step. And a project manager can oversee it and assign subtasks. If the team member doesn’t know how to do it or is gone away on holiday, there’s an instruction that then explains how to do the stuff that they’ve been assigned.

Do that in any business, and you will change the game. Simple.