What to Ask Your Boss When You Have a New Project - The Muse

What to Ask Your Boss When You Have a New Project - The MuseWhat to Ask Your Boss When You Have a New Project When I started at my current role, my manager told me, The first time you do this task, itll take an hour. But once you do it several mora times, it should only take you about 15 minutes.And she was right Eventually, after doing it every day, it became so second nature I could do it on autopilot- which left me more time to spend on other, more challenging projects.Since this lesson was so valuable to me, I decided to approach every new project I was handed by asking this one simple question How long should this take me while Im learning it and how long once Im doing it routinely?This opens up so many doors for you- both in terms of your productivity and how you work with your manager. For one thing, it helps you put the task into perspective. If you know itll take two hours, you can set aside that amount of time when you first tackle it. On the other hand, if your boss says i t should only take 20 minutes, you know you dont have to clear an entire afternoon.But the biggest benefit perhaps is that it helps to highlight any gaps between what your managers expectations are and how youre interpreting them. For example, if they say it shouldnt take more than 10 minutes, but you find yourself spending several hours on it, thats cause for concern.Maybe they forgot to mention shortcuts you could take. Maybe you didnt quite understand the instructions. Or, maybe your boss has never done the project before themselves so theyre unaware of how time-consuming it is. Whatever the case, its important to communicate that its taking longer than predicted.Thats why knowing this timeframe from the get-go helps you prioritize, while also holding your boss accountable. Not to mention, its an easy way to manage up- you can set guidelines for how you manage your time, and your boss can keep track of how quickly youre picking up new skills and getting comfortable with certain p rojects.Plus, isnt it a great feeling to know exactly what youre getting into? I certainly think so.