Unique Methods Review

Unique Methods are just your personal way of tackling a task. This presupposes that you have given this  task some thought and you are happy with the procedure you have developed. For this procedure to be a Unique Method you must write it down. 

Why? ...  

In a word: delegation. 

If you have your own business, or aspire to have your own business, or aspire to rise in the ranks where you are employed; you will find that you can’t do everything required of you. You need help to get things done.

The best way to do this is to hand over responsibility for the tasks you need help with. When you can provide instructions for how the tasks are to be done, the success of the delegation becomes inevitable - unless you have picked the wrong person. 

There is no wrong way to document your Unique Methods. Some are better than others, but one size fits all does not apply to here.
 
The basic requirements are:

• List the steps of the process in order and so they are self-explanatory 
• Explain what else you need to know or obtain (resources, forms, approvals)
• File the master list for the Unique Method where it can be retrieved from the internet any time or anywhere by any firm member. 

Pretty simple. 
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The following articles will elaborate on this simple concept.

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Do You Have Unique Methods

Unique Methods is a concept that I learned from The Strategic Coach, Dan Sullivan. Everyone has processes that are unique to them. No two people go about writing a specification exactly the same, for instance. There are three main benefits to identifying your unique methods.

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Unique Methods Revisited

Not everyone is 'wired' to look for ways to improve a process. Some people like tackling a task differently every time it comes around. But even the act of designing is a candidate in spite of every design problem being unique. Recognizing your unique method of designing can make it a smoother process. Here's an example of what I mean.

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Delegating

I should be a genius at delegation. I certainly put in the hours researching, planning, trying things out. I am mediocre at best. 

This is a problem because business is dependent on delegation, and the architectural business is not any different. ​

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Lessons Learned

One of the major differences I found between designing projects in school and designing projects in a firm was the need to meet others' expectations. To me school design was like solving a puzzle. Having a solution was what mattered. Not how you got there.

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Building Value With Unique Methods

There are three main benefits to identifying your unique methods.

• Once a process is on paper, it can be delegated or taught, freeing you to do other things or getting help doing this thing.
• The exercise of documenting your process often leads to improvements in the process.
• The more of your processes that you can standardize, the less time is spent re-inventing the wheel on each project.

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