A stop doing list for your business

Key takeaways

A stop doing list is a written list of activities a business or its owner will no longer do. It is the cheapest way to remove hidden cost, because a task that stops costs nothing. Sort candidate tasks into three groups: drop, simplify and hand over.

• 3 groups: drop it, simplify it, or hand it over.
• 30 minutes is enough to draft a first list.
• Start with reports nobody reads and approvals nobody needs.
• Review the list every quarter and add 1 item each time.

What is a stop doing list?

A stop doing list is the opposite of a to-do list. It names the tasks, habits and commitments you will deliberately end, so that time and attention can go to work that matters more. For a business, it covers team routines as well as the owner's own tasks.

• The hidden costs of doing everything in-house
• Working in the business vs on it: the real cost

Why does a business need one?

A business needs one because work accumulates and is rarely removed. Every new customer, system and employee adds tasks. Nothing prompts anyone to ask whether an old task still earns its place. Over a few years a team can be fully busy with work that no customer would notice stopping.

• What are hidden costs in a business?

What belongs on the list?

Look for tasks in these categories first.

• Reports that inform no decision.
• Approvals for low-value, reversible items.
• Meetings with no agenda or outcome.
• Data entered twice into different systems.
• Services or customers that lose money.
• Channels kept alive out of habit.
• Routine tasks done by the most senior person.

• The cost of manual processes, and what to fix first

How do you build it in 30 minutes?

Build it from a list of what you did last week.

• Write down every recurring task from last week.
• Ask of each: what happens if this stops?
• Mark: drop, simplify, hand over or keep.
• Choose three to act on this month.
• Tell the people affected and set a date.

• Run a time audit to find what to outsource
• How to delegate as a business owner

What should stay off the list?

Keep anything required by law, anything customers pay for and value, and the improvement work that protects the future. A stop doing list is not a licence to drop compliance or the important tasks that have no deadline.

• Important but not urgent: the work that never gets done

What does a kept task cost?

Every recurring task has a yearly price. One hour a week from an employee on £30,000 costs about £910 a year at a loaded £19.81 an hour. From a £45,000 manager it is about £1,380. From an owner whose time is worth £40 an hour, £1,840. A list of ten tasks that should have stopped can therefore be costing well over £10,000 a year without anyone having decided to spend it.

• What is your time worth as a business owner?

How do you run the exercise with a team?

Give everyone ten minutes to write down tasks they believe add little value. Collect them without names. Discuss each for no more than two minutes: who uses the output, and what would happen without it. People closest to the work know which tasks are pointless and have usually been waiting to be asked. Agree three to stop, and name who will tell the people affected.

What are the common objections?

Three objections come up every time, and each has a simple answer.

• We have always done it: then test stopping it for a month.
• Someone might need it: ask them, by name.
• It only takes five minutes: multiply by a year and by everyone who does it.

How do you stop tasks creeping back?

Write the list down and keep it visible. When someone asks for a stopped task to return, ask what decision it will inform. Add a rule that any new recurring task needs an owner and a reason, and that for each one added, the team looks for one to remove. Without that rule, the list of work grows back within a year.

What does it look like for an owner personally?

An owner's own list tends to include answering every enquiry first, approving small purchases, attending every meeting, checking work that is already being checked and being copied on every email. Stopping these is uncomfortable for a fortnight and then frees several hours a week.

• The cost of micromanagement in a small business
• Business owner who cannot take a holiday? Fix this

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see when teams do this exercise: a weekly report is paused as a test, and nobody asks for it. It had taken a manager three hours a week for two years.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Stop doing checklist

Repeat each quarter.

• List recurring tasks.
• Apply the what-if-it-stops test.
• Sort into drop, simplify, hand over.
• Act on three.
• Check a month later that nothing broke.

• The hidden cost audit: score your business in an hour
• How to reduce hidden costs in a business

Next step

Send us last week's recurring tasks. We will mark drop, simplify and hand over with you in a 30-minute call.