Someone posted a link on HN years ago to a set of google docs titled the "Mochary Method", which covers all sorts of management skills just like this. I have it bookmarked as it's the only set of notes I've seen which talks about this stuff in a very human way that makes sense to me (as a non-manager).
Risk management still gives you the correct answers, even for civil concerns.
Lets break down what it really means to apply risk management to strategy and actions:
You think through potential outcomes of security breaches, and plot them on a likelihood/consequence grid. Then you put a lot of energy into high likelihood, high consequence items to move those concerns down on one or both of those axes, or to have detailed mitigation plans in place if there are items that truly cannot be moved.
When that is done, you move on to the 2 quadrants that require more strategic thought - high likelihood/low impact and low likelihood/high impact. Personally, I try to come up with mitigation plans for low likelihood/high impact, while trying to move the needle down on the high likelihood/low impact concerns.
If you get all that done, you either have corrected or mitigated everything other than low likelihood/low impact, and you are likely in a "good enough" state, where you can breathe a bit easier and just work on incremental improvements.
All that being said, corporate vs. civil doesn't change your process - what it changes is the "impact" axis. Different data, same approach.
What is a word for this type of product? My spouse recently expressed an interest in "Skylight" and this has brought me down a rabbithole of displays for family coordination systems:
Anytime your solution to a problem is "Just exert more effort and skill and do it correctly", there is a 100% chance the general public will not adopt your solution.
I asked ChatGPT to come up with an ending poem for Minecraft. Here's what it wrote:
Farewell, dear player, as you venture forth,
Leaving this world of blocks and pixels behind.
But know that the memories you've made here
Will stay with you, etched in your mind.
For in this game, we built and explored,
Creating our own little universe.
But now it's time to move on,
To face new challenges and opportunities.
As you go, remember the lessons you learned,
The friendships you forged, and the adventures you had.
And know that, though this game may end,
The universe itself is vast and ever-changing.
So go forth, brave player, and make your mark,
For the universe is yours to discover.
A couple strategies that I've employed, that have helped me:
1. Do a start-of-week plan, and end-of-week review. Pick a few milestones that are achievable this week. Hold yourself accountable and check in with yourself to see if you completed them. If you didn't, review why not. Did you snack too much? Did you get pulled into lower-priority meetings? Did you work on some other urgent stuff that is actually OK to drop your tasks for? Keep any insights at the top of your "weekly plans" doc so you can remind yourself of them and try to avoid making the same errors repeatedly. Breaking your long-term goals into milestones also gives you some "snack-like" satisfaction before you get to the finish line and earn the big payoff.
2. Every day, pick a task that you're going to do "hell or high water". Try to get that done before you snack. Typically this is (a piece of) one of your weekly tasks. If your calendar is prone to getting filled up with meetings, block off some "maker time" on your calendar to get this task done. I find it helpful to preemptively schedule timeslots for my project work at the beginning of the week even when my calendar is likely to remain open; it keeps me honest.
3. Timebox your snacking. If you feel like you need a break from longer-range tasks, you want to get an energy boost, etc., set a timebox, say "1 hours refactoring these tests", and try to return to your hell-or-high-water task after that timebox. I find it easy to go down the rabbit hole when I start snacking, especially if I get deep into the flow state. Flow is good! But it can lead you astray from your longer-term goals if you're flowing on something that's not your #1 priority.
As for the mechanics of tracking your work, I have used a personal Trello, todo.txt doc, Roam, GDoc, pen & paper -- this is immensely personal but just having a single place where you can go back and remind yourself what you were supposed to be working on is really helpful.
Here's the doc for responding to mistakes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AqBGwJ2gMQCrx5hK8q-u7wP0...
And here's a video with Matt talking about it in a little more detail: https://www.loom.com/share/651f369c763f4377a146657e1362c780
It's a very similar approach to the linked article although it goes slightly further in advocating "rewind and redo" where possible.
EDIT - The full "curriculum" is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18FiJbYn53fTtPmphfdCKT2TM...