Use the DRY Principle to Consolidate Repetitive Tasks

You need to use the DRY principle to be more productive. This isn’t to say your work is too wet; it’s too repetitive. DRY stands for “don’t repeat yourself” and it’s actually one of the better time management and productivity techniques, once you get it down.

What is the DRY productivity method all about? 

This principle comes from the world of software development, where developers use it to reduce redundancy in their patterns and codes. I’m not a coding expert and won’t pretend to be, but it does make sense that you don’t want needless repetition in there. From the inner workings of your tech to your daily schedule, everything should be streamlined and efficient. 

DRY was first popularized in The Pragmatic Programmer, a book that states, “Every piece of knowledge must have a single, unambiguous, authoritative representation within a system.” Don’t focus on the “knowledge” part: Insert the word “task” or “project” instead of “knowledge.” Each one should “have a single, unambiguous, authoritative representation within a system.” Think of it like this: You’re busy every day, but are you productive every day? If the answer is no, it might be because you’re being too repetitive with your work. 

How can you DRY your work and stop repeating yourself?

First, you’ll spend a few days doing your normal tasks—but write down everything you do. Be specific. For instance, don’t write down that you “answered emails from 10 to 10:30.” Write down how many emails you answered and take note of any that were basically the same thing reworded over and over. Write down phone calls, meetings, and tasks you undertake to complete a project, whether it’s one for work or cleaning your house. To make this easier, use time-tracking software, which is easy to navigate and will help you turn all of this data into something meaningful.

From there, sort everything into categories: unavoidable tasks you have to do just as you already are; time-consuming tasks that bog up your day; and work that repeats itself. Everything in that third category should then be automated or streamlined before looking into the time-consuming ones, which may also qualify for some automation. 

What that streamlining is going to look like depends on what you are wasting your time on. If you’re always typing the same message into emails, try using templates. If you have one-on-one meetings with colleagues that make you repeat yourself, suggest combining them into one meeting. If you’re always cleaning the same part of your home, look into specific cleaning methods that might help you get the whole job done more efficiently.

Why DRY productivity works

If you’re thinking that this sounds similar to other productivity methods, like Getting Things Done (GTD), that’s because it does—but DRY does something that others don’t. With other approaches, you’re writing down and examining your daily tasks in an effort to better organize them; with DRY, you’re searching specifically for what you can eliminate or automate. A lot of other techniques operate on the assumption that you just have to do time-sucking, attention-clogging work, but DRY suggests you not only don’t have to, but really shouldn’t. With repetitive or useless tasks out of the way, you have more time to do what really matters and you’ll get more quality work done, though you may get a lower quantity done in the trade-off. Once you work through the DRY approach for a while, you should start incorporating another, like GTD, to make the remaining tasks even more productive.

It will take at least a week of journaling your daily activities—and likely longer—for you to recognize your repetition and time-sucking tasks, but seeing them all listed out will make this much easier and get you on a path to DRYness.