It really depends on the individual situation; you can't really say one way is better than the other.

If you are unfamiliar with what you're doing, if you f--k up the biggest and main task, you may have buggered yourself for good. In this case, it may be better to bite off smaller pieces at the beginning to familiarize yourself with the task at hand before tackling the most difficult piece. In a way, this like warming up before you start the most strenuous part of a physical workout.

If you know exactly what you're doing, you may indeed want to tackle the most difficult portion at the beginning and coast to the end, tidying things up. You wash the car before you polish the mirrors.

Again, it totally depends on the situation and your knowledge. To say that one way is better is a falsehood.

Deprong Mori

@vered: It's true--I always want to knock out the small and easy stuff first, and leave the tough stuff for later!

Gina Trapani

This reminds me of the interviewing advice from yesterday: makes sense on the screen, but in reality, not so easy.

vered

"Sounds similar to the pickle jar approach: put in the big rocks first, then the pebbles, then the sand, then the water."

So long as you remember that the big rocks aren't necessarily the big jobs at work. We're more productive when we've got the life-balance right, not just the job-balance. Well, that's our take on the pickle jar story. Though we prefer the mayonniase jar and golf balls approach, the way we tell it!

[www.the-happy-manager.com]

the-happy-manager

I find that in some cases, the opposite works better. I will get my feet wet on the "easy" parts of a project, all the while thinking about the more difficult parts. Once all the easy stuff is finished, I've thought out the hard stuff, and can do a better job with it.

This also helps me reduce procrastination, as I have less of a problem getting started if I just do something - anything - even if it's easy.

elsifer

La Cieca