Introduction
As a result of more emphasis on work-life balance globally, we increasingly hear and see that leaders are afraid to activate the highest level of urgency (red eye). They fear that it will foster a toxic environment and employee turnover. We think that employees join ambitious companies because they aspire for greatness. By the same token, we argue that your team wants to see problems fixed and opportunities captured today, as opposed to next week.
At Bifrost, we've recently started referring to urgent tasks or projects as "red eye processes." This terminology emerged during a collaboration with an industrial designer named Collin. Collin offered us faster delivery on a project if we paid a "red eye fee." We had never heard that term before, but appreciated this approach and have since been working to define when and where red eye processes make sense, as well as what a red eye process entails in a business context.
We truly believe in urgency, and that hard work and great prioritization often dictates business or success. Whether it's meeting tight deadlines, seizing market opportunities, or managing an overload of tasks, the ability to prioritize and put in the hours might be the difference between success and failure. The "Red Eye Processes'' framework is designed to provide a structured approach to managing these high-pressure situations effectively.
