3. Time management

Being a manager, your time management becomes very important. Unless you manage your time effectively, no amount of ability, skill, experience or knowledge will make you effective and dependable. You will also have to understand that you have a dual responsibility: managing your time and managing the time of your team members.

Time is:

• Is a unique resource
  
• It cannot be accumulated like money
  
• It cannot be stored like raw material
  
• We are forced to spend it, whether we like it or not, at a fixed rate of 60 secs per min.
  
• It cannot be turned on or off like a machine
  
• It cannot be replaced like a man
  
• It is irretrievable
  
• What is lost is lost
  
• What is lost is a part of our life
  

Time management refers to the development of processes and tools that increase efficiency and productivity. Managing our time to waste less time on doing the things we have to do, so we have more time to do the things we want to do. 

There are 2 types of time wasters:

1. Internal (We should try to minimize these for self):

• Lack of objectives
  
• Lack of priorities, deadlines, daily planning
  
• Leaving tasks unfinished
  
• Attempting too much and unrealistic time estimates
  
• Indecision and procrastination
  
• Inability to say “NO”
  
• Ineffective delegation and involvement in detail
  
• Management by crisis
• Lack of personal organization/discipline
• Cluttered desk 
• Daydreaming
• Worry, Stress

2. External (We should try to minimize these for the team):

• Meetings (scheduled & unscheduled)
  
• Telephone interruptions
  
• Drop-in visitors
  
• Unclear communications; inadequate, inaccurate or delayed information
  
• Waiting, Resource Sharing
  
• Lack of clear goals, objectives, priorities
  
• Confused responsibility and authority

Major Time Stealers:

1. Perfectionism:

• Decide that you don’t have to please everyone
  
• Let go – don’t be a perfectionist
• Resist the temptation to do small, insignificant tasks too well 
• Outsource what you can
• Know when to stop

2. Interruptions:

• Constant day-to-day interruptions are huge time-wasters for people
  • Unnecessary visits
    
  • Unplanned social conversations and meetings
• Self-sabotage is another form of wasting time
  • Procrastination
    
  • Perfectionism

3. Stress:

• Demanding bosses 
  
• Mergers, Layoffs, Downsizing
  
• Scramble to handle to kids' activities
  
• Adult care issues
  
• Financial problems 
  
• Beepers, Cell phone, E-mail 24/7 
  
• Harassment, Bullying
  
• Family illness or grief, separation or divorce
  
• Illness, Loneliness, Pain
  
• Perfectionism
  

4. Meetings:

• Understand the Essence of a meeting:  It is a forum for communication, an opportunity to build team unity, a chance to foster creativity, a place to share resources optimally, group brainstorming, problem solving.
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The Trick - Where to start:

A. Create a Time Log:

• Write down everything you do for a period of time
  
• Learn how you really spend your time
  
• Identify areas where you can improve your use of time
  

B. Analyse 

1. By who takes your time:

• Customer-imposed (external/internal)
  
• Sub-ordinate-imposed
• Boss-imposed
• Colleague-imposed
• System-imposed
• Self-imposed

2. By type of work:

• Admin time (routine)
• Executive time (planning, thinking, exploring, deciding)
• Operational time (“the job”)
• Communication time (giving and receiving)
• Supervision time
• Wasted time

3. By Quality of work:

• Maintenance
  
• Crisis Prevention
• Performance Improvement(better, cheaper, faster)
• Change Management(new ideas, new services, new products)

C. Plan your investment:

• Know your energy cycle: Everyone has a specific period in the day when the maximum work gets done
  
• Plan for your day, everyday. Create a To-do List, what needs to be done yourself, what can be delegated and what needs your followup
• Examples of High Energy Tasks are: Designing, Programming, Writing Reports, Planning, Debugging etc
• Examples of Low energy tasks are: Meetings, Opening/Sorting Mail, Responding to Correspondence, Collecting data etc
• Save the easiest tasks for the end of the day
  

Knowing when not to work is as important as knowing when to work. There are two dimensions of every task that can be factored to decide your role in it.

• Importance OR criticality
• Urgency
  

All tasks can be defined into 4 quadrants based on this brief analysis:

1. Quadrant 1 (Reactive Tasks : Urgent and Important) : 

• Crisis
  
• Pressing Problems
• Deadline-Driven Projects

2. Quadrant 2 (Proactive Tasks : Non-urgent but Important)

• Prevention
  
• Planning
• Relationship Building
• Research

3. Quadrant 3 (Someone else's priority : Urgent but not Important)

• Interruptions
  
• Email
• Phone Calls
• Meetings

4. Quadrant 4 (Time Wasters : Non-urgent and not Important)

• Trivia, Busy Work
  
• Time Wasters
• Pleasant Activities

How to manage (For self):

1. Planning:

• Planning is the methods or ways of proceeding which are thought out in advance. 
  
• Planning is a management tool to choose a desired future (goal) and develop an approach to achieve it.
• Planning is the process of utilizing available resources and organizing them in the most effective way to meet an objective within laid down parameters and constraints.
• In practical terms, a plan is the document that details every resource, every action, every requirement of time, location & responsibility, every act of coordination, monitoring and decision making
  
• 6 Ms of planning: Materials, Machines, Men, Money, Minutes, Methods
• Planning model: Loop (Set Objectives; Identify Resources; Identify Constraints; Establish Priorities; Step by Step Plan; Monitor/Control; Task Analysis)
• “A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week” - G.Patton
•  Rules of Planning:
  • Start with a strong mission
  • Set Stretch goals
  • Create an environment that encourages implementation
  • Encourage all in team to develop planning skills
  • Make continuous improvement a way of life
• Break down large tasks to smaller tasks
• Contingency Planning: Preparation of a course of action to meet a situation that is not expected, but that, if it occurs, will have a significant impact on the organization / project.
• Prioritizing: "Prioritizing means determining the relative importance and precedence of events.  And it is absolutely necessary for effective planning.  Prioritizing keeps us from spending time on things we don’t really value.” - Hyrum Smith
• You can have custom buckets for Priority, but more than 3 will become difficult to handle:
  • Top priority - Must do
  • Medium priority - Good, but not essential
  • Low priority - Can live without
• Scheduling: It means to use the available resources to best effect. Structure in adequate time for all stages of the work, then review and revise often. Sometimes, you may want to check in with colleagues and clients

2. Implement:

• Loop [Building a capable department; Allocating Resources; Exercising Leadership; Installing Support Systems; Establishing Goal supportive policies; Shaping Culture to Fit Strategy; Tying Rewards to Achievement of Key Targets; Instituting Best Practices for Continuous Improvement]
  
• Do nothing you can delegate
• Avoid Perfectionism 
• Divorce yourself from detail
• Take initiative
• Encourage teamwork

3. Controlling:

• Management process designed to keep deviations from planned activities to the minimum
  
• It measures the achievement of the group
• Indicates whether there have been departure from plans
• It is a continuous process: Loop [Establish standards (derived from goals); Observe actual performance; Evaluate deviations; Take appropriate action(correct deviations)]
• Set standards for: Quality, Quantity, Cost, Time 

How to manage (For Team):

• Set S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals for the team members
  

Finally, remember:

• Time is money
  
• There is never enough time to do a job right, but always time to do it over - we should not rush through our work at the risk of error
  
• If you want time, you must make time - we need to allocate time according to our priorities
  
• A job will fill all of the time allocated for it - poor planning and procrastination are time wasters
  
• Have the time of your life - good time management will allow you to fulfill your personal and professional goals
  
• It takes time to save time.