2. 2
Learning Objectives
• When you have completed this module you
will be able to define the key concepts
associated with Time Management and you
will be able to:
• Identify the main obstacles to effective Time
Management in your daily role
• Understand the nature of Time Management
3. 3
Learning Objectives
• Understand a range of tools, techniques and
concepts for Time Management
• Use these techniques to build an effective
Time Management process that will enhance
your productivity and lower your stress
• Explain the benefits of having an effective
Time Management process
5. 5
Time Management & The Organization
• Looking at time management from the perspective of
the organization what are the benefits:
– Improved productivity through improved use of time by the
personnel
– Better performance in terms of on time delivery to customers
– Increased profitability through better use of the human and
non-human resources
6. 6
– Improved planning and control of business
systems through time based management
– Better alignment of activities by
incorporating a time bound system for co-
ordination of tasks and projects in the
business
– Reduction of stress that arises due to crisis
management by reducing the incidence of
crises by better planning
Time Management & The Organization
7. 7
Introduction
What is Time
Management?
What is Time
Management?
Time as a
Commodity
Time as a
Commodity
Essential HabitsEssential Habits
Types of TimeTypes of Time
Over & Under
Estimation of Time
Over & Under
Estimation of Time
8. 8
What is Time Management?
• Time management has five main aspects:
– Planning & Goal Setting
– Managing Yourself
– Dealing with Other People
– Your Time
– Getting Results
– The first 4 all interconnect and interact to generate
the fifth - results
9. 9
Time as a Commodity
• Time is the most precious thing we have
• Time is ultimately the most valuable resource
• Time and how we spend it within the
organization must be managed effectively
• Time is totally perishable
• Time cannot be stored up for use later
10. 10
Essential Habits
• Essential habits for good time management
are:
– Know where the hours are going
– Keep focused on the end result
– Work to defined priorities
– Schedule time for important issues
– Delegate routine tasks and responsibility for them
– Confront your own indecision and delay
– Take the stress out of work
– Keep applying the essential habits!
11. 11
Types of Time
• Time can be categorized into two types:
– Fast time
• when absorbed in, or enjoying an activity
– Slow time
• when bored with an activity or having a bad
time
• when scared
12. 12
Over- & Under-estimating Time
• Time for tasks or activities can be over-
or under-estimated due to
– Intensity of activity
– Level of brain function
– Length of gaps between enjoyments
– Fear or ecstasy
13. 13
Effects of Estimating Time Incorrectly
• Under-estimation of time
• Stress due to committing to too many tasks
• Poor quality output
• Deadlines may be missed
• Over-estimation of time
• Stress due to people pressing to have
activities completed
• Poor quality output
• Deadlines set may not match requirements
15. 15
Time Management Principles
Time Management PrinciplesTime Management Principles
Spent Time MatrixSpent Time Matrix
Quadrant 2Quadrant 2
Time-Based
Management
Time-Based
Management
16. 16
Time Management
• Covey identified 4 waves in time
management
– 1 Notes and Checklists
– Recognition of the demands on energy & time
– 2 Calendars and appointment books
– Scheduling with some focus on the future
– 3 Prioritization
– Comparison of the relative worth of activities
– 4 Self management
– Realization that time cannot be managed - it is ourselves
that we have to manage!
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Covey,1989
18. 18
Quadrant 1
• Being in Quadrant 1 brings
– Stress
– Burnout
– Crises management
– Firefighting
– Focus on the immediate
19. 19
Quadrant 3
• Being in Quadrant 3 brings
– Short term focus
– Crises management
– Low value on goals
– Feeling of victimization / lack of control
– Shallow relationships
20. 20
Quadrants 3 & 4
• Cycling between Quadrants 3 & 4
brings:
– Total irresponsibility
– High dependency on others for basics
– Short career path in the organization
21. 21
Quadrant 2
• Being in Quadrant 2 brings:
– Vision
– Perspective
– Balance
– Discipline
– Control
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Covey,1989
22. 22
Characteristics of a Quadrant 2 Person
• There are six basic criteria to allow a
person to function in Quadrant 2:
– Coherence
– Balance
– Focus
– An ability to get on with people
– Flexibility
– Portability
23. 23
Quadrant 2 Requirements
The basic requirements to reach Quadrant 2 are:
• Clear definition of organizational roles and specifically
your own role
• Selection of and focus on SMART goals
• Development and utilization of schedules
• The practice of daily adapting in work role
24. 24
Saying No and Quadrant 2
• To stay within Quadrant 2, there is a
requirement that you must say no:
– In a professional manner
– When items are associated with Quadrant 3 or
Quadrant 4 activities
• Not important not urgent
• Not important but urgent
• Will not deliver competitive advantage
26. 26
Focus on Time & Resources
• For effective management of time there needs to be a reasonable
attempt made to look at the time and resources required to
complete a task:
• The quality of the outcome is directly influenced by the resources
and time constraints involved
Quality
TimeResources
27. 27
Pre-Analysis Of Performance
• The ability to learn from past experience allows time
management to improve performance
• The discipline of reviewing past performance allows
the organization to:
– Debug projects before initiation and subsequent waste of
resources
– Define critical points in processes which need to have
particular attention paid to them
– Improve the overall utilization of resources by capturing and
implementing best practice
28. 28
Analysis of Goals & Objectives
• By setting goals that relate to business
performance and conform to SMART criteria
the organization will improve productivity:
– S -- specific and well defined objectives
– M -- measurable outputs and inputs
– A -- achievable in terms of resources available
and expectations
– R -- relevant to the overall business strategy
– T -- time bound with an operational schedule
29. 29
Systemization of Processes
• The ability to design and implement
processes that allow consistency of
– Input
– Output
– Training and skill transfer
– Consistency allows for time to be gauged
accurately for activities which assists in the
scheduling aspect of capacity planning in the
organization
30. 30
Time-based Management
• Need to look at
– Is the allotted time for completion of plans realistic
for the person / team?
– In the effort to achieve results, is efficient use
made of the available time?
– For teams - how can the time available be used to
generate the optimal results?
– Is task-related time management appropriate and
realistic in the situation?
32. 32
Productive Work
Busy V’s ProductiveBusy V’s Productive
Indecision & DelayIndecision & Delay
OverworkOverwork
Urgency V ImportanceUrgency V Importance
PrioritizationPrioritization
33. 33
Busy Work
• Just because you are busy does not
mean that you are productive
• Differentiate between
– Effectiveness -- doing the right things
– Efficiency -- doing the right things correctly
34. 34
Busy v Productive Work
• Problem No 1: Procrastination
• Putting off doing the things that you should be
doing at this point!
• Solution
• List all tasks that you are currently putting off
• Remove two from the list by doing them now!
• Plan and set a schedule for dealing with the rest
• Reward when tasks are completed
• Punish when tasks are not completed on schedule
35. 35
Dealing with Indecision or Delay
• When faced with a task - decide to deal with it
according to one of the following actions:
– Do it
– Delegate it
– Dump it
– Deadline it
– Dissect it
36. 36
Busy v Productive Work
• Problem No 2: Paralyzing perfectionism
– This is a failure to recognize the difference between
excellence and perfection
• Excellence
• Achievable
• Healthy
• Satisfying
• Realistic
• Perfection
• Unattainable
• Frustrating
• Unrealistic
37. 37
Busy v Productive Work
• Problem No 3: Setting unchallenging objectives
– Objectives need to be set that challenge you in a realistic
manner and take heed of resource availability Otherwise
you are busy without any possibility of success
• Use SMARTS criteria where the objectives are:
– Specific
– Measurable
– Attainable
– Realistic
– Time-bound
– Supported by the organization
38. 38
Overwork
• Overwork can have effects that may be
classified as
– Psychological
– Physiological
• People are overloaded for two main reasons
– The person or team does too much
– The person or team have too much to do
39. 39
Overwork
• To deal with over-work, try the following
– Understand your pressures
– Don’t get worked up or panicked
– Don’t blame everything on yourself
– Walk away
– Estimate time as well as possible
– Agree priorities and keep them
– Remind yourself that there is a limited
amount of time available to you
40. 40
Urgency V Importance
• Differentiating between
– Urgent tasks
• assume importance as they demand immediate
attention
– Important tasks
• May become urgent if left undone
• Usually have a long term effect
– To judge importance v urgency, gauge tasks
in terms of
• Impact of doing them
• Effect of not doing them
42. 42
Prioritization
• The main aim of prioritization is to avoid a crisis
• To do this then you must
Schedule your Priorities
as opposed to
Prioritizing your Schedule
45. 45
Proactive v Reactive Work
• Reactive work - concentrates on getting things
done
– Handling daily routines
– Dealing with urgency
– Resolving crises
– Handling interruptions
46. 46
Proactive v Reactive Work
• Proactive work - concentrates on making
things happen
– Developing plans and schedules
– Focusing on key tasks
– Achieving deadlines & targets
– Managing projects
47. 47
Why Crises Occur
• Checklist of reasons:
– Failure to recognize the crisis
– Underestimation of time required
– No contingency plan is ready
– No follow-up on delegated tasks
48. 48
Anticipating & Preventing Crises
• The most effective way to anticipate
and prevent crises is to:
– Set deadlines and stick with them
– Use interim targets and milestones to
break the task or project into manageable
chunks
– Build the schedule so that it is realistic
50. 50
Planning
What is a Plan?What is a Plan?
Information & PlanningInformation & Planning
Time Management SystemsTime Management Systems
Goals & Time SpansGoals & Time Spans
CascadingCascading
The Daily PlanThe Daily Plan
51. 51
Planning in Time Management
Rule No 1
Failing to Plan
is Planning to Fail
52. 52
What is a Plan?
A plan is a road map set in
real time to reach an
objective or set of objectives
through the use of defined
resources
53. 53
Information & Planning
Essential information:
• You need to know what you have to plan
• Once this is established
– Break the task into manageable chunks
– Gauge the time required for each chunk
– Schedule each chunk into a logical sequence
54. 54
Time Management Systems
• There are certain key criteria that need to be
applied to a time management system:
– Functional
– Portable
– Intelligible
55. 55
Time Management Systems
Pitfalls
• Totally dis-organized ‘system’
– Nothing can be located when required
• Perfectly maintained system
– Too much time is spent keeping the
system in perfect condition as opposed to
actioning the items contained within it
56. 56
Time Management Systems
• Key components
– Appointments
– Dated deadlines
– Tasks - to do and work in progress
– Ideas and notes
– Key task identification
– Personal information
– Financial planning records
– Crises log
– Project log
– Contact list
57. 57
Goals & Time-spans
• A time management system is ineffective if defined
goals are not available to work towards
– Strategic Goals - long term goals, perhaps out to five years
– Tactical Goals - medium term goals, from 3 - 12 months
ahead
– Operational Goals - short term goals defining the exact
action to be taken The schedule may cover hours or days
58. 58
Checklist for Goals
• Checklist for Goals
– Are they realistic and challenging?
– Have they been agreed with the manager and
linked to the performance appraisal system?
– Do you know what it will look like when you have
achieved the goal (visualization)?
– Are the goals important to you?
– Is there a time bound aspect to the goals?
– Are the goals SMART?
– What will the reward be once the goals have been
achieved?
59. 59
Cascading
• Planning levels should cascade as follows:
– Yearly overview plan
– Monthly Plan
– Weekly Plan
– Daily Plan
• Note that in the cascade, the time span decreases whereas
the level of complexity increases
60. 60
The Daily Plan
• The Daily Plan should cover three main
areas:
– Scheduled activities for the day showing time
allocated to each
– Identification of key tasks for the day to allow them
to be prioritized
– Indication of who you need to contact during the
day to allow you to complete tasks
61. 61
The Daily Plan
• When setting out the daily plan pay
attention to the following points:
– When do you perform best, suit your bio-
rhythm
– Build in planning time at the start and end
of the day
– Prioritize actions into ‘musts, shoulds and
coulds and focus on the ‘musts’
62. 62
The Daily Plan
• Guidelines continued
– Leave room for unexpecteds
– Don’t stack meetings back to back
– Batch telephone calls
– Build in quality time
64. 64
Tips & Techniques
Time LogsTime Logs
Quality TimeQuality Time
Managing DocumentsManaging Documents
Managing InterruptionsManaging Interruptions
Managing WorkspaceManaging Workspace
Managing your PhoneManaging your Phone
65. 65
Time-logs
• A time-log is an effective way to see where your time
actually goes to during the working day Record the
information for about 2 weeks to get a representative
picture of time spent
• By logging activities and the time taken to complete
them, the time-log provides useful information that
can identify
• Accuracy of estimating time for tasks
• Time stealing activities
• Level of interruption
• Loading during the day
• Crises points / tasks
66. 66
Quality Time
• Quality time is where you can plan to do the
most important high priority tasks
• It allows for deep concentration through
eliminating interruptions
• It imposes a structure on work
• It allows you to move away from reactive
work to proactive work
67. 67
Dealing with Documents
• Document handling can steal a vast quantity
of time from our working day
• Improve your document handling by:
• Handling documents only once by :
– Act on what is required by the document
– File the document for reference later
– Dump the document
68. 68
Dealing with Documents
• Have a good system for handling your documents
that allows you to:
– Define what you need to keep and for how long
– Allows you to file materials easily and logically
– Facilitates access to materials
– Purge the files on a regular basis
69. 69
Managing Interruptions
• Try to reduce the number of interruptions by
applying the following techniques:
• Create a visual barrier at your workspace to reduce the
incidence of ‘drop-in’ visits
• Don’t have extra chairs in your workspace - people do
not hang around as long if they must stand
• For important work - move to another space so the
potential interruptors can’t find you!
• Tell people that you are busy, explain why and arrange
to contact them at a more suitable time
70. 70
Managing Your Workspace
• How our workspace is organized has an impact
on how efficient we are - try the following to
improve efficiency
– De-clutter your desk by clearing it at the end of each
working day
– File documents once they have been used
– Purge files regularly
– Organize a work flow system in your space
71. 71
Managing Your Phone
• The telephone can be responsible for eating vast quantities
of time - control the phone by using:
– Batch your outward calls
– Delegate calls that you don’t have to make personally to one of your
team
– Terminate calls once the business has been done
– Set up a rota in your team for handling incoming calls
73. 73
Summary
• Have a great planning system and use it
• Take on realistic goals an schedule accurately
• Do not over-commit
• Set and agree priorities to distinguish between urgent and
important tasks
• Build in some flexibility to cope with anything unexpected
• Control your documents, workspace and phone
74. 74
Summary
• Don’t procrastinate – Manage Your Time Today
• Define and use periods of quality time in your
schedule
• Learn to say No in a professional manner
• Stay away from perfectionism and aim for excellence
• Build in time for personal development