Time Management

By
Suman Biswas, WBCS(Exe)
 Time Management
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
 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
 Benefits of Time Management
• To save time
• To reduce stress
• To function effectively
• To increase our work out put
• To have more control over our job responsibilities
• Help you prioritize
• Get more done in less time
• More quality work
• Helps to discipline ourselves.
• Making sure you deliver what is promised.
• Manage Ranks and Posts
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 people.
– Increased profitability through better
use of the human and non-human
resources
Time Management & The Organization
–Improved planning and control of office
systems through time based management

–Better alignment of activities by incorporating

a time bound system for coordination of tasks
and projects in the office.

–Reduction of stress that arises due to crisis

management by reducing the incidence of
crises by better planning
Create a Daily Plan
Peg a Time limit to each Task
Use a Calendar
Use an Organizer
Know your Deadlines
Learn to say no.
Set reminder 15 minutes
before
Have a clock before you
Focus
Block your Distractions
Track your time spent
Don’t fuss about
unimportant details
Prioritize
Delegate
Batch similar tasks together
Estimate your time wasters
Leave Buffer time in
between
 Introduction
What is Time Management?
Time as a Commodity
Essential Habits
Types of Time
Over & Under Estimation of Time
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
 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
 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!
 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
Over- & Under-estimating Time
• Time for tasks or activities can be over-
or under-estimated due to

–Intensity of activity
–Level of brain function
–Fear or ecstasy
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
Time Management Principles
Time Management Principles

Spent Time Matrix

Quadrant

Time-Based Management
 Time Management
• Covey identified 4 waves in time management
– 1 Notes and Checklists
– Recognition of the demands on energy & time
( GTD System – Getting Things Done) Human Brain innovative, Not
storing data. Who take note – 20% more success.
GTD- 1. Collection 2. Processing 3. Organize 4. Reviewed 5. Do it
– 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!
 Spent Time Matrix
URGENT Not Urgent
Q2
Important
Prevention
Q1
Relationship Building
Crises Deadlines
Planning
Recreation

Not Q3
Q4
Important
Interaction Pleasant Activities
Popular Activities Busy Work
Some Meetings Time wasters
 Quadrant 1
• Being in Quadrant 1 brings
– Stress
– Burnout
– Crises management
– Firefighting
– Focus on the immediate
 Quadrant 3
• Being in Quadrant 3 brings
– Short term focus
– Crises management
– Low value on goals
– Feeling of victimization /
lack of control
– Shallow relationships
 Quadrants 3 & 4
• Cycling between Quadrants 3 & 4 brings:

–Total irresponsibility

–High dependency on others for basics

–Short career path in the organization

 Quadrant 2
• Being in Quadrant 2 brings:

– Vision
– Perspective
– Balance
– Discipline
– Control
Characteristics of a Quadrant 2 Person
• There are six basic criteria to allow a
person to function in Quadrant 2:

–Coherence (সঙ্গতি)
–Balance
–Focus
–An ability to get on with people
–Flexibility
–Portability
 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
 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
Time-Based Management
• Fundamentals:

–Focus is on time and resources

–Pre-analysis of performance
–Analysis of goals and objectives
–Systemization of processes
Analysis of Goals & Objectives
• By setting goals that relate to organization
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
 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
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?
 Productive Work
Busy V/s Productive
Indecision & Delay
Overwork
Urgency V/s Importance
Prioritization
 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
 Busy v Productive Work
• Problem No 1: Procrastination ( দীর্সূ ঘ ত্রিিা)
• 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! (80/20)
• Plan and set a schedule for dealing with the rest
• Reward when tasks are completed (Reward Circuitry)
• Punish when tasks are not completed on schedule
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
– Deadline it
– Dissect it
 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
 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
 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
 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
–Estimate time as well as possible
–Agree priorities and keep them
–Remind yourself that there is a limited
amount of time available to you
 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
What is priority?
• Will power is maximum at morning or starting
of the day.
• Major task will be completed early.
• Small job to be taken up later. If you take
small task early, it will demotivate you to set
a long term goal.
• After completion of major work brain secrets
Endorphin, which increase positive
motivation.
• So, Eat the frog at early. It will reduce
tension.
80/20 rule – Pareto Principal
• Vlifredo Pareto – Italian economist
developed this theory.
• 20% of our works provide 80%
Success.
• Make simple priority technique
with A, B, C, D……
• Select 20% of important works
(Important + Consequent to be
faced)
• Eat the frog 1st
 Prioritization Grid

1 2

4
3
 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
Planning
 Planning
What is a Plan?
Information & Planning
Time Management Systems
Goals & Time Spans
Cascading
The Daily Plans
Planning in Time Management
Rule No 1

Failing to Plan is
Planning to Fail
 Who is the person?

What will you do with Rs-86400/- in one day.

(That amount must be spent by this day only)

“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot
get more time.”– Jim Rohn
 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
 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
 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
 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
 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 one years
– Tactical Goals - medium term goals, from 1 -
3 months ahead
– Operational Goals - short term goals defining
the exact action to be taken The schedule
may cover hours or days
 Checklist for Goals
• Checklist for Goals

– Are they realistic and challenging?

– Have they been agreed with the officers 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? (Reward Circuitry) – Dopamine.
 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
The Daily Plan
 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 (Eat frog)
– Indication of who you need to contact
during the day to allow you to complete
tasks
 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’
(80/20)
 The Daily Plan
• Guidelines continued

–Don’t stack meetings back to back

–Batch telephone calls
–Build in quality time
 7 Steps to More Effective Time Management

Step 1 – Write A To Do List (Think on Paper)

- 80/20 rule, Eat frog
Step 2 – Remove Yourself From Distraction
Step 3 – Take Breaks When Working
Step 4 – Break Big Tasks Up Into Smaller Chunks
Step 5 – Find Your Most Productive Times
(Bio-rhythm or Biological clock)
Step 6 – Become More Efficient
Day 7 – Accept Your Limitations
 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
 Summary
• Don’t procrastinate – Manage Your
Time Today (GTD)
• 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