Principles of Time Management

Principles of Time Management

Despite the huge number of books that proliferate on this subject, the principles of Time Management are very simple and may be summarised in just a few points. However, the key to Time Management is not simply knowing the principles, but being able to apply them. Many Time Management experts are of the opinion that it cannot be taught at all – the best you can do is refine an already existing predisposition. If you are not convinced by the experts, and you are determined to acquire these skills, you need the develop:

· A commitment to organisation

· Strict adherence to the basic principles

· The willingness to adapt and learn.

The Bank Balance Principle

Everybody knows that when your bank account is empty, you go overdrawn. Money is a finite resource. However, most people do not think about time in this way. When applied to a project you need to ascertain what time is available and allot its use in advance. – develop a feeling for a 'time budget' as well as a financial one.

Tools

There are many tools for keeping within your time budget.

·A Diary: get into the habit of keeping a diary. Don’t just buy one, use it! Look at it at the beginning of every day. Add any appointments you make and delete ones that are cancelled. At the end of each year, transfer your information to a new diary, remembering to set events from the previous year as anniversaries – it can be very impressive if you remember dates that are important to clients.

·Outlook: this is the Microsoft Windows© electronic calendar. There are a number of online versions of this and they all work in roughly the same way. The advantage over a paper diary is that they can be set to beep at you to remind you of an event. They are also almost never-ending with diary dates well into the middle of the century! The disadvantage is that it is not portable. However . . .

· PDA. Blackberry is the most prominent name in the PDA field but there are many other versions and manufacturers including ones that incorporate a phone as well. They have all the advantages of Outlook as well as being highly portable. Just don’t allow it to get stolen as you will lose all your data unless you download it every night onto your computer.

· Microsoft Excel©: not strictly a timekeeping tool but invaluable in designing timelines for a project. You can use the spreadsheet to create blocks of calendar dates to record what should be happening at any given date or time. Coupled with Outlook to remind you of key events, this is a very powerful tool and cheap, considering it is already on your desktop. I have managed £3m budgets in this way and also run events such as a royal visit.

· Microsoft Project Manager© - one of a range of specialist software packages designed to help you keep track of time and money. It requires you to enter parameters such as the length of each element of the project and the total length of time allotted to the project – both key elements of Time Management.

Back to Basics

When managing your time:

· Think of the total length of time you have for a project. This may be an hour, a day, a year. Remember a project can be as simple as redecorating a room or as complex as running a multi media event.

·Now make a list of all the things that you need to achieve in that time scale. It sometimes helps to do this on small cards or on an Excel spreadsheet.

·Then rank them in order of importance.

·Next assign each task an amount of time. This is where people often come unstuck. Think about this realistically. Build in some contingency – it is much better to have a piece of time left at the end than run out of time.

·Create yourself a time line – either on Excel or simply on a piece of paper. Slot each job in and add up the time as you go.

You may think that this process is time consuming in itself, but don’t be fooled.

· The time you spend in getting organised now, will make up for itself three times over.

· No matter how short the timescale, you will be less likely to meet the deadline if you are doing it all in your head than if it is all recorded, so that you can refer to it.

·You can use it to motivate yourself - ticking off tasks as they are achieved makes you feel good!

·The timeline is essential so that others can see what is expected, in the event that you have to hand over some responsibility due to other work or personal commitments.

·It is also an extremely useful exercise to undertake when tendering for work.

If you have gone over your time budget – i.e. you have more jobs than you have time to fulfil them, consider the following:

· Delegate jobs to other people where appropriate – it is sometimes not reasonable to be expected to do everything yourself.

· See if there are any jobs that can be held over to the next time period.

· Assess if there are any jobs that can be simplified or amalgamated – try not to do the same job twice. Recording, saving and filing work often means you can go back to it easily, reuse it and save yourself time.

· Take a really strong look at what you do. Are you being efficient? Are the things you need most often close at hand? Does everything you need for the job work and work consistency?

· Remember that it is often worth setting contingency time aside to deal with unforeseen issues and to tackle issues like repairs or unexpected meetings, or slow responses from business associates.

Time Management relies not just on your being organised, but also in everyone else buying into the timeline:

· Make sure at the beginning of a project that everyone is agreed on the timescale – after all, you would not take on a job without agreeing the fee! Get it in writing if necessary

· Set regular times to all meet (face-to-face or virtually) and agree that timelines are working

· Deal with slippages promptly.

What to do if the timeline slips

With the best will in the world, you may encounter unexpected disturbances to your Time Management strategy.

· You or other key members of the project may get ill

· Unexpected macro factors like strikes or petrol shortages may get in the way.

· You may encounter delays in payment.

A good contingency plan will help you manage this, however, one of the key skills is flexibility. The timeline has not been constructed for you to be a slave to it – it is there to tell you what time is available and how best to use it. If the timescales shift, you need to stop, re-evaluate and decide how best to use your time resource to meet the need of the project.

In the worst case you may need to re-negotiate the timescale with the commissioner or funder of the project. This means that effectively you have lost control of the timeline. She/he will expect a detailed reason for the problem, and is unlikely to accept limp excuses.

Remember, time is money and in many cases, extending the timescale will increase the cost, and sometimes there is simply not enough funding to cover the short fall. Many contracts include a time/penalty clause, which means that the shortfall may be taken from your salary. This is another good reason for creating a realistic timeline that you can stick to in the first place.

If, having read the above you believe the process to be too onerous; you are not organised enough or that keen on paperwork, then Time Management may be a skill that forever remains a mystery to you. However, no business can thrive without good management – time or otherwise – and the skills inherent in Time Management are transferable. They can be used for managing budgets, people and projects – all essential elements in the workplace. If you have not acquired these skills by now, commit yourself to doing so in the near future and pave your way to a more successful business.

Tania M C Lewis

Business Advisor

Sterling Design Services Ltd

2nd March 2007