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The Time Imperative: Efficiency vs. Effectiveness. Time Management for Project Management de Vries - 2012. Tyranny of the Urgant. Some things you can’t control Inability to say: No, Enough, It can wait Productively being Busy?. It is Later Than Y ou T hink. What about relativity?
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The Time Imperative:Efficiency vs. Effectiveness Time Management for Project Management de Vries - 2012
Tyranny of the Urgant • Some things you can’t control • Inability to say: • No, Enough, It can wait • Productively being Busy?
It is Later Than You Think • What about relativity? • Perhaps Albert Einstein explains it best: • When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute • But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute, then it’s longer than any hour
Time Management • Skills, tools, and techniques utilized to accomplish specific tasks, projects and goals
How We Use Time Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present
Time Can Be … • Spent • Used • Wasted • Killed • Saved • Passed
How Do You Use Time? • One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time — Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936) British journalist, novelist, and poet • With things • Fast is fast and slow is slow • With people • Slow is fast, and conversely, fast is slow • It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste- Henry Ford (1863 – 1947)
Time Bandits • Drugs • Idleness • Busy-ness
Time After Time • It is vital that we establish meaningful traditions • It not only helps develop a familiar pattern but also establishes expectations
Time Is Money • Money can be earned back, • however time once gone is gone • We invest time when we take time now to save time later • Can 1 hour of planning can prevent 24 hours of work?
Efficiency and Effectiveness • What’s the difference? • Which is more important? Efficient: you have managed your time well, but we don't know if you have achieved your purpose. Effective: you have achieved your purpose, but we don't know how you have managed your time.
Be Present I look to the future, and learn from the past, but I live in the present
Present-Moment Living • Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed -Wayne Dyer
Are You Present? • When texting • SecondLife • Surfing Web • Facebook/MySpace • When you are not present or late, it says your time is more valuable than others • It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.
Quantity AND Quality The number of years in one’s life AND the amount of life in one’s years
Time is the scarcest resource available • Everyone gets the same amount each and every day • Why is it so scarce? • We must use time as a tool, not a couch • Time cannot be controlled, it is what it is • Time stays long enough for those who use it- Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
Time Management: An Illusion • The theory of time management sounds good – giving the promise of achievement and a sense of hope – but it doesn’t deliver • There is no agreed upon and definitive methodology of time management; • however, in a broad sense it implies both planning and execution
Contemporary Approach toTime Management Step by Step
Begin With the End In Mind • This is the most basic, fundamental, and essential rule • Always keep this in mind: What is the objective? • How do you effectively answer that question?
Goals The Framework for Motivation
Get the Big Picture • Identify a few broad categories (i.e., career, family, health, finance, education, etc.) and make columns for each • Next steps vs Projects • Keep the next step in mind and you will keep moving • Less than 2 minutes? Just knock it out!
Beware of Incompatible Goals • For example, wanting to be a salmon fisher and living in Florida • Walt Disney turned down great ideas because they didn’t fit in with his goals. He was even willing to fund them, but for a different company
Tips for Goal Setting • Know Your Values • Forethought is a great time saver - it gives a framework to decide what is a primary value and what is not • If you have no ground, how do you know how to stand? • Keep It Simple
Activities Act or Be Acted Upon
Take Action • The only way to turn goals or imagination into reality • First, brainstorm; create a list of all possible goals and activities that might help reach those goals • For developing yourself , you might decide to read a good book , or pay attention in class • Next, prioritize • Seek feedback from a significant other or good friend who cares and can remain objective; this helps you be realistic about which activities will work
Task Lists • Often tiered • Good, better, best
Prioritizing Techniques & Methodologies • The Eisenhower Method • What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important • ABC Analysis • A – Tasks that are perceived as being urgent and important, • B – Tasks that are important but not urgent, • C – Tasks that are neither urgent nor important. • Pareto Analysis (80-20 rule)
Prioritizing Techniques & Methodologies • POSEC Method • Prioritize by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing and Contributing • Prioritize - Your time and define your life by goals. • Organizing - Things you have to accomplish regularly to be successful. (Family and Finances) • Streamlining - Things you may not like to do, but must do. (Work and Chores) • Economizing - Things you should do or may even like to do, but they're not pressingly urgent. (Pastimes and Socializing) • Contributing - By paying attention to the few remaining things that make a difference. (Social Obligations).
Delegation • Delegation is a valuable investment of time • When we delegate, we teach someone to perform tasks we usually perform • While the training process takes time now, the investment pays off later; freeing up time to perform higher-payoff activities • The goal is to look for ways to save and invest time
Closed Lists • A completely different approach which argues against prioritizing altogether was put forward by Mark Forster • Based on the idea of operating closed to-do lists, instead of the traditional open to-do list, he argues that the traditional never-ending to-do list guarantees that some of your work will be left undone • This advocates getting all your work done, every day
Recommended Method Use a hybrid of these methods using one that you are comfortable with, while leaning more toward the closed to-do list approach
Calendaring Use a calendar
Calendars • A calendar can stimulate vision, aid long-term planning, and help measure personal planning success • Use a calendar to schedule your time and know your schedule
Scheduling Schedule Your Values
What We Do & What We Want • Often our highest priorities are not reflected in our actual daily activities • In 1990, the Barna Research Group found that most consider close friendships their top priority - yet little time was consistently given to relationship-building activities • Matching our activities with our values is not easy! • Yet, to develop a balanced life, this connection is crucial
Planning & Preparation • Before I end each everything, I plan my next anything • Anticipation • It is better to prepare and prevent than to repair and repent
Planning Suggestions • Place in your schedule only the events that actually match the goals on your goal sheets • Plan to plan! • Each week, schedule fifteen to thirty minutes to plan for the following week • It has been said that every hour in effective planning saves three to four hours in execution and results • Review your schedule daily • Place your daily goals at the top of your schedule for quick review
Planning Suggestions • Schedule open time for flexibility, correspondence, and crisis management • A study determined that worker’s productivity declined proportionately as the number of work hours increased past 50 • Evaluate your schedule weekly; begin keeping a journal of how time is actually spent • Druckerpoints out that astute managers constantly assess where their time is going for increased productivity
Manage a Task List • A list of tasks to be completed, such as chores or steps toward completing a project • It is an inventory tool which serves as an alternative or supplement to memory • When you accomplish one of the items on a task, check or cross it off
Write It Down • It has been said that the palest ink is better than the best memory • Some may need to write down EVERYTHING! • Keeping a task “journal,” so to speak, will really be beneficial when it comes to performance evaluations, making a resume, etc. • Skills list in excel
Tips for Effectiveness Develop Patterns and Habits; Competencies and Character
Tips for Staying Effective • Goals, schedules, and to-do lists are helpful • but only if we actually USE them • Task lists should be short (3 items or less) and renewed daily with a what-am-I-going-to-getdone-today approach • We are all different • Discover relationships that refresh you (as opposed to those who drain you)
Tips for Staying Effective • It is most productive if you are able to utilize your time twice • e.g., having a journal with you while riding the bus, or listening to CD’s while driving • Ask yourself regularly • Am I making the most of my time right now?
Be Careful of Multi-Tasking • I’ve always felt that multi-tasking only allows you to do twice as much half as well • Forget multi-tasking. It doesn’t increase efficiency at all and taxes the brain cells in the frontal cortex, which has a terrible impact on performance — Efficiency expert Julie Morgenstern in O magazine • Finish a project before picking up the next (even lunch). Cuts down on start over time
Tips for Staying Effective • Keep contact phone numbers on the to-do list (saves you from repeatedly looking them up) • Handle things only once • e.g., if you receive an email message, decide now if you want to respond or delete it • If it doesn't require immediate action but can't be discarded, put it away for later attention • Don't put off challenging tasks just because they feel overwhelming • Do-it-now workers always rank highest in efficiency
Barriers to Scheduling Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week
Procrastination • About 30% of listersspend more time managing their lists than completing them • Procrastination is akin to analysis paralysis. As with any activity, there's a point of diminishing returns • The best way to attack procrastination is the Swiss Cheese Method: • Focus on one issue at a time by breaking major projects into smaller steps that can be handled in shorter time slots • You may not have five hours to work on a paper but in 20 minutes you can outline a section • Set up rewards for the completion of each task
Interruptions • If you find yourself frequently interrupted, you may need to leave • On average we are interrupted once every seven minutes • Generally less than five minutes including the time it takes to get refocused • This adds up: 68 disruptions = 340 minutes = 5.6 hours/day = 28 hours/week
Stress • 75% of all worries never actually happen, yet stressing over what-ifs can waste many hours • I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened — Mark Twain • Stress can be managed; allow flex time in your schedule to deal with demanding issues