Time Management

There are two aspects of time management that we will discuss in this post.  The first aspect is what a manager should spend time on, and the second aspect is a discussion of strategies to maximize how much work can be completed.  There are many sites on the internet that give tips on time management.  Virtually all of them deal with ways to be efficient in the use of time.  As a manager, it is first essential to know what is most important to work on, and secondarily to be efficient. 

Importance & Urgency
By far the best presentation I have found on where a manager should spend their time is by Stephen R. Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  His concept of  determining the urgency and importance of tasks in deciding where a person should spend their time is even more critical for a manager.

Start with the simple premise that all tasks have some level of importance and urgency.  That means that all tasks can be put into one of the following buckets:

1. Tasks of High Importance and High Urgency.
2. Tasks of Low Importance and High Urgency.
3. Tasks of High Importance and Low Urgency.
4. Tasks of Low Importance and Low Urgency.

Let's now look at the types of fall into each of these buckets and how a manager should treat them.

Tasks of High importance and High Urgency - These are tasks that must be done.  There is no debate when a task is both urgent and important - do it now.  A manager can not usually control these tasks, they control the manager.  Whatever time is needed to resolve an important and urgent task will be consumed.  The only thing a manager can do is to prevent a recurrence of the task in the future, or to deal with it sooner, before it becomes urgent.  Here are some examples of important and urgent tasks:

1. Health emergency (heart attack, office or industrial accident, etc.)
2. Urgent request from a customer
3. Critical machine breakdown
4. Specific direction from a supervisor
5. Any number of actual business or personal crises

Tasks of Low Importance and High Urgency - These are tasks that may not even need to be done, but if they are going to be done, they must be done right now.  Typically a manager has some choices when faced with a low importance and high urgency task.  The manager can choose to do the task, or they can choose to ignore the task.  They may decide to do the task later, or delegate it to someone else who would also then have the same choices.  The key concept to understand is that the manager has control over these tasks.  Examples of  urgent, but not important tasks are:

1. Interruptions by colleagues
2. Most incoming telephone calls

Tasks of High Importance and Low Urgency - These are tasks that are important to the business, but don't usually have a specific deadline.  These are tasks where the manager has control and choices.  Most managers will agree that they should perform all important work and give this work a significant portion of their time.  The problem is that these tasks are not urgent and can be put off.  As we stated earlier, the urgent and important work definitely gets done because there really isn't a choice.  The more time a manager can spend on tasks in the High Importance/Low Urgency bucket, the more successful they will be and the more prepared they will be for promotion to the next level.  There are many examples of tasks that sit in this bucket:

1. Crisis and problem prevention
2. Planning
3. Long term projects
4. Developing strategy
5. Resource planning
6. Infrastructure building
7. Determining and communication priorities
8. Building relationships with
1. Customers and potential customers
2. Peers inside and outside company
3. Subordinates
9. Training employees
10. Recognizing and rewarding good performance
11. Providing valuable feedback to employees
12. Learning a new skill

Tasks of Low Importance and Low Urgency - These are tasks that really don't need to be done at all.  These are tasks that fill up the day and get in the way of spending more time on important/non urgent tasks.  Unfortunately these tasks are frequently fun, or easy to accomplish, so they are very attractive time wasters.  Some examples of unimportant/not urgent tasks are:

1. Any time wasters
2. Busy work
3. Organizing file drawers
4. Rethinking already made decisions
5. Reading superfluous emails

It is up to the manager to determine what is important.  The better they are at determining what is really important, and then being disciplined in spending as much time as possible on those tasks, the more successful they will be.

Now it is time to discuss how to be efficient in the use of time.

Time Management Strategies and Tips

1. Create a "To Do" list and update it daily - There should be only one task list.  If a task comes in by email, phone, verbally from superior, at meetings, etc. the task should go on the list.
2. Prioritize all tasks by relative importance and urgency - Put the important tasks at the top and less important tasks at the bottom of the list.
3. Plan for a longer time period, at least a week - The important/not urgent tasks will get lost if the plan is for only one day.  Put a placeholder in the week's plan for non urgent but important tasks.
4. Plan the day - every day 
5. Review how well the plan was executed
1. Hour by hour, by putting a "Planned" and "Actual" column into the daily plan by hour
2. At the end of the day
6. Schedule tasks, especially unanticipated tasks that crop up during the day - It is tempting to accomplish the task that just showed up so you won't have to put it on the To Do list and schedule it, but it only takes a few of those 5-15 minute tasks to blow the day's plan.
7. Don't be a slave to email - This doesn't mean to not read them.  Schedule a time, or several time segments during the day to read and deal with emails.  Don't allow the arrival of an email to be like the ringing of the phone that must be answered immediately.  A manager should train their staff to know that if something is truly urgent, an email is not the right way to communicate the task or event.
8. Don't be a slave to the phone - It is OK to answer a ringing phone, but quickly determine what is needed and schedule a time to return the call.  Any task received by phone is still a task to be scheduled in its relative priority.  It is particularly rude to stop a scheduled conversation with someone to start a conversation with a person who has called on the phone.  It is OK to answer the phone to stop the ringing and tell the person on the other end that you are busy and will return the call as quickly as you can.
9. Delegate all appropriate tasks
10. Manage interruptions
1. Office drop ins - Find out what is needed and schedule it.
2. Telephone call requests - Put them into the To Do list and schedule them
3. Email requests - Put them into the To Do list and schedule them
11. Find ways to perform mechanical tasks  in parallel instead of in sequence - This only applies to mechanical activities that don't require much thinking.  This is not recommended for tasks that require the manager to be mentally present.  For instance, a manager should not read emails during conference calls, no one should text on the phone while driving, or go to meetings and work on other tasks. 
12. Separate large jobs into several small jobs - use the small tasks as filler items when there is a small time gap in the daily plan.
13. Bonus Tip - Spend more time with those who help you achieve your goals and less time with those who slow you down.