Time Management

Improve Your Time Management

Effectively managing your time is the best way to lead a life of productivity with a smattering of stress free living.  The hardest thing for many clients here is to communicate that they cannot fit something in when they are busy. It’s hard to do but it can be done. Also many successful project managers respect that each person on their team works on a different timeline. It’s not easy to say that you don’t have time for additional responsibilities right now-but in order to effectively manage your time it is what needs to be done.People will respect that, and when the time is right following up on the additional duties might behoove you. Above all, an effective project manager must be able to manage your time well.

Always look at the plan you created for the day, week or month. Everyone should know what they are doing to keep you the manager from having to spend extra time and attention to details that could have been taken care of in the beginning.  This process  cuts down considerably on time. Next, always remember the 80/20 rule! This is the principle that you have to abide by, it means that working at least 20% of the time will  produce at least 80% of the benefit. Focus on the activities that are available here and then produce. It will help you to identify and get what needs to happen, happening. Meetings can be a mess if time is not appropriately considered. While status updates form team members is important, it’s also important to remember that the meetings themselves should be moving swiftly. Clearly create a plan, and implement an agenda so that the team can stick to it. . If you can’t do that then the meeting will carry over longer then it should. Also do not micromanage or do the work yourself-it ends up causing you issues.

Always know what needs to be done by tasking it out or creating a to-do list. This list will help you when you get distracted by other things. It’s the plan that you need to stick too in order to keep yourself in the A game! The most basic skill any project manager should know about and try to keep in mind is time management. Without it you may be a poor excuse for a time management manager. It’s time to learn the process and get it moving in the right direction. When your day has ended, consider what you have accomplished. each day what you did to make that project move in the right direction and plan the next step accordingly.