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Time Management Handout

The document discusses time management challenges, highlighting common signs of time wasting and the importance of prioritizing tasks using methods like the 80/20 rule and a four-quadrant to-do list. It emphasizes strategies for effective scheduling, reducing interruptions, and the significance of delegation and clear communication in meetings. Additionally, it offers general advice for maintaining productivity and includes recommended readings for further improvement.

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3 views

Time Management Handout

The document discusses time management challenges, highlighting common signs of time wasting and the importance of prioritizing tasks using methods like the 80/20 rule and a four-quadrant to-do list. It emphasizes strategies for effective scheduling, reducing interruptions, and the significance of delegation and clear communication in meetings. Additionally, it offers general advice for maintaining productivity and includes recommended readings for further improvement.

Uploaded by

dps
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Time Management

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The Problem is Severe

By some estimates, people waste about 2 hours per day. Signs of


time wasting:
• Messy desk and cluttered (or no) files
• Can’t find things
• Miss appointments, need to reschedule them. Being
late and/or unprepared for meetings
• Volunteer to do things other people should do
• Tired/unable to concentrate

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The 80/20 Rule

• Critical few and the trivial many

• Having the courage of your conviction

• Good judgment comes from experience

• Experiences comes from bad judgment

3
TO Do Lists

• Break things down into small steps

• Do the ugliest thing first

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Stephen Covey Habit 3 – Put First things First

• Organize and execute around priorities.


• This habit is all about life management as well your purpose, rule, values
and your priorities. What are “first things?”
• First things are those you find personally, find of most worth.
The four-quadrant TO DO List

Due Soon Not Due Soon

Important 1 2
Not
Important 3 4
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The Management Matrix:
Paperwork

• Clutter is death; it leads to thrashing. Keep desk clear: focus on one


thing at a time
• A good file system is essential
• Touch each piece of paper once
• Touch each piece of email once; your inbox is not your TODO list

9
Telephone

• Keep calls short;

• Start by announcing goals for the call

• Have something in view that you’re waiting to get


to next

10
Scheduling Yourself

• You don’t find time for important things, you make it

• Everything you do is an opportunity cost

• Learn to say “No”

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Interruptions

• 6-9 minutes, 4-5 minute recovery – five


interruptions shoots an hour

• You must reduce frequency and length of


interruptions (turn phone calls into email)

• Blurting: save-ups

• E-mail noise on new mail is an


interruption -> TURN IT OFF!!

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Cutting Things Short

• “I’m in the middle of something now…”

• Start with “I only have 5 minutes” – you can


always extend this

• Stand up, stroll to the door, complement, thank,


shake hands

• Clock-watching; on wall behind them

13
Procrastination

“Procrastination is the
thief of time”
Edward Young
Night Thoughts, 1742

14
Balancing Act

“Work expands so as to fill the time


available for its completion”
Parkinson’s Law
Cyril Parkinson, 1957

15
Avoiding Procrastination

• Doing things at the last minute is much more expensive than just
before the last minute

• Deadlines are really important: establish them yourself!

16
Student Syndrome

Student syndrome refers to planned procrastination,


when, for example, a student will only start to apply
themselves to an assignment at the last possible
moment before its deadline. This eliminates any potential
safety margins and puts the person under stress and
pressure.

17
Delegation

• No one is an island

• You can accomplish a lot more with help

• Most delegation in your life is from faculty to graduate student

18
Challenge People through delegation

• People rise to the challenge: You should delegate


“until they complain”

• Communication Must Be Clear: “Get it in writing”


– Judge Wapner

• Give objectives, not procedures

• Tell the relative importance of this task

19
Meetings

• Average executive: > 40% of time


• Lock the door, unplug the phone
• Maximum of 1 hour
• Prepare: there must be an agenda
• 1 minute minutes: an efficient way to keep track of decisions
made in a meeting: who is responsible for what by when?

20
Randy’s Magic E-Mail Tips

• If you want somebody to do something, make them the


only recipient. Otherwise, you have diffusion of
responsibility. Give a concrete request/task and a
deadline.
• If you really want somebody to do something, CC
someone powerful.
• Nagging is okay; if someone doesn’t respond in 48
hours, they’ll probably never respond. (True for phone
as well as email).

21
Care and Feeding of Advisors
Time Management Advice
•Get a day timer or PDA
•Write things down
•When’s our next meeting?
•What’s my goal to have done by then?
•Who to turn to for help?

22
General Advice: Vacations

• Phone callers should get two options:


• If this can’t wait, contact John Smith at 555-1212
• Otherwise please call back June 1

• This works for Email too!

• Vacations should be vacations.


• It’s not a vacation if you’re reading email
• Story of my honeymoon…

23
General Advice

• Never break a promise, but re-negotiate them if


need be.

• If you haven’t got time to do it right, you don’t


have time to do it wrong.

• Recognize that most things are pass/fail.

24
Recommended Readings

• The One Minute Manager,


Kenneth Blanchard and
Spencer Johnson, Berkeley
Books, 1981, ISBN 0-425-
09847-8

• The Seven Habits of Highly


Effective People, Stephen
Covey, Simon & Schuster,
1989, ISBN 0-671-70863-5

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