Overview: What is Time Management?
Time management is the process of planning out activities and tasks that you want to complete within a defined time frame. You can apply time management techniques to any group activities where planning can boost productivity. These strategies can be applied to academics, your personal life, or work tasks. Given the broad nature of time management, this blog will focus on personal time management, using a Kanban board as the primary tool.
Tools for Time Management
To manage your time effectively, select a few tools to organize tasks and deadlines. Choose tools that you will reference frequently and that won’t add too much administrative work. Time management tools that create extra administrative work are counterproductive.
Time management tools help us keep track of tasks, our progression, and prioritize what tasks still need to be completed.
Here are a few suggestions for time management tools:
- Kanban Boards: With Kanban boards, you may also want to look into adopting a framework for organization such as Agile or one of the Agile variants
- Notebook Planners
- Calendars
- To Do Apps / Reminder Apps
Kanban boards can be either physical or digital. A physical Kanban board could utilize a whiteboard or corkboard with sticky notes for tasks. There are also plenty of options out there for digital Kanban boards. Some people may prefer a physical Kanban board because being able to see and interact with the board may help with accountability.
It doesn’t matter if your Kanban board is physical or digital. To get started, you may want to use a simple three column system: Todo, Doing, and Done.
Creating Tasks
Once a time management tool has been selected, the next step is to create and evaluate tasks. Tasks should follow a template or structure that is appropriate to the tasks in question. For example, a task that is associated with a longer term project will require a more rigorous structure than chores.
A good task template should contain the following:
1. Description and/or Context for the Task: Creating a description that provides the task context helps mitigate the amount of things you have to remember.
2. Definition of Done and/or Acceptance Criteria: If a task does not have concrete, quantifiable metrics for completion, the task’s completeness becomes subjective. This may lead to scope creep or premature closure. It is not possible to reliably measure subjective tasks for planning purposes.
3. Deadlines: If a task is not time-bound, it may be deprioritized as other more urgent tasks take precedence.
In addition to the above, it is usually a good idea to try and keep your tasks as relevant as possible to a planning timeframe. With personal management, this could mean something such as a “weekly” list of tasks for the Kanban board, with anything that doesn’t have to be done in the current week relegated to a backlog list of tasks to be completed later.
Evaluating Tasks
Once you create tasks, evaluate the effort and time required to complete each one. This evaluation helps you determine how many tasks you could reasonably complete within your timeframes (such as in a sprint) and provides valuable insights for future planning as you better understand your capacity.
There are many ways to go about estimating your tasks, but generally speaking it is a good idea to try and pick something quantifiable and measurable such as hours estimated, days estimated, or “points.”
A good approach is to take something such as T-shirt sizing, as used in Agile, in conjunction with a fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, …). From this, you would determine the simplest task, labeling it as 1, and then “sizing” other tasks in relation to your first estimation. For example, a task like frying an egg could be considered 1 point, while an omelet may be considered 2 or 3 due to the added complexity of needing to whisk eggs. The fibonacci sequence is used to add an additional margin of safety to tasks, as naturally the more complex a task becomes, the more difficult it is to estimate the effort required. It also provides a buffer in the case of optimistic planning.
In the case of personal time management, if you would benefit from a more quantifiable metric, I would suggest fibonacci sequences with the numbers in the sequence representing days of effort expected.
If you find that a task is too hard to estimate, consider creating a task to “investigate” and break down a complex task into smaller tasks with an investigative spike task. Similarly, if you find yourself with tasks that have a high difficulty value (e.g. more than 8 points), this indicates that a task should be broken down further into smaller, more achievable tasks.
Planning a Sprint (or Week)
A sprint is an arbitrary period of time that helps define the scope of tasks to keep tasks relevant and time-bound. Typically, a sprint lasts for one or two weeks. However, the exact cadence length does not matter outside of providing a structure to follow.
When planning a sprint, it is important to take some time and review the previous sprint (if there was a sprint) to learn from the execution of the sprint. Assuming there are quantifiable metrics, this should help you figure out things like the actual capacity you can reasonably take on in a sprint. Were a lot of tasks left uncompleted at the end of the last sprint? Or did you have time left over? Reviewing what is working and not working and tweaking according to your circumstances will lead to more efficient and effective time management as you gain insight.
When you do not have previous sprints to reference, it is a good idea to underestimate capacity rather than overestimate how many tasks can be completed. Uncompleted tasks are not great for morale. If you find a sprint is lighter on effort, then you can always bring in additional tasks as the circumstance calls for it or in the case of personal task management, use the additional time as a breather.
It is also a good idea to keep in mind that capacities can change during a sprint based on unexpected circumstances like sickness. If you find that you have many tasks that pop up outside of planning, you may need to block out “reserve capacity” as appropriate or figure out a way to mitigate these types of events as you cannot effectively plan if your plans are constantly disrupted.
Tips on Task Execution
When it comes to actually executing tasks, here are some ways to increase your chances for success.
1. Create a distraction-free work environment for task completion: Separating your physical work environment from your personal life is a great idea if you find yourself frequently distracted by social media or other distractions.You can achieve similar effects through the use of separate operating system accounts for Windows or Mac, and by creating separate browser profiles for Chrome.
2. Consider trying out the Pomodoro method, where you focus for periods of time and reward yourself with small breaks.
3. Batch similar tasks and work on them in the same time frame, as context switching between different tasks may be costly.
4. If you find yourself unable to complete a task due to subjectiveness (or the pursuit of perfection), try and set a timer or hard deadline for your task. For example, if you are taking notes but you keep wanting to revisit them to make them perfect, limit yourself to a 30 minute “refinement” block after which you must go on to the next task.
5. Be kind to yourself when planning. A sustainable output of work is always preferable to burnout, which may be catastrophic to future output!
Conclusion
Effective time management can be achieved through selecting a tool such as a Kanban board, developing tasks that are quantifiable and timebound, and establishing a cadence of sprints where planning and retrospection are accounted for. Creating tasks with quantifiable metrics allows for the refinement of a strategy that is tailored to each individual situation.
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