I’m currently reading Management, Theory & Practice by Kris Cole. I flicked through the chapters and decided to jump ahead to a chapter about managing personal work priorities. The chapter goes through the common scenarios or problems which waste time, along with different techniques to combat each one.
It seemed like a good idea that I put some of the time management strategies through their paces and see what works for me and what doesn’t. While I’m learning what works for me, I thought I’d drop notes here for you all to read and comment on.
What are your favourite time management strategies for getting things done?
As you know, I’m a BIG believer in lists of some sort :)
I typically use some combination of carefully sorting email, and an Excel spreadsheet. For email, I have a extensive sorting system setup (all manual unfortunately), complete with a ‘Pending’ folder, for items that I’m currently attempting to work on.
I primarily use the Excel spreadsheet to track what I’m supposed to work on, tracking it’s status, time estimates, priority, and who needs to be contacted once it’s done. This really helps by allowing me to see at a glance what’s coming up, and how much I’ll have to panic to get it done it time.
It’s a bit of a challenge to keep updated when things get hectic, but it works, most of the time.
Mostly use the flag status in outlook for the email stuff and a hard calendar for individual items that are requested.
Jambo says
I use outlook calendar for appointments/meetings; desk diary for communication with team members and forward planning of programme; and as I have many calls on my time for many ‘immediate’ tasks, I also use a daily list taped to my desk that is prioritised and then ticked off as tasks completed.