Journyx Project Management Blog

Remember in The Matrix when the little kid said to Neo, “There is no spoon”?

As CEO of a project timesheet company, I think about time a great deal. Part of my job involves trying to convince people that tracking their time is worth the effort. One response I got recently from a smart-aleck at a customer of ours (a large pharmaceutical company) was, “There is no such thing as time, so why track it?” He then directed me to an article in Discover magazine.

The following is my favorite quote from the article:

“I recently went to the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder,” says Lloyd. (NIST is the government lab that houses the atomic clock that standardizes time for the nation.) “I said something like, ‘Your clocks measure time very accurately.’ They told me, ‘Our clocks do not measure time.’ I thought, Wow, that’s very humble of these guys. But they said, ‘No, time is defined to be what our clocks measure.’ Which is true. They define the time standards for the globe: Time is defined by the number of clicks of their clocks.”

- Curt Finch, Journyx CEO

“At the end of the day, our attention is all that we have.” – Ken Burns

Ken Burns is my favorite filmmaker. He understands the value of time.

Time is more fleeting today than it has ever been before.

Business people currently confront overwhelming demands on their time. Time has become more critical than money, but most companies don’t yet allocate it with the same care as they would more traditional assets.

Most managers understand that time must be managed, accounted for, and invested in ways that maximize return, but this is easier said than done. Companies seldom possess the right processes and infrastructure to make the most of time resources. They often confuse the core business process of time resource allocation with simple timesheets or time management calendars. This is as dangerous as confusing a simple check register with their capital investment strategy.

To allocate and manage any resource, it must first be seen clearly and then tracked carefully. Time tracking should be a fundamental part of any business. Almost every business tracks time at some level, even if only for payroll.

At the most basic level, some companies employ a simplistic, homegrown system that is based on spreadsheets or paper. Even companies that have fully automated time tracking systems sometimes fail to leverage those systems to drive profits up and costs down.

Leveraging such systems isn’t easy. Some companies understand the potential gains associated with managing time as an asset, but they lack the knowledge, tools or resolve to actually do so. Many others succumb to a misinformed, unnecessary distrust of time tracking. Still others mistakenly believe that time tracking systems are simple, and as a result, they internally develop or buy inadequate systems that fail to deliver real value to the entire enterprise.

A well functioning time tracking system should lead to automation of payroll, client billing and above all, project accounting. If it doesn’t, you’re missing out on much of the value.

- Curt Finch, Journyx CEO

How often do we say to one another: I just wish there were more hours in the day? Well, there can be. When you use Project Management techniques to your advantage, you can be singing the Rolling Stones classic, Time Is on My Side.

Here are some of my favorite time-saving tips that you can apply both to your business and home life.

1. Avoid the Long, Rambling To-Do List. One thing that gets many of us in trouble is when we have enormous To-Do lists that have no prioritization, and they just continue to grow like a pile of laundry. What’s dangerous about this, is that we get overwhelmed and the To-Do list starts to become the enemy instead of our ally.

2. Prioritize. At the beginning of every day, look at what you have to do and prioritize it. What’s red hot and time specific? Do that first. What do you need to do today to move forward on some of your Big Hairy Audacious Goals? What’s at your Bus Stop? These are things you are waiting for from others. What’s on your passion list? This is what you will you do to recharge your batteries and give you energy.

Read the rest at PM World Today.

In my Time Management seminars which I have conducted for more than 100,000 people from around the globe, I show people how to get more done in less time, with less stress; to help them have more time for the things they want to do in their work and business lives.

If you can recapture a wasted hour here and there and redirect it to a more productive use, you can make great increases in your daily productivity.

Here are five of the techniques I share in our Time Management seminars, each one of which will help you to get at least one more hour out of your day of additional productive time.

1. Maintain Balance.

Your life consists of Seven Vital Areas: Health, Family, Financial, Intellectual, Social, Professional, and Spiritual. You will not spend equal amounts of time in each area or time every day in each area. But, if in the long run, you are spending a sufficient quantity and quality of time in each area, then your life will be balanced. But ignore any one of your areas, (never mind two or three!) and you will get out of balance and potentially sabotage your success. Fail to take time now for your health and you will have to take time for illness later on. Ignore your family and they may leave you and cost you a lot of time to re-establish relationships.

2. Get the Power of the Pen.

A faint pen has more power than the keenest mind. Get into the habit of writing things to do down using one tool (a Day-Timer, pad of paper, Palm Pilot, etc.) Your mind is best used for the big picture rather than all the details. The details are important, but manage them with the pen. If you want to manage it you have to measure it first. Writing things down helps you to more easily remember all that you need to accomplish.

Read more at PROJECTmagazine.

What is the major difference between average developers and those who really stand out? Productivity. Those who excel in development positions have learned to get the most out of their time when coding. They have learned techniques that enable them to continuously focus on delivering working software.

Increase your productivity by recognizing and reducing interruptions. Some interruptions are obvious and therefore are easy to eliminate. For instance, email and instant messaging applications interrupt the development thought process each time a new message is received. Although these communication mediums may seem innocent, they require much more than a quick alt-tab out and then back into your favorite IDE. More critically, interruptions of this sort require a change in thinking. They force you to stop thinking about the algorithm currently under development and start thinking about responding to the communication. After changing focus for only a couple seconds, you must reintroduce yourself to the problem at hand.

These types of distractions can be eliminated easily by making a decision to get rid of them. Setting aside dedicated development times with no email, phone, or instant messaging interruptions will improve your productivity exponentially. Try setting aside one-hour blocks of time with your phone, email, and instant messenger turned off. After an hour, spend five (5) or ten (10) minutes catching up on any critical communication and then return to productive development.

Read more at Developer.com.

Businesspeople understandably are having a tough time avoiding the many distractions at work. They deal with phone calls, unexpected meetings, unorganized workspaces, changing priorities and annoying cell phones. But senior executives and managers say the biggest distractions are e-mail and the crisis of the day.

To avoid distractions at work, workers are getting to work early, trying to focus and closing their doors more, based on a global survey of executives and managers we conducted.

And the e-mail overload can come from both outside the organization from customers or from inside, such as from colleagues or superiors. “Email is a big distraction,” said one survey respondent. “Checking e-mails and voicemails frequently is a major disruption to planning time. It is often difficult to gauge which customers to respond to quickly and which to wait on.”

“I refuse to read e-mails that I am cc’d on,” said another. “There are too many e-mails. My staff knows that if it is important, they should either call or come see me.”

Issues around meetings also cause distractions to almost a third of business leaders. “Without a doubt, it is senior executives who feel that they must prove their involvement by requiring unnecessary meetings and updates on every aspect of a project,” said one manager. “Communication with a project sponsor is important, but updates to a half dozen uninvolved execs results in considerable wasteful and redundant activity.”

Said another: “The biggest distractions are internal meetings and doorway/water cooler conversations about organizational issues.”

Read the rest at CIO.com.

Many people mistake time tracking for time management. They religiously keep track of everything they do each day, for weeks or even months.

And then they stop doing it because they haven’t realized any positive changes.

But keeping track of how you spend your time isn’t time management. Time management is about making changes to the way you spend your time. For effective time management, you have to apply a time management system that will help you see where changes can and should be made.

Keeping track of your many daily activities is just a preliminary step to effective time management. The first step of time management is to analyze how you actually spend your time so you can determine what changes you want to make.

This is where many people’s attempts at time management fail.

They look at a specific day in their Day-Timer or Outlook calendar or on their Palm which is packed with activities from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and don’t know what to do with it. So they fall back on the tried and true techniques and eliminate a few events and prioritize others. But they haven’t really managed anything; they’ve just rearranged it. All the perceived problems and frustrations of the day’s activities are still there – and at the end of their day they’re still frazzled and frustrated.

Read more at About.com.

Martha Zeigler has high expectations for herself at work. So high that she routinely stays late at the office so she can toil uninterrupted by phones and coworkers.

Zeigler also has high expectations for herself at home. She wants to spend time with her husband, keep in close touch with her mother, serve her community.

But lately, the director of finance for the Metropolitan Sewerage District in Asheville, N.C., is finding it hard to meet all her expectations. “I am just torn,” she says. “I can’t focus well. I’m operating out of guilt rather than desire. At home, I think about work; at work, I think I’m neglecting my husband and I haven’t called my mother in a week. It’s a feeling of being under pressure all the time.”

Sound familiar? The age-old struggle to be happy and successful at work and home, complicated by technology’s ability to let you straddle both realms simultaneously, is making Zeigler and others like her feel utterly depleted. “How do I determine when enough is enough?” she asks. “What usually gets squeezed out is the replenishment time for myself—including sleep!”

Zeigler wants to attain work/life balance, but this popular goal is an elusive one, in part because “balance” isn’t quite the right word. “It’s not about 50/50 play/work,” says Deborah Gilburg, a leadership development consultant in Holyoke, Mass. “It’s really about figuring out how to be sustainable so you can keep your energy flowing, keep yourself healthy in the long term.”

Here are some tips to help you become sustainable:

Ask yourself hard questions. Introspection takes guts. You need to determine how serious your problem is. Should you just wean yourself off evening e-mail, or should you consider a career change? Where are you going in life? What are your priorities? “Lots of creative thinking shows up when the priorities are clear,” says Joyce Wooldridge, a life coach based in Suffolk, Va. “Employers can’t be assumed to know what you want before you do. Neither can families.”

Read more at CIO.com.

Talk with most anyone and ask them what they think are the top issues in time management and you will get answers such as, “Having a well prepared “to do” list,” “Managing multiple priorities,” “Managing Meeting time,” “Handling the flood of paperwork and emails.” All are good responses but overlook the top four time management issues that, in combination with one another, can do more to keep you from having, doing or being what you want and deserve.

They are: ineffective relationships, a poor attitude, being flat out tired, and the weather.

1. Ineffective relationships. Probably more than 50% of your personal productivity success has to do with effective relationships with other people. Friends and allies will open doors for you that would take a considerable amount of your effort. They can give you words of encouragement that lift your spirits during down, unproductive times. They can teach you lessons that would take too much time otherwise to learn.

I’m not suggesting that one who does not have the good cooperation of other people cannot be productive. They can, but not as productive as those who enjoy positive, effective relationships with others.

Read more at PROJECTmagazine.

Part 1: Coming To Grips With The Time Management Myth

Do you feel the need to be more organized and/or more productive? Do you spend your day in a frenzy of activity and then wonder why you haven’t accomplished much?

Time management skills are especially important for small business people, who often find themselves performing many different jobs during the course of a single day. These time management tips will help you increase your productivity and stay cool and collected.

1) Realize that time management is a myth.

No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn’t change. All we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time that we have.

Read more at About.com.