Time Management « Karim Vaes

#1: Simplicity means identifying what’s essential, then eliminating the rest.
#2: Focusing on the essential produces the most results for the least effort.
#3: You must set limits – they don’t set themselves.
#4: Focus on only one thing at a time.
#5: Limit your active goals and projects to no more than 3-4 at a time.
#6: Establish three Most Important Tasks (MITs) every day, and do those before working on anything else.
#7: Batch similar tasks together to preserve your focus.
#8: Installing positive habits is easiest when you start small, then build on your early success.
#9: Consciously minimize your active commitments, and don’t be afraid to say “no” to new ones.
#10: Slow down, pay attention, and enjoy the process.

Apr 25 2009

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Time Management

The simple rules to Time Management

The Simple Rules

“One Master” : Use one one master agenda, todo-list, etc. Using multiple will only make you lose sight of certain things.
“Within an arm reach” : This is close with the previous one, as you need to have that “One Master” close to you. If you don’t have your agenda with you, make sure you sync it to your master!
Clean Inbox : Keep your inbox clean! Set a rule where CC messages are moved to a seperate folder & apply the “Inbox Zero”-concept.
Think Modular : Thinking in an abstract way is sometimes hard for people. Yet group your tasklist into packages (milestones?) and make sure you only see the package you’re working on. This will have a wonderful psychologic effect as the mountain you have to climb may seem less high.
Time is the only constant : “I have not time” is possibly the most used excuse and I find it utter bogus! Time is the only constant in your daily world. It’s how you handle time and set the priorities. If you’re telling people you don’t have time; you’re telling them that you can’t manage it or that their request isn’t important to you!

Inbox Zero Concept
time_management

Delete: just get rid of it (or archive it)
Delegate: get someone else to deal with it
Respond: if it takes just a few minutes, do it right now
Defer: put it on a todo list, archive it, and deal with it later
Do: handle whatever the email actually needs you to do

Aug 27 2008

Multitasking gets you nowhere or does it?

Lifehacker just featured an article called “Debunking The Myth of Multitasking“.

In a fast-paced business culture of “get everything done yesterday,” it’s easy to admire and reward those busybusy people who always seem to be juggling 14 things at once. But business coach Dave Crenshaw argues that the most common kind of multitasking doesn’t boost productivity–it slows you down.

I kinda forget the reference for this, but a while ago I read that, with each interruption, the brain will need about 15 minutes to get all things in order again. This so that you’re at the same situation that you were when you were interrupted.

Aug 04 2008

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2.0, Management, Team, Time Management

How to do standup meetings?

What are the characteristiccs?

Stand Up : Everybody stands up, nobody sits down.
15 or less: Short session; max. 15min, if possible even shorter
Token : Only the one holding the token speaks, and (s)he speaks towards the whole group.
Offline : It isn’t a problem-solving meeting. So issues will be handled -offline- when it become too detailled. Meaning that they will be addressed after the meeting with only the affected persons involved.

What should you discuss?

Yesterday : What did I do yesterday
Today : What will I be doing today.
Obstacles : What’s blocking me.
Focus : Relevance to the backlog (general todo-list)

Which are the advantages?

Identify obstacles : The meeting is a tool to identify problems, not to solve them. During the meeting people can indicate that they can assist you with your problem. Yet the actually discussion will be handled offline.
Set direction and focus : A standup meeting will also help to keep everyone aligned towards the team goal. That way we won’t lose any time on less relevant things.
Share commitment : We commit ourselves to tasks on a daily basis. By putting them in a group, we’ll be sharing the commitment on these issues (and thus knowing the existence).
Communicate status : Communicating status is secondary to the identification of problems. Yet it’s a big factor that the key points of everyone’s daily task is know by everyone. The communication aspect isn’t meant to communicate to management, but to the other team members.
Build a team : Don’t create groups, but create one team by knowing what everyone does.

For more information checkt he links on Wikipedia…

Jul 29 2008

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Time Management

Inbox Zero

The following slideshare is about the “Inbox Zero” concept. If you like the concept behind this time-management technique, then you might also want to check out the full video that was used as basis for this presentation.

http://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=inbox-zero-actionbased-email3408