I am presently working on a glossary of terms related to project management. As I was looking for definitions of time management, I found this interesting comment on Wikipedia:
"In a 2001 interview[2], David Allen observed:
You can't manage time, it just is. So "time management" is a
mislabeled problem, which has little chance of being an effective
approach. What you really manage is your activity during time, and
defining outcomes and physical actions required is the core process
required to manage what you do."
Yet another thing to ponder. Time goes by at a constant speed, regardless of how we feel about or what we are doing.
But what can we do?
Everyone can make the best of their time. In a project, it's important to wonder if those 4-hour meetings are really an efficient use of the team's time (they're not). We shouldn't think about managing our time, but about using our time efficiently.
- Is it more efficient to research a problem for several hours on Google or to ask your colleagues about the solution?
- Is it more efficient to update your AceProject tasks with the latest info, or to tell each person individually about it?
- Is it more efficient to email everyone a document and manage comments in the email replies, or to send them the link to the document, and have them type their comments directly in the project management system?
Old habits are hard to break, but they're often worth the effort and will free up some time in your busy schedule.