Time Management: The Engineering Student Dilemma. Saylisse Dávila, Ph.D. Department of Industrial Engineering University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez

Transcription

1 Time Management: The Engineering Student Dilemma Saylisse Dávila, Ph.D. Department of Industrial Engineering University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez

2 Outline 1. Time Management Overview What? Why? How? 2. Key aspects of time management 3. Hands-on scheduling tutorial

3 How would you define time management?

4 What is Time Management? Time and tide wait for none Making the best use of time as time is always limited. Managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity. Act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and/or productivity. Analysis of how working hours are spent and the prioritization of tasks in order to maximize personal efficiency. The art of arranging, organizing, scheduling, and budgeting one s time for the purpose of generating more effective work and productivity.

5 Disclaimer Source: I m no expert!!!

6 Why Time Management? Every day only has 24 hours. In those 24 hours, we have to allot time for: exams, homeworks, and projects (some of which may require teamwork). basic needs (i.e., food, hygiene, sleep, exercise, hangueo ). your significant other, family, friends, etc.

7 Hypothetical Scenario Scenario # 1 Coursework: 18 credits 3 credits/hr = 54 hours / wk Sleep: 8 hours/day 7 days/wk = 56 hours/wk Hygiene: 30 min/day 7 days/wk = 3.5 hours / wk Meals: 1 hr /meal 3 meals/day 7 days/wk = 21 hours / wk Exercise: 3 hours / wk Phone / Internet: 4 hours / wk TOTAL = hours

8 Pareto s Principle The 80:20 Rule This argues that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort.

9 Key Aspects of Time Management 1 Goal Setting Prioritization Scheduling Managing Interruptions 5 Procrastination

10 Goal Setting Goal setting is an important method of: Deciding what you want to achieve in your life. Separating what's important from what's irrelevant. Motivating yourself. Building your self-confidence, based on successful achievement of goals. No one can do this for you.

11 Short vs. Long Term Goals Short Term What do I need to accomplish before the end of this week? What do I want to accomplish before the end of the semester? Long Term What do I want to accomplish by the time I finish my undergraduate degree? What do I want to accomplish within the first 5 years of my career?

12 SMART Goals S - Specific (or Significant). M - Measurable (or Meaningful). A - Attainable (or Action-Oriented). R - Relevant (or Rewarding). T - Time-bound (or Trackable). Goal: Improve my GPA. SMART Goal: Improve my GPA from 3.00 to 3.50 by the end of May 2013.

13 Prioritization By due date Phase Description Weight Deadlines I Form your team, choose a project title, provide examples 2% Aug 16 II Write the project description, draw the end-user interface 8% Aug 30 III E-R Modeling and Web Design 25% Oct 4 IV Relational Design and Implementation 25% Nov 8 V Operational System and Final Report 40% Nov 29 By significance 1. School 2. Community service 3. Student chapters By interest 1. Fun 2. Fun 3. School

14 Urgent/Important Matrix (U/IM) Important activities have an outcome that leads to the achievement of your goals. Urgent activities demand immediate attention, and are often associated with the achievement of someone else's goals. Using it helps you overcome the natural tendency to focus on urgent activities, so that you can keep clear enough time to focus on what's really important. Helps you move from "firefighting" into a position where you can commit to the goals that help you advance in your career.

15 Importance Steps for Building an Urgent/Important Matrix High Low Impor tant Goals Distractions Critical Activities Interruptions Low Urgency High 1. List ALL the activities and projects that takes up your time. 2. Assign importance to each of the activities using a visual analogue scale (i {1,2,3,, 10}). 3. Assign urgency to each of the activities using a visual analogue scale (u {1,2,3,, 10}). 4. Plot all i, u pairs on U/I matrix. 5. Prioritize your activities in the following order: Critical Activities Important Goals / Interruptions / Distractions

16 Urgent/Important Matrix Task Categories Critical Activities Some you could not foresee, while others are due to procrastination. Identify which activities could have been foreseen and think about how you could schedule similar activities ahead of time, so they do not become urgent. Important Goals These are the activities that help you achieve your personal and professional goals, and complete important work. Make sure that you have plenty of time to do these things properly, so that they do not become urgent. Interruptions Stop you achieving your goals, and prevent you from completing your work. Ask yourself whether these tasks can be rescheduled, or whether someone else could do them. Distractions Should be avoided if possible. Some can simply be ignored. Others are activities that other people may want you to do, but they do not contribute to your own desired outcomes. Delegate them if you can!

17 Scheduling Setup weekly meetings Select your team members and commit to a fix schedule as early as possible. Keep online calendars you can access from multiple devices. PC, mobile phone, tablet Share calendars for ad-hoc meeting planning Keep personal & business calendars separate. Block personal items in your business calendar (No need for details!!!) 2. Minimize the time spent going through s Use filters Two-minute rule Sent out meeting requests instead of s Use online storage systems (w/desktop application) for sharing documents ( Dropbox / Google Drive ) 3. Leave some time out every week to deal with the unexpected

18 Scheduling from a PM perspective Draw from tools available for project management (PM). Basic assumptions: 1. A project can be split into smaller tasks. 2. The duration of each task is known with certainty. You may need to add a safety factor. 3. Some tasks can be performed in parallel, while others can be performed in series. Parallel: learn about web page development while you write your project proposal. Series: develop database connection; then, write information to your database.

19 Graphical Approaches to your To-Do List Visualize tasks Parallel/Series Predecessors Different alternatives Gantt chart Precedence chart (w/critical path method) Early start / early finish Late start / late finish

20 Gantt Chart Bar chart Bars represent the time for each task Bar colors or filling pattern can also indicate status of tasks. Provides a visual display of project schedule Serial vs. parallel tasks Predecessors Slack - amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project Can use MS Excel or MS Project to draw it

21 MS Project Gantt Chart

22

23 Example: Gantt Chart Activity Month Design house and obtain financing Lay foundation Order and receive materials Build house Select paint Select carpet Finish work Month

24 Parallel tasks Precedence Chart Shows the precedence relationships between tasks. Suppose you have 5 operators working at a food assembly line. B/L/T/Ch Stack #1 B/L/T/Ch Stack #2 Bread B/L/T/Ch Stack Add condiments Serial operations Wrap Burger

25 One complicated work day Assume your responsibilities for the day are the following: Feed your toddler. (25 min) Get dressed. (15 min) Load baby in car seat and pack his food. (15 min) Arrive at day care by 9am (15 min) Commute to school (30 min) Have a cereal bar for breakfast. (5 min) Attend class at 9:30am (1 hr) Work part time at school library, start at noon (1 hr) Go to the gym (1 hr) Work on HW. Needs to be uploaded by 2pm. ( 2hrs, at least in chunks of 1hr) Eat lunch (30 min)

26 Potential Precedence Diagram Bottle Drive to School Car Seat Drive to Day Care Class Start HW Lunch Work Finish HW Dress Cereal Bar

27 Critical Path Method Critical path sequence of tasks that represent the minimum time to complete a project. ES early start / EF early finish LS late start / LF late finish Activities on critical path have: ES = LS / EF = LF ES LS EF LF

28 CPM Network ES LS EF LF 8:05 8:30 9:00 9:30 Bottle 8:45 9:00 Drive to School 9:30 10:30 11:30 12:00 1:00 2:00 8:30 8:45 Car Seat Drive to Day Care Class Start HW Lunch Work Finish HW 10:30 11:30 12:00 1:00 Dress 8:05 8:20 Cereal Bar 9:00 9:05

29 CPM Network ES LS EF LF 8:05 8:30 9:00 9:30 8:05 8:30 9:00 9:30 Bottle 8:45 9:00 Drive to School 9:30 10:30 11:30 12:00 1:00 2:00 8:45 9:00 9:30 10:30 11:30 12:00 1:00 2:00 8:30 8:45 8:30 8:45 Car Seat Drive to Day Care Class 10:30 Start HW 11:30 Lunch 12:00 Work 1:00 Finish HW Dress 8:05 8:20 Cereal Bar 9:00 9:05 10:30 11:30 12:00 1:00 8:15 8:30 9:25 9:30

30 Critical path is shown in red MS Project: Network Flow Task Name Start Finish Predecessors % Work Complete Start Slack Phase I Wed 8/8/12 Thu 8/16/12 100% 0 days Phase II Fri 8/17/12 Thu 8/30/ % 0 days Phase III Fri 8/17/12 Thu 10/4/12 100% 0 days Phase IV Fri 10/5/12 Thu 11/8/ % 15 days Phase V Fri 10/5/12 Thu 11/29/12 3 0% 0 days

31 Minimizing Distractions Less interruptions come up as you keep a tight schedule. We are often more respectful about someone else s time. Schedule times. Close your /browser whenever you are not using it. Leave off IM or set your status to busy. Work in another location if possible, work in a conference room or empty office to regain your concentration. Talk to the disrupter. Use special software to eliminate online distractions.

32 Procrastination Your critical path will tell you exactly what you cannot procrastinate on. Tips to overcome procrastination 1. Break your tasks apart. 2. Delegate! 3. Do it now. 4. Establish a firm deadline. 5. Get someone to hold you accountable. Stay motivated 6. Take breaks / make it fun. 7. Conquer perfectionism.