Analyzing Your Time and Activities

Analyzing Your Time and Activities The challenge is not to manage TIME, but rather to manage ourselves. Steven Covey Prepared by: EXCELLERATION, INC. strategic-project-teams-analyzing-your-time.doc 1

TIME LOG DIRECTIONS In your fast-paced environment, being an effective manager of time is a critical issue. This log will help you analyze how you spend your time now, look at ways to improve your use of time, deal with barriers that interfere, and develop a plan for you to become more outcome-oriented. In order to do this, it is important to have a realistic picture of how your current time ACTUALLY is spent. Please use the attached time logs to record your actual activities for any three "typical" days. There is no "typical" day? You don't have time, you say? Recording your activities will seem odd at first, but it takes only a little time and the results are interesting - and often insightful. Please remember, there are no right or wrong entries. This is just base line data. Please follow these steps. 1. Fill in the headings with categories of work activities appropriate to your job, i. e., problem-solving, staff coaching, planning, information gathering, lunch, data analysis, and report writing. 2. Please DO NOT use "phone" or "meetings" as a category by itself. Instead think about the purpose of the communication, i.e., handling customer inquiries, seeking production updates. Enter it under the activity, not the communication tool. 3. If you can improve the activity headings by making them more specific, please do so. These may occur to you later, so you may wish to use pencil at first. 4. Stop to record your activities at least every hour. Put a dark line through the boxes which indicate how much time you spent on which categories during the hour. 5. Total each activity at the end of the day. 6. After you have logged three days, complete the Summary Sheet using your intuition to "guess-timate" the weekly patterns. Use your work units' criteria of "most important activities" to identify the priority activities. strategic-project-teams-analyzing-your-time.doc 2

TIME ANALYSIS WORKSHEET NAME: DATE: HOURS COMMENTS 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM TOTAL Record time use at least every hour. Draw a vertical line through time blocks occupied by a particular activity. strategic-project-teams-analyzing-your-time.doc 3

TIME ANALYSIS WORKSHEET NAME: DATE: HOURS COMMENTS 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM TOTAL R Record time use at least every hour. Draw a vertical line through time blocks occupied by a particular activity. strategic-project-teams-analyzing-your-time.doc Time Analysis 5

TIME ANALYSIS SUMMARY SHEET Name Job Title Time Spent Each Day List the 6 to 10 Most Value-Adding Activities You Perform* Prioritize 1-10 Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Total Time # of Times *If you have difficulty selecting and ranking the activity, have a conference with your manager, making this a joint task. strategic-project-teams-analyzing-your-time.doc Time Analysis 6

TIME MANAGEMENT FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM By Richard Ensman If you've studied the principles of time management before, you've probably adopted many of the skills so often advocated: goal setting, to-do lists, and delegation, to name a few. But as the new century begins, business life is changing rapidly. And so are the expectations of others about the way we plan and manage that special resource called time. Complete this brief millennium time quiz and see how you fare in emerging time skills as we cross the barrier into a new century: Usually Sometimes Rarely Mark of the new millennium: A world of up-to-date research is at our fingertips. 1. I can obtain important information about my profession in electronic form quickly and effortlessly. 2. I can find Internet-based information for employees or customers within a matter of minutes. 3. I can skim the barrage of printed and electronic material that comes my way and cull the things I need. Mark of the new millennium: Flexibility will be the watchword of success. 1. I maintain a period of open time each day to accommodate new needs and opportunities. 2. I've arranged my work schedule so that meeting times and task times can be quickly updated in response to new needs. 3. I invite other people who are collaborating with me on high-priority tasks to connect with me whenever they need assistance. Mark of the new millennium: Urgency. Everything must be done now. 1. When necessary, I can make each day's short-term objectives my highest priority. 2. I have the physical, financial, and personnel resources to respond to urgent telephone calls or visits at a moment's notice. 3. I have the ability to quickly identify potential problems or emergencies, and marshal time to meet them. Mark of the new millennium: The virtual organization will replace the standard organizational charts and operating procedures. 1. I can convene virtual or ad hoc groups to help me with my work at any time. 2. I have trained the people around me to work together thereby reducing my immediate time needs. 3. I share best practices with colleagues in parallel positions. Mark of the new millennium: Everyone from executives to line workers will be increasingly responsible for results, not activities. 1. I plan my schedule around outcomes, not tasks. 2. I create time budgets showing how much time is necessary to produce the results I want. 3. I know how to multiply my time by enabling and empowering others to do things for me. Time Analysis 7

TIME MANAGEMENT FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM, CONT. By Richard Ensman Mark of the new millennium: Technology is the No.1 timesaving choice. 1. I understand and use a variety of time-saving computer software, such as accounting, project management, and e-mail applications. 2. I use collaborative technology tools, such as public folders, intranets, and discussion groups, to accomplish joint projects. 3. I have a timesaving kit consisting of Web sites, instruction manuals, and technical support numbers that I can call upon if I need to solve a technology problem. Usually Sometimes Rarely Mark of the new millennium: Your customers want to be sure your workplace values are compatible with theirs. 1. I give high priority to activities that reinforce my organization's values. 2. When customers or employees present problems related to values, I place them at the top of the priority list. 3. I make time to teach others about my business values. Mark of the new millennium: Work can be done anywhere. 1. I have, and use a portable computer when I'm away from the office or shop. 2. I use cellular technology to keep in touch with associates and customers wherever I am. 3. Using e-mail and the Internet, I receive and transmit a variety of information to others while I'm away from the office. Mark of the new millennium: Doing a few things right will be much more important than completing the entire to-do list. 1. I spend time each week deciding which activities will fill my customer's priorities most effectively. 2. I have the physical tools on my desk (working files, reference materials, etc.) that enable me to focus on the essentials. 3. I am ruthless about maintaining a priority list and updating it every single day. Mark of the new millennium: Products must add value over time. 1. I block out time each day to manage the behind-the-scenes relationships that contribute to product quality. 2. I seek, and receive, feedback from everyone who provides services within my operation to me or for me. 3. I block out time following every task to get feedback on the effectiveness of what we have done. When you checked "usually" or "sometimes" next to a trait, you are probably on the right track. When you checked "rarely," you've got work to do. Make a list of the traits receiving this rating and you'll have your time management agenda for the next year laid out for you. Learn the time management tools of the new millennium and you'll make the onslaught of information, people, activities, and ideas work for you. Time Analysis 8

URGENT THE TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX Not Urgent I. Activities: Crises Pressing problems Deadline-driven projects Fire-fighting II. Activities: Prevention, protecting production capability Relationship building Recognizing new opportunities Planning, Professional Development 3rd III. Activities: Interruptions, Some calls Some mail, Some meetings Some reports, Administrivia Timely sensitive matters 2nd IV. Activities: Trivia, Busy work, Some Mail, Some calls Time wasters Diversions Occupational hobbies 1st Consider eliminating any of the time spent in Quadrant IV and in Quadrant III. Invest the newly available time in Quadrant II. As you do this, time needed for Quadrant I will decrease due to your increased proactivity in Quadrant II. Time Analysis 9

URGENT THE TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX Not Urgent I. Activities: II. Activities: III. Activities: IV. Activities: 1. Plot all the activities that you do regularly in the appropriate quadrant above. 2. After each activity, estimate the percentage of your time of which that activity uses and put it in ( %). 3. Consider eliminating some of the time spent in Quadrant IV and Quadrant III. Invest the newly available time in Quadrant II. As you do this, time needed for Quadrant I will spontaneously decrease due to your increased proactivity in Quadrant I. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Steven R. Covey, 1989. Time Analysis 10

SHIFTING MORE TIME TO MISSION-CRITICAL ACTIVITIES A. Three activities in which I should invest more time: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. B. During this time I would work toward these valued outcomes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. C. In order to make this time available, I need to limit the amount of my time (scheduling) on these activities: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. strategic-project-teams-analyzing-your-time.doc 11

SHIFTING MORE TIME TO MISSION-CRITICAL ACTIVITIES - CONT. D. I could delegate or permanently reassign these activities: (matchmaking) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. E. I could eliminate these activities all together: (gatekeeping) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. F. I could simplify these activities: (work redesigning) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. strategic-project-teams-analyzing-your-time.doc 12