Peer to Peer Magazine

Time Management 101 Some basic, but very effective, project management techniques for helping staff to keep track of their open issues: Identify the Universe of Your Projects You can’t possibly hope to succeed at balancing your priorities if you’re losing track of things. Write It Down! Write down everything you owe someone, or you are otherwise expected to complete or deliver. If you’re managing multiple projects, start by listing high-level projects first, then go back and work in the details for each individual project. For maximum effectiveness, break down high-level tasks into small, achievable components as much as possible. When new projects come in, make sure you write them down in a location common to existing/ongoing tasks. Don’t worry about making sure they’re categorized or prioritized properly at first — just make sure you’ve got them all down in one place so you can go back and flesh them out later. Determine Your Optimal Organizational Technology/Tools Everyone will have different preferences and comfort levels with the various tools described below. Find one that works for you. Don’t be afraid that one or more might not work for you. Just pick one and go for it. If it doesn’t work out, you’ll know it’s not working for you after a few weeks. • MS Project: Not recommended for most small projects and certainly not as a means of tracking unrelated mini-projects and tasks. It is very difficult and time-consuming to learn and to keep up-to-date as projects progress and evolve. If you think you need it for a particular project (e.g., a large and complex one that will span many months), take a course in its use. • Excel Spreadsheet: Standard components include: • Create “Open Projects” and “Closed Projects” tabs • Write brief descriptions/summaries of every task • Indicate a status or due date for every task • Assign an owner to every task (if it ’s not you!) • Indicate a priority for every task (even if just high, medium and low) Other/Optional: Alternate use of tabs: to group similar or related projects together • Outlook Tasks: A good choice if you aren’t managing too many projects. And remember: Break down even your smaller projects into the smallest finitely achievable subtasks possible. Pluses: Tasks appear in your Outlook Reminder pop-ups! • Paper-Based Notes: They are easy to take initially. But they are hard to aggregate, consolidate and update. Carry a small notebook and take notes in it when in meetings. Then transcribe anything that won’t be done that same day into your open tasks spreadsheet or possibly your Outlook tasks. Having these notes in a notebook — versus a yellow legal pad or random scraps of paper — means that you have a compact journal/archive of all of your work over a given period of time, as well, which is a nice bonus! ILTA 58 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer

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