Time Management Tips for Planning

By JD Meier

Planning is one of the best ways to achieve your results. You can use light-weight planning in a number of scenarios to improve your time management. A plan can be as simple as a list of things to do and a timeline. By writing down your plans, you can keep perspective, and prioritize more effectively. In this way, time management helps improve your planning, and planning helps improve your time management.

10 Time Management Tips for Improving Planning 
Here are ten ways to improve your time management when planning: 

1. Use your commuting time. You can use your commuting time to plan and organize your day. One simple way is to ask yourself, "What are three wins I want for today?" By having a simple plan for the day, you are ready to respond at whatever comes your way, and prioritize more effectively.
2. Each day, create a new "To Do" list. One way to get a fresh start each day, is to create a new "To Do" list each day. You can still have a master backlog of all the things you need to do, but create a new list each day to focus your execution. A best practices is to have a list of all the things you need to do, and create a new "To Do" list each day, that has your highest priorities and the sequence you want to execute them. Whatever you don't get to, you can add back to your master backlog.
3. Each week, create a new "To Do" list. Treat each Monday as a fresh start. Write down three wins you want for the week. Having three wins that you want for the week, will give you a better perspective on what's important. This will help you balance and trade-off against the three wins you want to achieve each day.
4. Have a plan and work the plan. This is especially true for any long-term results you want to accomplish. Your plan will serve a number of purposes. It will help you lay out the work to be done. It will help you prioritize. It will help you sequence things to be done. It will help you track progress. It will help you stay on track, while dealing with your day to day issues. It's a tool that you can always use to take the balcony view.
5. Make it a project. You can think of the work you do as either a system or process, or a project. If it's ongoing, then, it's a system or process. If it has a start, and an end, then it's a project. The power of making something a project is that you can use a finite chunk of time to make meaningful progress on a problem. You can also use all the tools of the trade for project management to help you tackle your challenge. You can really set yourself up for success and make things happen when you define a project, identify the outcomes, identify the metrics, identify the start and the end, and execute your plan.
6. Identify the critical path. The critical path is simply the shortest path to completion of your project. You identify the critical path, by laying out the sequence of tasks. You identify which tasks depend on each other. You also identify the minimum time each task will take, and the soonest that a task can start.
7. Set a time budget for work items. You may not always know how long things will take, but it's a good idea to decide how much time is feasible to spend on them. One of the worst practices is to leave it to chance and say that "it will be done when it's done." Things will take as long as you let them, so it's a good idea to set limits and deadlines.
8. Use realistic time estimates. Planning optimistic dates can be a setup for failure. Your best bet is to draw from past experience or somebody who has been there and done that. If the work will be done by somebody else, then get the people that will do the work to estimate the work. The worst thing is to hand over time estimates to people that don't agree or buy in with the timeline.
9. Mark the trail with milestones. A milestone is either a specific date by when you plan to complete something, or an event that marks a significant stage in development. They are basically markers along the path of your journey. By identifying milestones, you have a map for charting progress. You also know when to push, or when things are slipping past their due date. Most importantly, a milestone is a nice way to get a sense of completion along the way.
10. Reduce open work. The more open work you have, the more context and task switching you'll do. That robs you of your time, and forks your focus. One of the most effective strategies for improving your time management and planning is to close down open work before starting new work. This will enhance your focus, reduce task switching, and help you actually complete what you start.

You can use each of these time management tips to improve your planning. Keep in mind that a little planning goes a long way, so it doesn't have to be all or nothing. The best way to find which time management tips work for you is to test them.

About the Author
J.D. Meier blogs on time management at Sources of Insight. J.D. created the time management system, Getting Results the Agile Way, a simple system for meaningful results.