Time Management
COMMIT = Certain Of Meeting Milestone by
Inventing Time.
Time only punctuates events, gives us control of causes for effects.
We need time only to get what we want.
Over the years I have been asked several times how I find the time
to remain so organized. I have always felt, it is only because I
remain organized that I find the time to do the things I really
want to. I feel remaining organized is a natural, normal part of
life and living. I think, the question that we should first try
to answer is:
- What comes first, Time to be organized, or Organized to have time?
It might be a matter of interpreting what takes time. Does remaining
organized take time, or is remaining organized simply necessary,
as we would like to have time to do everything else. My belief is
inclined towards the latter. We normally think whatever requires
us to do anything out of the ordinary, takes time. Sometimes, of
course, some things need time intervals to process and ‘mature’,
but then this shouldn’t be our main worry. Unfortunately,
when we’re ‘battling’ with time management, we
normally worry about how much time it will take us, to do the things
in an organized manner.
We should consider time as something that can be spent not only
by us, but by others as well. Sometimes, or maybe often, someone
else may take less time to do the same thing. By thinking of time
as a freely available common commodity, we actually ‘invent’
time. A good way to plan is to think of time as an unlimited, freely
available resource, and work on the planned tasks so that they become
more efficient and integral.
We ‘invent’ time for doing things that we believe will
lead to outcomes we are committed to. So, the two other questions
that we should try to answer are:
- How do we form our belief(s) of what work steps are needed and
what should their intermediate outcomes be?
- What final outcomes are we committed to working towards?
Intermediate outcomes are evidence of stages being crossed, and
that the work process is progressing. Visualizing and planning for
intermediate outcomes is the key to retain the integrity of the
work process and to ensure that rework is minimal. Intermediate
outcomes also are things closer ahead to look forward to!
Let me share my own example. I enjoy working when what I look forward
to is hassle-free work, which is interesting, new, and valuable.
I think most of us don’t like monotonous, repetitive jobs.
We all have commitments that we make to ourselves, which form an
underlying framework for how we look at what we have to do.
When I plan, I begin with by making a commitment. I say -
My commitment to myself is:
- I will not do the same thing again
- I will take less time to do the same thing again, and I will
do it better
- I will do more and better things all the time
In this manner, I try to improve the efficiency of my time, by
re-engineering the activities that had scope for improvement.
Thus, when we try to find the time to do something, we look at
all the tasks that our time is already committed to, and usually
realize that we need to ‘invent’ time. Inventing the
time for what we want to do, rather than what we have to, can be
done in two ways:
- take less time to do what we do
- reduce the “actual work” or do work differently
At this juncture, a valid question to ask is – what if there
is no scope to invent time? What if I’ve exhausted all methods
of improving the efficiency of my time? What then?
My answer is – Ask yourself the following question:
“Do I really need to spend MY time in doing something?”
The answer to this question also comes from our belief in others’
capacity to do what we think is needed. We should form our belief
in this case around what decisions will be needed, and what skills
will be needed for delegating work. Knowing our people, and having
the belief in their potential and commitment to do enormously better
than us, have to be the bedrock of our decisions.
I’ve found that it’s effective to operate with a personal
goal of being free all the time, and therefore ensuring that everything
we need to do can be done by other people, except when we have determined
that others to whom we can delegate can’t. This approach is
the approach of the ‘lazy’, but interestingly, it leads
to a lot of work coming to me, and my being able to do it, which
I wouldn’t even have thought was possible if I didn’t
have this approach of having ‘nothing-to-do’.
To conclude, Time Management is about meeting commitments on time.
- The commitments that have to be met are:
a) Commitments made to the end customer, of what will be delivered
when,
b) Commitments made by the process, of how and when work will
happen, and
c) My commitments to myself, for how I will do what I have to
do to meet the first two commitments, with or without the help
and support of other people.
Author:
Mukul Saxena,
Chief Technology Officer
NIS Sparta Ltd.
http://www.nissparta.com
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