Time management is pivotal to completing a project on time. It’s one of the most critical skills every project manager must exhibit when managing a project. Project management statistics show that only 55% of projects are completed on time, often due to setting unrealistic schedules, using inappropriate tools, and lack of adaptability.
Time is a scarce resource, and project managers must find effective ways to manage it. We look at ways a project manager can manage time, but first, let’s find out the meaning of time management and its benefits.
What is Time Management?
Time management is the process of planning and determining the amount of time spent undertaking specific tasks to enhance efficiency.
The process involves planning, monitoring, and continuously monitoring each job to ensure it’s completed on time. A project manager plans each activity, allocating time and accounting for the most likely obstacles before completion.
Benefits of Time Management
Projects must be completed on the set schedule to avoid incurring additional costs, affecting other tasks and increasing a project’s complexity. Any project manager will admit that moving deadlines creates a backlog of tasks which can be stressful to execute.
Effective time management eliminates such backlogs and keeps a project manager and the team productive. As such, teams remain motivated to complete tasks on time, ready to take on other activities without much coercion.
You may also notice that the team has more time to relax and unwind. The project manager and the team are confident they’ll complete each activity right on schedule, hence taking breaks from their usual routines. This healthy balance keeps the team incredibly productive.
Also, teams are less stressed when undertaking project management activities. Effective time management ensures a project is divided into smaller, more manageable tasks, allowing enough time to handle irregularities. Teams feel confident handling any mishaps because they’re not rushing against time.
Time Management Strategies
Effective time management requires a project manager to establish structures that cultivate proper communication and develop organized schedules. Here are strategies that have proved effective over time:
Define the Project Plan Early
A well-defined plan sets the pace for the entire project. A plan helps the project manager determine the scope, schedule, cost, and activities for each step. Executing a project without a plan leads to poor time management because you spend more time completing some tasks (often less important ones) than others.
Sometimes, the project remains in the conception stage for extended periods, leaving little time for execution. A well-defined plan has the following components:
- The project scope: It defines the project’s objective, what it includes, the desired outcome, and what not to include. Defining a project’s scope saves time
- Resources: A project manager then allocates the existing resources to the project’s activities to meet the desired outcome. This involves determining the budget, the sources of cash flow, the number of people required, software, etc. The manager must also factor in dependencies, i.e. steps that must be completed for others to continue
- Tasks: The project manager also needs to list the tasks that must be executed and notify the people performing them
- Time: Each project must have a timeline within which it’s executed. A project manager must establish reasonable timelines while accounting for unpredictable events and dependencies
- People: The success of a project depends on the people executing. Thus, a project manager must choose the members carefully and look for people who can backfill their positions while working on the project
- Risk: It’s crucial to define potential obstructions while executing the project and determine ways the team can recover while being time-conscious
Including all such components in your project plan goes a long way in managing time effectively and completing it on time.
Prioritize the Most Important Tasks
Consider leveraging the Eisenhower time management method, which requires project managers to prioritize the most critical tasks. When using this method, the project manager divides tasks into four categories (important and unimportant, or urgent and not urgent) and focuses on critical and urgent activities.
It helps the project manager focus on the most essential tasks and avoid wasting time on less important ones. Here’s an example:
| Urgent | Not urgent | |
| Important | Must be done right away | Can be done later |
| Unimportant | Can be delegated | Can be ignored or eliminated |
Break Down Activities into Small Tasks
Project managers are often under immense pressure to meet deadlines while managing a team. Deconstructing large tasks into smaller ones saves time and reduces the stress of achieving significant deliverables. It’s also a great way of measuring a project’s progress and finding opportunities to save time within the project.
Take Advantage of Project Management Software
Project management software helps automate routine tasks and coordinate team members and stakeholders, saving time. Tools with time tracking, visualization, and scheduling features come in handy.
The time-tracking feature, for example, helps determine how long tasks take versus the estimated time at the beginning of the project. Apps like Monday and Asana are excellent for visualization as they allow you to visualize the relationships between tasks.
You also want to leverage scheduling apps like Clockwise when executing multiple tasks and assigning them to different people. It makes coordination easy, and you can integrate it with other software like Asana when you need to designate blocks of time for specific tasks.
Streamline Communication Channels
Communication is critical to saving time when executing a project. It would help to tailor your communication to each audience, as team members have varying preferences. Some team members prefer virtual communication, while stakeholders talk better on the phone or face-to-face.
While at it, talk to the team about time management and important tasks they need to execute. Consider keeping an open dialogue so team members feel free to communicate issues that could affect the project’s timeline before completing the project. Such policies help avoid delays that result from communication breakdown.
Conclusion
Remember that effective time management is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Finding the best strategies for you, your team, and your stakeholders may require experimentation. Regular reflection and adjustment are vital to maintaining a productive and efficient work environment.
