I’ve read loads of stuff about time management, and found some good ideas that I’ve applied (I think) fairly successfully. One of the best I’d like to share is blocking out travel time.
It’s so easy to book a meeting in your diary, and forget how long it will take you to get to it. I’ve found it useful to figure out the travel time, then book an additional appointment labelled “travel” on either side of the meeting. It stops me booking other appointments back to back with the meeting, and it reminds me to stop what I’m doing and get moving in time.
A simple trick, but so so useful.
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Just say no!
We’re all short of time. Despite all the gadgets that are supposed to save us time there never seems to be enough of it to do what we want to do.
Here’s a simple thought – why not say no to some things?
How many times in the last year/month/day have you heard yourself agreeing to do something that you know deep down that you will never have time to do? And what’s the result? This task will sit on your to-do list and in your guilt box and distract you from, well, everything. When you sit down to do another task this one will pop into your head and nag you. It won’t be forgotten. And you’ll do your original task in a hurry or feeling distracted and probably won’t do it justice.
The end result of all this is that you do most of the things you said you’d do, perhaps not to the best quality, and you’ll leave some things undone, and feel guitly about them.
So the answer is to say no. You can be polite about it, but still say no. “I’m sorry, I’d really love to do ..xxx.., but I really can’t fit it in right now.” The person asking would far rather you came clean at once, so she can find another way of getting her task done, rather than have you either not deliver at all, or perhaps worse, deliver a half-hearted attempt right on the deadline. You might still feel guilty about refusing a request but that’s more easily dealt with. And now you have time to give your full attention to your other tasks.
“Better no job at all than a half-hearted attempt”
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Trustees – love ‘em or hate ‘em, if you work for a charity, you have to live with ‘em.
It’s not easy being the chief executive (or director, or whatever) of a charity, and some I know view trustee meetings with dread. It needn’t be like that.
Continue reading ‘Put yourself in their shoes – a post for CEOs’
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Christmas cards
This is shameless plug for my favourite charity. Being involved with this lot is the reason 3rd Sector Skills was set up in the first place.
Mencap, the UK charity working with people with learning disabilities has an online shop where you can buy some really nice cards. If you are going to buy cards this year, I encourage you to buy them here. Not only are they decent cards, the funds they raise will help Mencap secure the future for people with learning disabilities.
Link to Mencap store - Link to main Mencap site
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Quote of the day
I came across this quote by Dwight D Eisenhower which summarises planning nicely.
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
Those of us who have planned for a while recognise that a plan is only as good as the day it’s made. Real life has a horrible tendency to throw wobblies at you as soon as the ink is dry. So the canny project recognises that it is the process of planning that is really important, and the plans themselves are a happy by-product which may sometime be useful.
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Over the last few years there’s been a dramatic change in the way voluntary sector organisations have had to operate. Funding patterns changed dramatically with a larger proportion allocated to discrete projects and the level of professionalism expected from third sector organisations has risen.
We need to operate in a professional manner, and also show to our funders and members that we are doing so. Funders expect to see that they’re getting value for money, and we have to expend energy showing that we’re meeting targets, objectives, outcomes.
If we can cope with all this, then we will do well. We’re likely to succeed, and therefore attract more funding and so on. If we can’t cope, we’re likely to lose funding and lose the confidence of those with the money, and – well you can fill in the rest.
So what’s the secret?
There’s no one secret, but good project management is a start. If you use good project management techniques, you will be in a position to demonstrate that you’re operating in a professional manner, which will impress your funders, and you’ll be able to work more effectively, which will impress your trustees. And you’ll feel more confident in your ability to manage projects, so you’ll sleep better.
There’s never enough resource of any kind in voluntary organisations. Why waste it working in an ineffective way? Apply just a few PM tools and you’ll make better use of the resources you have. Investing in project management is a good investment.
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Stuart’s mean beef stew
One of the little wrinkles in project planning is the difference between the duration of a task, and the effort required.
Stuart’s mean beef stew is a great illustration.
To make it you take a small pile of stewing steak, chop it up and shove it in a casserole with some beer. Leave it to cook for a few hours, then chop some onions, add tomato puree and bits and bobs, stir it into the mixture, and Bob’s your auntie. It’s stunningly tasty, and dead easy to make, and it doesn’t matter much if you vary the ingredients a bit.
The duration of the task is about 4 hours, because you can use cheap cuts of beef which take ages to cook. The effort is about 30 minutes, because for most of the time you are in the garden with a beer waiting for the beef to cook.
When you’re thinking about your project and worrying about effort & duration, just remember the beef stew, and all will be well.
And if you want to try it, you can find the whole recipe right here – Stuart’s mean beef stew.
Enjoy!
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Disturb me and die!!
It’s all very well having an ‘open door’ policy, (even if you don’t have an actual door to hide behind) but there are times when you need some undisturbed time to think. How do you make this need known to your fellow workers without offending them?
Some folk recommend a flag system – green flag for ‘yes, I’m open for business’ and red for ‘do not disturb’. The trouble with this is that your fellow workers need to know what the little flags are for.
I offer the above, which can be blu-tacked to a door, or laminated and propped up on a desk. The text is simple and to the point, and the picture emphasises that this is not a real death threat, merely an indication that you wish to be left in peace.
It worked well for me.
If you want to try it download the picture as a pdf file.
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Why do projects fail?
Why do projects fail? And how on earth can you make sure that your project doesn’t fail? Simple answer – you can’t. But you can improve your chances of success dramatically, by considering some of the reasons that projects go wrong, and avoiding them – easy! I know this sounds like a bit of back-to-front thinking, but trust me, it does make sense.
Projects fail for many reasons, and the weird thing is that no matter how big or complex they are, the most ‘popular’ reasons tend to be the same; and the top five are…..
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DTWTFIF
This strange label is one of the most useful labels for files that I’ve ever come across.
It stands for “Don’t Know Where To File It File”
It’s a real cop-out and if you have such a file it should be small, because you will go to it frequently and deal with the contents properly – won’t you?
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