Interior Design – A Time Management Strategies

Before you can begin improving your time management skills, it’s important to understand where you’re wasting time in the first place. The easiest way to figure that out is by tracking your time

It will take some planning, organization, and willpower, but in the end, it will give you success to your Interior Business. This is the cornerstone of effective time management. Your time belongs to you. It’s a finite resource you need to manage effectively. Don’t let others dictate how you spend it.

Planning, control and coordination of a project especially in construction stages are particularly important; however, the design phases to, need to be closely coordinated. As your network grows, it becomes increasingly important to prioritize how much time you spend on a particular person, project, or cause.

Limit Your Distractions

Distractions are the enemy of productivity. Because of Distractions you interrupt your focus and it is harder to get back to it. Be ‘in the zone’ and stay in it for a set period of time. Remove your Distractions, We can set our timeline by specifying specific activities for specific days of the week.  

We are managing your time for optimal productivity the key to time management for interior designers. For example, in my practice, I am Managing Director and Design Head, I am looking into multiple activities on group of companies, Monday I look for any type of Procurement either for the Projects or for the channel Sales, Tuesday and Thursday where I review all the Project Design and used to have the meeting with our Project Managers and Designers. Wednesday is blocked for installations review if any very urgent otherwise spend the time on Internet for the Marketing activity. Friday is left open to cover additional sourcing, a last minute client call, project management and paperwork and Saturday I have reserved myself for any type of client meetings. That means my Sunday is free because I create next week’s calendar on Friday night.

Define Scope of Work (SOW)

Both interior designer and architect should execute a clear and precise scope of work. The Scope of work is an important part of Project documentation and agreements. It represents the narrative description of a project's work requirements. It defines what tasks must be done, who is responsible for completing which task, in which timelines, provides any other necessary details and conditions. You need to add the scope of work to the request for proposal (RFP) and service agreement. It would also help you to know whether the project measured up to the goals at its completion.

·       Execution or Construction administration

·       All Type of Services must be in the plan with the Timeline

·       Detail Drawing

·       Create Deadlines for each Task

Your scope of work as an interior designer should always contain specific details. A deadline is a great tool for time management, but it only works if you stick to it.

Publish Work Development Plan (WDP)

Publish your Project plan / Work Development Plan to your team with the correct timeline, and make sure you follow up the same with vendors or with your team on the time.

Set A Weekly Agenda

Interior designers don't work the standard Monday through Friday 9-5, but pick one day a week to set an agenda for the next 7 days. Make a to-do list on a dry erase board so you can easily move items from the “to-do” list to the “done” category. 

Each day, I also have a small list of 2-3 URGENT tasks that definitely need to be done by the end of the day, it could be answering client emails, working on a particular project or writing a newsletter. 

If you follow this principle, you will get your most urgent tasks first and then tackle the rest with whatever time you have left that day. 

Every few months, it is a good idea to go back and review your time management Process to see if it has been beneficial to your company. This is just to be sure that you are always on the most productive and progressive track for your business.

Thank You.