Project Prioritization & Time Management

To be a project manager you must also be a good juggler. Competing priorities, crunched timelines, the unexpected, all vie for your attention and you must continuously make hard decisions on where you are going to spend your most valuable and finite asset; your time. Here are some valuable lessons I've learned as a project manager when it comes balancing multiple projects.

Continuous Project Priority Ranking

As any Project Manager has most likely experienced, projects are constantly changing from start to finish. You may begin a project thinking it will be a small lift but as you conduct your discovery, find out its size and scope are much larger than initially anticipated. One month a project may require 90% of your time, while the next month it only requires 20%. This is why it is important to continuously monitor all of your projects for fluctuating changes. Prioritization is no different in this regard. It requires continuous revisiting and adjusting, but most of all constant decision making to ensure the most important and most timely work is being placed at the front of the line.?

"IF EVERYTHING IS A PRIORITY, THEN NOTHING IS!" - KAREN MARTIN

Tips for Setting Project Priorities

• Meet at least once a month (if not more often) with your leader to discuss prioritization and number rank each project's priority level.
• Plan proactively by setting your priorities for the upcoming month so you always have a view of what's ahead.
• Communicate the decided-on prioritization to all applicable parties in writing. Ensure everyone is onboard and understands what work will be prioritized or dropped if it comes down to a crunch.
• Sometimes it's helpful to frame your conversation around what may NOT get done and work your way up to the what is critical.?Having a mutual understanding with your leader on what items are not likely to hit targets is just as important as knowing what is a top priority. Proactively identifying those potential negative outcomes will be crucial in managing expectations. These are your low/no priority items.
• Try to limit your “Top” priorities to 1 or 2 projects. You should never have more than 3. More than this and you are moving into the realm of everything being a priority, which is meaningless.

Communicate Where Your Time Goes!

Perception is reality. If it is perceived that you have available bandwidth than you will be treated like you do. Don't let assumptions be made about where your time is going. Communicate clearly and often about how you are managing your time, prioritizing your work, and how much effort is being spent in which areas. Here are some general time management guidelines you can apply to help you find a balance between projects. These guidelines are loosely based on the Alpen Method.

General Guidance:?

• Do - quick or urgent task should be handled right away. If the task takes less than 2mins to complete or has a deadline within the business week, prioritizing doing it now or at next availability.
• Defer - time intensive or non-urgent tasks should be scheduled. If the task will take more than 2mins or does not have an immediate deadline, build time into your schedule to do it (e.g. a daily block for emails or plotting out working blocks leading up to a deadline).
• Delegate - weigh tasks that will benefit from your specific expertise. If the task outcome will be the same or better if it were handled by another, evaluate if it is the best use of your time and delegate accordingly.?
• Drop - take a critical view on which tasks require your time by examining what, if any, consequences result from them being undone. If consequences are negligible or non-existent, then drop these tasks.
• Downtime - protecting 10-15% schedule 'downtime,' or time within your schedule without commitments, is essential (~1hr/day). This is not 'break' time or unproductive work time; this time allows flexibility to address: Emergent Needs, Unexpected / Ad Hoc Requests, Process Improvements, Learning & Development, Interpersonal Connection Points w/your Teams, and General Catch Up.

Why is Downtime Important?

• Without downtime there is no flexibility; emergent needs, ad hoc requests, unexpected items, and general catch-up get pushed into your personal time.
• Without downtime you lose the ability to be proactive; process improvements, learning & development, and interpersonal connection points will never find a seat at the table until they have become an issue, at which point you can only be reactionary.?
• Successful time management requires flexibility to pivot when unexpected things arise, and time set aside to provide the space for planning ahead and being proactive.?

Time Management FAQs

Q: What if I have too many conflicting ‘Do’ tasks?

A: Prioritize and communicate! Defer to your previously established project prioritization ranking and complete tasks in accordance with that ranking. Communicate with impacted parties by informing them when deadlines will be missed and reiterating the prioritization that guided your decision on what work got pushed.

Q: What if my schedule is too busy to book working blocks for my ‘Defer’ tasks?

A: Prioritize and communicate! Take a critical look at the meetings you are scheduled to attend and the value you are bringing to each. Defer back to your previously established project prioritization ranking to reschedule meetings in accordance with that ranking. Clearly communicate the purpose of working blocks on your calendar and do not let them be booked over unless it is outranked by a higher priority.?

Q: What if the task(s) that I should ‘Delegate’ or ‘Drop’ were assigned to me by my manager or a senior leader?

A: Prioritize and communicate! Revisit the previously established project prioritization ranking with them and have a discussion on how they see this task competing with the established priorities. Come to a clear understanding of where this task ranks and what needs to be deprioritized to make it happen. If changes are made to your prioritization, update the ranking and communicate the new prioritization to all applicable parties.?

Share in the comments what challenges you face when balancing multiple projects.