Time Management 101

By: John E. Nanney

?2021

We have all been there, hundreds of emails, back-to-back meetings, text messages, and phone calls piling on top of the daily workload. Couple that with the requirements to take care of our family, children, and all of life’s pressures. Time – well it is crashed in today’s business and personal world. And it is getting worse with ZOOM, WebEx, TEAMs, and a plethora of social networking infringing from every device, computer, and desk phone. Life Balance while spoken about is almost forgotten in the real world demands our companies expect of us. To make it worse, this uncontrolled technology tether now expects us to perform business late into the evening and on weekends without a second thought, taking away what little home life and escape we have left.

I had a coworker look over my shoulder the other day and see only five emails left in my inbox. To say it lightly, he was shocked. To bring perspective into his shock, I am currently deeply involved with projects ranging in scope of only a few tens of thousands of dollars to multi-million-dollar multi-national contracts. Receiving customer demands, internal demands, and an overabundance of other requests for information, coordination, and direction daily - And yet there in his amazement sat my inbox virtually clean. He knew I had every one of the projects under control. But how?

“What is going on here?” he asked in total confusion. I grinned, and jokingly said, “Delete is such an underrated button!”

But alas, he knew I was joking so, I took him through a quick “Nanney Time Management 101” course. He appreciated it so much that I decided to share what I showed him. Maybe there is something useful for you as well?

Before we begin, I need to clarify that what I do today works only in my current work environment, over the years, I have always adjusted and manipulated methods to meet the demand of the philosophy that I will herein describe. You may find that only a couple of ways that I use are useful, maybe none of them at all. And, while I write extensively on my methods of “how”, I do not want the reader to miss the main success element. It really is less about “how” I do it and more about the critical philosophy. A philosophy that drives the need for each person to create their own “how” and then DO THAT. And watch success.

So, let’s get started.

Many years ago, I went through one of those Franklin Calendar Time Management courses. At that time, their aim was to sell the Franklin calendar/organization books that helped organize the executive. This was well before computers were really on our desks. (Yeah, I know I just dated myself). However, the instructor demonstrated something that I have never forgotten and find still relevant today. He sat down at a table in front of the class, he had a stack of documents to his left and a pad of paper and pen in front of him. He began by picking up each document to examine the content, determine what needed to be done, jotted a few notes, and then placed each one, one by one on his right. At the end of the process, he still had the same stack of paper on the right side of his desk as he began with on the left, and the only thing achieved was an overpowering understanding that he had a ton of work to do. He had accomplished extraordinarily little while moving paper from one side of his desk to the other. It was one of those ah-ha moments that will, with luck, crystalize an ah-ha for you in the following paragraphs.

Using today’s technology, I have gained tricks that drive directly to what the instructor had shown. A successful time management scheme, which demands that we stop repeating work. A basic rule that says: If you open it, Do something with It NOW! In line with this rule, when I open an email, I immediately evaluate it for action. Categorized by four impact levels:

1.   Do It Now, Can I perform the task required right now in 5 minutes or less? whatever that is… because if it can be done now do it NOW, then remove the email from my Inbox.

Here you must be honest with yourself. I have several tasks that are mundane data entry type tasks that come to me via email. It is easy to kid myself and think, “That’s easy, I’ll do that later…” and move on without doing anything with it. This one is a gotcha, if it is easy DO IT DAMN-IT!

I force myself to stop and do it! And then move the email out of my inbox… By doing so I made progress. Progress is good. And usually, the data entry task takes less time in totality than having to come back and reopen the email, re-exam the content before finally doing the work. My advice, take the time to make those self-imposed rules. Self-imposed rules that “MUST BE DONE NOW”. But once you make the rule, you must stick to it!

2.   Simple To-do item? If it fits this category, I move it to a Task with a deadline and then remove the email from my Inbox.

Regardless of what email management software you use, I am certain one of the functions is a Tasks or Reminder function or both. Giving us the ability to take something like, “Contact Joe about the rental equipment by Tuesday” and drop it into a Task/Reminder - set a due date - and save, then move the email out of my inbox. All with reasonable expectations of when it needs to be done and a reminder set so I do not forget it.

3.   Long Term Action Log Item. Is the email part of a several-step process? I use excel with a standard action log template that I can then create or update a journal entry and next update schedule. This is where this type of item should be tracked, not buried in an email inbox. This is because in excel you can sort by date, subject, responsible person, department, or whatever is needed. Provided you are checking it daily nothing in the action log will be missed. So, update the Action Log, and then remove the email from my Inbox.

4.   The OMG Email. These are the emails that require me to l take more than a few minutes to solve, but must be solved in the next 12 hours, AND do not meet the requirements of items 1 through 3 above. These FLAG emails remain in the inbox. I allow myself when I hit one of these to move on without resolving. But it must be flagged (or Starred) so it is seen as read and waiting for action.

If you notice three of the four actions above end with “…and then remove the email from my Inbox.” That function by itself will remove most emails. But let’s talk about bullet 4 a little more… what is that and how do we get those problem emails out of the inbox?

First, we must really understand what drives a flag. These are emails that are critical to the operation and require extensive (more than 5 minutes) of work to solve AND usually must be solved inside that business day. The AND statement is important. For example, let’s say a task requires me to write a letter that requires contract language and research. The letter needs to go out by the end of the week and today is Wednesday. I need to get the team involved to review, edit, and finally agree to the letter content before sending it. This means, I really need to start the work today and have something out to them by COB. But I understand this, and the email REMAINING in my inbox does not help keep track of the job. In this case, it is a TASK. I will set it up with an appropriate start and completion date, with reminders - and the initiating email is removed from my inbox. If needed I dump a copy of that email in my task for future reference. Therefore, this example does not meet the Flag and should not stay in my inbox.

NOTE: Depending on your email software, I have set several tasks for one email if it is multiple steps. Keep in mind you will need to figure out the how… I am just providing my current method.

Another example: I have an ongoing issue with a major deliverable for a program, an email comes in discussing the progress and some major actionable item that Engineering needs to solve. This is important to know, but I only need to be aware of the issue and ensure that somebody is working on it, this is an Action Log item that requires an appropriate journal entry and next update date set for tracking. It is not a flagged email and must be handled as such.

In each of these examples, the point I am trying to make is that my goal is to figure out how to get it out of the inbox! That is the goal, the end run. 1) Evaluating, 2) putting a reasonable expectation on it, 3) making sure it is tracked, and finally, 4) getting it done when it needs to be done.

The key to time control is that when you open an email, DO SOMETHING WITH IT. Telling yourself “Oh yeah, that’s an issue I need to deal with” and then without further thought moving to the next email only doubled your email work. This mistake demands, you go back through the same batch of emails AGAIN to remind yourself of what you already once read. It is an illusion that somehow magically the second, third, or worse time around looking at an email it will be easier to deal with is my idea of insanity. All you are doing is ensuring that you will lose track of things and find yourself operating by panic management. Panic management can be controlled by merely doing something to clear the email the first time correctly. Once you are used to the effort you will begin to feel and see the difference.

To further assist you to understand how I affect this work, let me take you through a typical day.

Every morning I have blocked a 30-minutes reoccurring span at the beginning of my workday specifically for email. If I must come to work 30-minutes early to escape those relentlessly needy coworkers, that is exactly what I do to make sure I have My Time. Short of an emergency I make it clear to everyone: “Do not disturb!” In 30-minutes, I can review, categorize, and move out of my email box literally a hundred or more emails. Sound impossible? All I can say is practice, practice, practice. By the end of that 30-minutes, I may have 10 or more flagged emails. Then I take those and review them again to define more closely what they really are demanding. Taking more than 5 minutes if required I am focused on getting the email out of my inbox. I find that at this juncture some of those can still be recategorized and moved out of my inbox. And I do. I allow myself no excuse if it can be completed or moved I do it. If all I must do is open a file, look something up, transfer some data, provide some information, communicate a decision, I just get it done - Checkmark in that box - email is removed from my inbox. Progress is made.

Once that is done, I am left with the half dozen that require my attention that day. I can look at my daily calendar and prioritize that work. In some cases, I may need to reach out to the team ask questions about a task, research information, collect data and in doing so complete the task or at that step, move it to a Task or an Action Log Item. Additionally, as my day progresses, I keep an eye on the flagged emails to ensure that the “got to get this done today” status stays relevant. Many times, that priority changes just by the nature of the business. Sometimes others answer the email relieving me of the need to do anything. Or something else changes the requirement completing or allowing me to push it to a task or action log. Once that occurs, I take the appropriate action immediately, unflag, and move the email from my inbox.

Yes, I have tasks and Action Log Item from days prior popping in the middle of this, but if I planned properly, I am ready for them and take them as part of the day's business. Most of the Tasks are simple calls, or reminders to check on something, or make some reporting step. Action Logs Items tend to be meeting-driven or a matter of reaching out to the responsible party for status and progress. And yes, the day is still fast and furious, but it is in a more organized and proactive approach, not a continuous firefighting battle!

Meanwhile, as if the email demon is determined to undermine my efforts, more emails start pouring in even while hammering through the first 30-minute battle. I know, almost like the arcade game “Hit a Mole” they just keep popping out of new holes as fast as I can hammer them back in. Therefore, I block on my calendar a couple times through each day that is MY Time. Usually, in 30-minute blocks, all set for a repeat of my morning start-up exercise. In fact, I usually demand one hour per day minimum that I refuse to give up. Somebody books a calendar event in that time; I decline and state the reason. In my judgment, I must protect my projects, and I do that most effectively by forcefully protecting my time. Sometimes I lose, and the time slot must be taken. That is okay provided it is rare. Plus, I counter this by having other points in the day blocked. This proactive blocking of “My Time” usually provides a minimum of one hour per day… and often I get more than that. (That is right, I block more time than I really need. This ensures that they do not get to run my day, I run my day, or I lose, and if I lose the program loses, and then the whole team loses!) Any good leader will understand this.

In conclusion, if you take anything away from this article it needs to be the same thing, I took away from the Franklin training so many years ago:

Once you pick up a document, open an email, look at a text, DO SOMETHING WITH IT, no exceptions. Or end up just moving things from one side of your desk to the other in an endless circular motion to nowhere.

Your call.