We can get greater quantities of every other resource we need, except time. [Peter] Drucker reports that executives spend their time much differently than they think they do and much differently than they would like to. His solution is to begin by measuring how you spend your time, and compare it with an ideal allocation. Than begin to systematically get rid of the unimportant in favor of the important. His suggestions include stopping some things, delegation, creating policy decisions to replace ad hoc decisions, staying out of things that others should do, and so forth…One of the best points is to give yourself large blocks of uninterrupted time to do more significant tasks…
Drucker argues that we should focus on what will make a difference rather than unimportant questions. Otherwise, we will fill our time with motion rather than proceeding towards results.
From A review of The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Drucker.
Scott Meade
on 31 May 07Measuring your time fits in nicely with the concept of single-tasking. When you measure and record time in real-time, you find yourself sticking to the task for which the timer it ticking. I did exactly as recommended here: tracked every minute of my day for a couple weeks. And I found that, not surprisingly, much less time was spent on major efforts than I had thought. Too much time was spent on task switching and interruptions. None of this surprised me. (Here’s some thoughts on why).
What did pleasantly surprise me was the way that keeping track of time started push me toward single-tasking and increased productivity. And I’m not talking about filling in a timecard at the end of the week, I’m talking about real-time time tracking. It’s not even a matter of analyzing hours per task either. I actually never took a close look at the results. The hours spent on one task versus another didn’t really matter. It was just the process of starting and stopping the timer with each task-switch that amplified the cost, to me, of switching tasks.
Similar to how people have found that having to think about and record where they spend money makes them more aware of their money. It’s not the recording or reporting itself that makes you more aware, it’s that you no longer just spend time or money without at least a fleeting realization that you are making a decision to do so. It’s no longer just automatic.
For me, starting the timer on a task was reinforcement to my brain that “ok – here’s the task at hand – let’s go”. Clicking “start” in my LiveTimer page became a ritual when starting a task. I was like a smoker tapping their pack of cigarettes before lighting up.
This ritual amplified the impact task switching has throughout the day. Just the added steps of stopping and starting the timer were enough to keep me honest to myself. I didn’t let myself just slip over and “take a peek” at CNN.com or the latest svn entries without stopping the clock on the current task and starting it on another. Again, it’s not the actual time recorded, that really didn’t matter. It was just the ritual that went with task switching that made it less automatic and turned switching tasks into a concious, specific decision. Insted of wandering off task, I’d have to say to myself – “ok, I’m going to stop working on this task and start on this other one”. Running the timer kept me accountable to myself. And I liked it.
I don’t use the timer all day anymore because going through this process for a couple weeks I’ve built the habit of single-tasking and can more easily resist slipping over to take a diversion from the important tasks at hand. But I still can’t seem to resist writing too-long comments on blogs!
Anonymous Coward
on 31 May 07Scott,
How do you get ANYTHING done when writing long blog comments like that? :>
Sammy
on 31 May 07It makes sense to say that people need to pay more attention to how they spend their time. But if executives – or, hell, anyone really – don’t have a grasp on how they’re spending their time, I’m not sure that it follows that they have a good grasp of how it should be spent.
Hope that makes sense.
Anonymous Coward
on 31 May 07You might want to check out the Critical Chain project management methodology which is based on the Theory of Constraints
It explains beautifully, why exactly task-swichting is a problem, amongst a host of quite unconventional takes on project management.
Chris Nagele
on 31 May 07Drucker is one of my favorite writers on management. He actually coined the term “Knowledge Worker” a very long time ago. My father lent me some of Drucker’s first books on management (they are 40 years old), which still prove to be incredibly valuable in today’s trends and management practices.
I wrote a post a while back about his thoughts on treating employees like volunteers. His latest book, The Effective Executive in Action is more like a work book to apply the ideas to your current situation.
Karl N
on 31 May 07“We can get greater quantities of every other resource we need, except time.”
Not true… you can lessen the amount of time certain things take. Think mass production versus a blacksmith.
And I guess if you reduced to zero the time of every task you wanted to accomplish, you’d have infinite time to accomplish everything.
What I’m saying is that time can be “made” through efficiency, or cost-reduction. It’s as limited as any other scarce resource.
Steve Butterworth
on 31 May 07I have been going through this exercise the last week or so using slimtimer and must say it is really helping.
Being so busy and getting to the end of the day not sure what I’ve actually done was a common feeling for me. However timing each task really helps me focus on things one at a time. Also you get much better at estimating your time for the future which when you’re a freelancer like me is pretty important.
Random8r
on 01 Jun 07... and time is actually an illusion ;-)
Ben Strackany
on 01 Jun 07I’ve also been doing this using a windows timer app for the past few months, and I’ll second (third?) the consensus that just timing what you do helps in a number of ways, like making sure I get enough “real” work done, making sure my invoices are detailed and accurate, helping me improve my effort estimates, and provided reminders and explanations to me and clients about what I did during 4 hours I spent last Tuesday on their project.
Unlike Scott, I plan to keep using the timer (since I use it for invoicing), and I like that it’s become ingrained into my routine.
Tony Wright
on 01 Jun 07Great post.
It’s amazing that individuals and businesses try to religiously track money with tools like Quicken and Quickbooks, but very few bother to track time on anything more than an exploratory/experimental way (or when it’s required for billing).
Time management sucks. It’s onerous and time consuming. And it’s incredibly hard to catch up if you miss a day or two (“What did I spend my time on today? I’ll be damned if I can remember…”).
We’re working on a product (currently in private alpha- open beta in a few weeks or so) that allows geeky lifehackers to understand how they spend their time without any data entry. Now that I use it every day, I am absolutely FLOORED by the time I spend on stuff like email, IM, and (irony) surfing blogs. Click my name if you’d like to see what we’re up to (and please shout out with any questions or thoughts)!
Ismo Ruotsalainen
on 01 Jun 07We dont need more other resources, except time.
Chris Palmisano
on 01 Jun 07Pet peeve: Than vs. Then
-Captain Grammar signing off
Thomas Watson
on 05 Jun 07Very interesting topic. I’ve started a new company with 3 good friends, and have for a while now wondered where all my time went. I think that most of my friends know that I’m not the best time-manager.
I’m not going to repeat any of the great points made in the comments above. I can just say that I’ll try recording my time from now on :) – Thnx.
This discussion is closed.