Time Management: Planning and Prioritizing Your Time
Presentation & Facilitation Guide
© 2011 SkillSoft Ireland Limited
Introduction and Ground Rules
• Presenter: [enter name of presenter or facilitator].
• Target audience: Individuals who want to develop or refresh their time
management skills.
• Goal: To plan and prioritize tasks in order to make the most of your time.
• Ground rules:
• list ground rules here
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Agenda
• Course Overview.
• Topic 1: Prioritizing Your Workload.
• Topic 2: Using Sequencing and Queuing to Manage Time.
• Topic 3: Estimating Time Frames.
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Course Overview
Managing time effectively:
• Identify goals.
• Establish priorities.
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Topic 1: Prioritizing Your Workload
• Identify which criteria have been applied in a given to-do list.
• Prioritize tasks from a given to-do list.
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Goals as a Time Management Tool
• Identify your goals:
• Specific, desired outcomes.
• Determine how much
time needed.
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Practice
Which do you think is the best example of an effective goal?
A. Produce a sales report.
B. Recruit three new staff members by August 31.
C. Sales conference plans by October 31.
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Goals as a Time Management Tool
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Goals as a Time Management Tool
• Specific goals are more useful than vague ones.
• Goals should be measurable:
• How much?
• How many?
• What percentage?
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Goals as a Time Management Tool
Goals should be attainable and realistic:
• Plan steps wisely.
• Establish time frame.
• Consider professional and
personal factors.
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Goals as a Time Management Tool
Goals should be time-related:
• Set precise deadlines.
• Create a schedule.
• Create to-do list.
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Attributes of a Good To-do List
• Distinguishes long- and short-term
goals.
• Lists tasks associated with each goal.
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Attributes of a Good To-do List
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Attributes of a Good To-do List
• Break tasks down and use
action verbs:
• Prepare a presentation on
e-books.
• Ensure tasks are measurable:
• Prepare a 20-minute presentation
on e-books.
• Schedule tasks by adding a
time frame:
• Prepare a 20-minute presentation
on e-books by October 26.
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Attributes of a Good To-do List
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Practice
Tom has created a to-do list identifying tasks for his goal of preparing a presentation
on his company's new product design.
Which AIMS criteria has Tom successfully incorporated into his to-do list?
A. Action-centered.
B. Incremental.
C. Measurable.
D. Scheduled.
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The Priority Matrix
Divides work into urgent and important categories.
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The Priority Matrix
Urgent tasks
• Demand immediate attention.
• Highly visible.
• Important to others.
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Important tasks
• Help to achieve long-term goals.
• Require planning.
• You must be proactive.
The Priority Matrix
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Practice
Match each priority matrix category to a description of the types of tasks it
should contain.
Categories
A. Urgent but not important.
B. Not urgent and not important.
Tasks
___
___
C. Important but not urgent.
___
D. Urgent and important.
___
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These tasks have the lowest priority and can
be completed when other tasks are done.
Tasks in this category include networking and
relationship building, and are often the
preferred tasks because they tend to be more
interesting.
Tasks in this category should be completed as
soon as possible; they have the highest
priority.
Tasks such as these should be addressed
promptly but you shouldn't spend too much
time on them.
The Priority Matrix
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Discussion
Think of what tasks you will need to perform when this presentation is
finished, or what you need to do over the next few days or weeks.
Make a list and then put each task into the appropriate quadrant of the
priority matrix.
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Practice
Match the tasks to the appropriate quadrants on the priority matrix.
Tasks
Quadrants
A. Fix a problem with the server that is
causing work delays.
B. Set up a username and password for
a new employee who's due to start in
two months.
C. Address an interruption from a
colleague about system software.
D. Read through brochures about a
conference next year.
___
___
___
___
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Important but not urgent .
Urgent and important.
Urgent but not important.
Not urgent and not important.
The Priority Matrix
• Schedule tasks.
• Set aside specific times.
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Topic 2: Using Sequencing and Queuing to Manage Time
• Recognize the type of things that should be considered when
sequencing tasks.
• Identify when to use different queuing methods.
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Sequencing
• Sequencing:
• Plan according to start dates.
• Quickly review what you need to do.
• Three steps for effective sequencing:
1. Distinguish between tasks.
2. Schedule tasks.
3. Renegotiate deadlines.
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Distinguish between Tasks
• Sequential?
• Parallel?
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Discussion
Consider the list of tasks you made for the discussion activity in the previous
topic. Can you distinguish between the parallel and sequential tasks? State
the reasons for each selection.
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Practice
Which do you think is the best way to start scheduling your sequential and
parallel tasks?
A. Schedule the sequential tasks by their earliest start dates.
B. Start with parallel tasks and work the sequential tasks around them.
C. Schedule the sequential task that's most difficult first.
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Schedule Tasks
• Start with sequential task with earliest completion date.
• Schedule parallel tasks to fall into time gaps.
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Renegotiate Deadlines
Renegotiate deadlines if not achievable.
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Renegotiate Deadlines
Gloria is the marketing manager for a
leading-edge software company. She
has several tasks to complete this week.
She works eight hours each day,
between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and
takes lunch each day from 1:00 p.m. to
2:00 p.m. During this particular week,
she has to have all tasks completed by
6:00 p.m. on Friday night.
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Practice
Gloria needs to distinguish between parallel and sequential tasks.
Which statements do you think apply to the tasks outlined for her week?
A. Drafting and producing the information leaflets for the Marketing Dynamics
conference is a parallel task.
B. Finalizing the New York marketing seminar budget is a sequential task.
C. Putting together an initial project plan for the Marketing Essentials conference
is a parallel task.
D. Creating marketing material for the blogging workshops is a parallel task.
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Renegotiate Deadlines
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Practice
Which statements best describe how Gloria should schedule her tasks?
A. Gloria should schedule task 1 to start Monday at 2:00 p.m. when the information
she needs becomes available.
B. Task 3 should be scheduled for first thing on Monday morning.
C. Task 4 should be scheduled for Friday.
D. Task 2 can be slotted in on Monday morning before starting any sequential tasks.
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Renegotiate Deadlines
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Practice
Gloria now needs to determine whether she needs to renegotiate any
deadlines.
Which deadlines, if any, should Gloria renegotiate?
A. None.
B. Task 1.
C. Task 2.
D. Task 4.
E. Task 3.
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Renegotiate Deadlines
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Queuing
Prioritize tasks by:
• Place in line.
• Customer status.
• Processing time.
• Due date.
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Queuing Methods
• Consider pros and cons of each
method.
• Choose method that suits
circumstances.
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Queuing
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Practice
Match each queuing method to the circumstance in which its use is
most appropriate.
Methods
A. Place in line.
Circumstances
___
B. Due date.
___
C. Processing time.
___
D. Customer status.
___
Jennifer, an information officer at a university, must
address many students in person throughout her day,
answering various questions from them.
Jeremy provides trauma counseling to walk-in
patients at a busy hospital.
Ted processes routine insurance claims, some of
which take longer than others to process.
Lucille creates itineraries and makes bookings for
travelers, and she sometimes has clients who give
very short notice of their travel plans.
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Topic 3: Estimating Time Frames
Use the time frames equation to estimate the shortest possible
completion time for a given task.
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Estimating Time Frames
Make accurate estimates to:
• Schedule work efficiently.
• Meet deadlines.
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Practice
What are the benefits of accurately estimating time frames?
A. Helps you schedule your work more efficiently.
B. Helps you create optimistic deadlines.
C. Enables you to meet deadlines.
D. Ensures that you will not run into any difficulties with your tasks.
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Discussion
Can you think of any occasion(s) when you underestimated how long a
particular task would take? How did this impact your schedule?
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Estimating Time Frames
• Know requirements.
• Take account of experience.
• Estimate three time frames:
• Likely time.
• Shortest time.
• Longest time.
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Practice
Match each time frame with its corresponding description.
Time frames
Descriptions
A. Likely time.
___
The time frame that takes into account
everything that could go wrong while you're
doing the task.
___
The time frame that you're most comfortable
with, considering your past experience with the
task.
___
The best time frame you can achieve, when
everything runs smoothly.
B. Shortest time.
C. Longest time.
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Time Estimate Equation
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Time Estimate Equation
• Obtain figures for equation.
• Convert units of measurement .
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Time Estimate Equation
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Practice
Sequence the steps for calculating the shortest possible completion
time for a task.
___
Divide by 6.
___
Multiply the likely time estimate by 4.
___
Add the times.
___
Put times in the same format.
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Time Estimate Equation
Helps ensure you are realistic.
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Practice
Jonathan must estimate the shortest possible time it will take to collate and
record the information from 50 customer feedback forms. He reviews
previous performance records and estimates his times as follows: shortest
time, 90 minutes; likely time, 120 minutes; and longest time, 3 hours.
What is the shortest possible time for completing the task, according to the
time frames equation?
A. 95 minutes.
B. 125 minutes.
C. 750 minutes.
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Wrap-up / Q&A
• Topic 1: Prioritizing Your Workload.
• Identify which criteria have been applied in a given to-do list.
• Prioritize tasks from a given to-do list.
• Topic 2: Using Sequencing and Queuing to Manage Time.
• Recognize the type of things that should be considered when sequencing tasks.
• Identify when to use different queuing methods.
• Topic 3: Estimating Time Frames.
• Use the time frames equation to estimate the shortest possible completion time
for a given task.
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