Business Alert: Project Management vs. Time Management…Which Is Better For Your Company

March 19, 2012 - PRLog -- Falls Church, Va. —  It’s a common dilemma for many business owners, supervisors, managers and directors:  how do you prioritize appointments, meetings, conference calls and staff needs and still leave enough time to take care of your immediate responsibilities and projects? The solution may be to focus more on project management than time management. Discover how to gain efficiency through more effective project management skills.

According Business Management Daily’s Senior Web Editor, Elizabeth Hall, “Many managers are often too busy for all that time-management jazz. They prioritize what they need to do in their head because they don’t think they have the time to make a list.”

Hall adds, “They’ve tried to block out appointments, but emergencies always throw everything awry. But really the way they’ve been tackling it’s optimal. What’s most effective is to manage projects instead of time”.

Below are the top tips for effective project management:

1.   Match Maker.  Match each task with its respective ‘champion’ or delegate. Break a project into its component parts—the specific jobs that you can delegate. Then assign these tasks, including a numbered list of ‘to do’s’ to the appropriate people with deadlines (day and time) for them to complete each stage. Everyone involved the project should get a copy of this list so deliverables are clear.

2.   Keep It Short and Sweet.  When you’re asked to introduce a guest speaker to a group, distribute the person’s full written bio in advance, then limit the actual introduction into two or three sentences. That way, your time is streamlined and the audience has time to read about the speaker’s background ahead of time.

3.   Cluster Up. Maximize every business ‘errand’ by arranging groups of meetings, inspections and similar activities near the corresponding destination. For example, if it’s elevator ride up three flights to see a colleague, deliver documents needed by others in that vicinity. It’s killing two birds with one stone.

4.   ‘Just In Time’ Decisions. Smart managers choose the proper moment to gather and review the data they need to draw the right conclusion. If preliminary decisions are rushed, only to revisit the issue repeatedly in the weeks ahead, time was wasted. As a rule of thumb, only make decisions once. If circumstances change or new information surfaces, then reassess.

Hall concludes, “By managing projects instead of time, managers won’t need to check their watch every few hours or grow frazzled trying to jam too much into their work day. It truly is a much more efficient and effective way to manage you schedule, tasks, and ultimately, your business!”

For more information and to download the ‘must read’ free report, 10 Time Management Tips: A how-to guide on efficiently managing your time through effective delegating, calendar management and using productivity tools, visit http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/6630/time-manageme....

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