AI can save you time

Five Powerful Strategies that Conserve Valuable Project Time

Time is the most important resource on any project managers often wish they had more of. Think of how often your team gets distracted, sidetracked or has another priority request made. Effective time management improves the likelihood of project success and reduces wasted time.

How can project managers optimize their time? Here’s a few tricks to get started.

1. Create efficient to-do lists.

Effective to-do lists contain prioritized lists of tasks, starting with the most important. When you prepare thoughtful lists to manage priorities, your team can focus their time and attention on the most important tasks at hand. Deconstructing larger tasks into simpler ones also helps achieve smaller milestones on a consistent basis. Spending 10 minutes at the beginning of each work day preparing a to-do list helps your team use their time efficiently.

2. Organize effective team meetings with purpose and structure.

Use the time spent in team meetings to exchange ideas, as well as discuss risks and problems. Avoid wasting time catching up on status updates. Create a well-planned agenda and do not allow the meeting to run on beyond the allotted time.  If there are specific issues to be resolved amongst certain employees, let off the others so they can continue with other tasks.

3. Encourage your team to spend their mornings on a major task.

Team members are at their best during mornings, which means it’s the perfect time to tackle big tasks. An effective technique is to assign one major task to each team member each morning. Also consider breaking down complex to-do lists into smaller ones.

4. Train your team to pay full attention to the task at hand.

Performing tasks with half your attention is one of the main reasons for wasted time. Train your staff to avoid getting distracted with emails, text messages and social media. This is a reliable way to avoid fragmented sessions and get into deep, focused work.  External distractions result in taking twice the time to accomplish half as much.

5. Avoid micromanaging every task.

The need to micromanage everything will result in a waste of time and energy for both you and your team. While follow-ups are important for project success, micromanagement is unnecessary. Instead, create a detailed schedule where team members report on progress. this will save your time moving from one cubicle to the next and checking on every member.

The Importance of Proper Time Management

Efficient time management is a key responsibility of the project leader. In order to be a successful manager, you need to track and optimize time spent on projects. Planning the next day’s agenda and reviewing the day’s progress helps track time usage. Time management tools can be your allies in completion of projects before deadlines.

PMO Partners can help you achieve your time management objectives and recommend suitable solutions. Our knowledgeable staff can share expert guidance in helping your team find excellent project managers in your area.