TIME MANAGEMENT

DR. ESTRELLA SALMASAN

UNDERSTANDING THE TIME MANAGEMENT DEFINITION

 Have you ever wondered how it is that some people seem to have enough time to do everything
that they want to, whereas others are always rushing from task to task, and never seem to finish
anything?
 It cannot just be that some people have less to do. It’s much more likely that they are using their
time more effectively: in other words, showing good time management skills.
TIME MANAGEMENT DEFINITION

 Time management is the ability to effectively prioritize your work. It’s essentially your aptitude for staying
productive and ensuring you are meeting your overall objectives. Those with strong time management skills tend
to meet deadlines and show up to meetings early. They also have a good idea of how long a task will take and are
able to plan accordingly. Likewise, they are realistic of time constraints and avoid overbooking themselves.
 Time management is the ability to use your time productively and efficiently. You could also
think of it as the art of having time to do everything that you need, without feeling stressed
about it. It sounds simple, but it is much harder in practice. This page explains some of the
principles behind good time management.
 WHY ARE TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS IMPORTANT?

 Time management skills are important because they help you structure your work in a way that allows you to accomplish
goals. For example, if your goal is to get a job, you need time to update your resume, search for openings, apply, research
companies and prepare for interviews. Setting aside specific amounts of time per day will help you complete the
necessary steps to getting a job.
 Alternatively, if you already have a job, you likely have a variety of responsibilities to help the company achieve certain
goals. Maintaining your calendar, meetings and tasks is necessary to be successful in your role.
 Being fully present and focused results from strong time management skills. For example, if you are running late to a
meeting and must work on a project you forgot was due while people are speaking, you might miss important information
that could help you be better at your job.
 Managing your time well also allows you to have space to be creative and proactive with your goals. When you have a
specific time set aside to complete your tasks, you can also allow for time to think about the big picture for yourself and
your company.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

 If you find yourself good at time management, it’s likely that you have most of these skills:
 Decision-making
 Knowing how to spend your time takes a lot of decision making. You need to have the skills to choose which work
is most important to do. You also need to have the ability to decide when to agree to a project or professionally
decline.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

 Goal setting
 Those with solid time management skills prioritize setting goals. They understand that a quality goal needs to be
time-bound. This means that you set an end date for achieving your goal. In order to stay on top of your goal,
adding major milestones along the way is also helpful. For instance, if it’s your goal to have a new job in six
months, some milestones could be creating a resume, writing cover letters, and applying to jobs.
 Setting goals is the first step to becoming a good time manager. Goal-setting allows you to clearly understand your
end goal and what exactly you need to prioritize to accomplish it. Setting both short and long-term goals can lead
to success in your career.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

 Organization
 Staying organized is a major part of being on top of your work. By having your desk in order and your calendar up
to date, you stay calm and collected while figuring out what you need to do. Being organized can help you
prioritize your tasks, get to meetings on time, and hand in quality work. Staying organized can help you maintain a
clear picture of what you need to complete and when.
 Being well-organized might mean maintaining an up-to-date calendar, being able to locate certain documents
easily, having a tidy environment and taking detailed, diligent notes.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

 Planning
 A fundamental part of time management is planning. Being efficient in planning out your day, meetings and how
you will accomplish things will help you stick to your schedule.
 Knowing how to plan out your day is a key component of having good time management. Planning consists of
scheduling your meetings, appointments, and daily tasks. Another part of the planning process is having tools and
resources that keep you on task. Those who know how to manage their time can plan the length of a project or
task.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

 Prioritizing
 Being able to assess which tasks are the most important is a big part of knowing how to spend your time at work.
Some people choose to knock out a bunch of fast tasks so that they have the rest of their week to work on more
challenging tasks. Likewise, you may do the exact opposite if it works better for you. The main thing is knowing
your working style and what’s going to help you get everything done on time.
 Assessing each of your responsibilities for priority is key in being a good time manager. There are many ways to
prioritize what you need to accomplish. You might decide to complete fast, simple items followed by longer, more
involved ones. Alternatively, you might prioritize your tasks starting with the most time-sensitive, or a
combination of both.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

 Delegation
 Being a good time manager means only completing work that will help you and your company accomplish goals.
While this skill is most often done by managers, you can also practice delegating tasks if you are managing a
project. While it can often be difficult to say “no” when someone asks you to do something at work, it is important
to practice having boundaries to manage your time well and ultimately accomplish your goals.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

 Stress management
 Oftentimes, stressing over a task causes unnecessary delay. That’s why stress management is so important for
getting your work done on time. When you have stress management skills, you have the ability to stay calm and
collected under pressure. You don’t let your emotions get in the way of staying productive and efficient.
TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

 Follow these tips to improve your time management skills:

• Create SMART goals: SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. By making
sure all of your goals meet these five categories, you’re more likely to reach more of them. The time-bound
component is especially helpful when trying to be better with time management.
• Assume everything will take longer: Rather than trying to cram in projects and meetings every second of your
day, give yourself enough wiggle room for overlap. Scheduling back to back meetings can be risky since you
never know if a meeting will go over time. By giving yourself plenty of time, you’ll be able to get everything you
intended done.
• Update your calendar regularly: At the start of each workday, look over your calendar to see what you
accomplished and what you still need to do. Remember, your calendar can be a fluid tool that’s subject to change.
If you find that it makes more sense to do a different task now, it’s okay to change things around. Someone who is
good at managing time can also be flexible.
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

• Find stress management methods: Don’t let stress get in the way of being your most productive self. By finding ways to
manage your stress, you can feel more motivated and focused at work. A few stress management techniques include getting
enough sleep, exercising, meditation, spending time with those you love, and making time for hobbies you enjoy.
• Give yourself a break: You may think grinding all day will help you get more done, but oftentimes this can lead to burnout.
Set aside some time between tasks to give yourself a 10- to 15-minute break. If you’re able, go outside and get some fresh
air. You could also use this as a chance to chat with a coworker. Rather than catching up on work during your lunch breaks,
take a good half an hour to eat a flavorful, healthy lunch.
• Learn to say ‘no’: If you’re a people pleaser, you may find yourself saying ‘yes’ a lot. Although this can show you’re a
team player, it’s also an easy way to overload your schedule. When you’re already feeling overbooked, it’s perfectly
acceptable to say, ‘Now isn’t the best time for me. Could I help you out later?’
• Turn off your notifications: Put your smartphone in your drawer and turn off all of your email notifications. Every time
you see a little red dot pop up, this may take your attention away from the task at hand and make it challenging to get back
into the zone. Save checking your apps and messages for break time.
 Using the Priority Matrix
 To use the priority matrix, it is best to review your tasks on a daily basis. Each day, ask yourself:
• Which of my tasks needs doing within the next 48 hours?
• Those are the ‘Urgent’ tasks.
• Of the urgent tasks, which ones are more important?
• It is a good idea to list your tasks in order of importance, rather than giving them an absolute ‘important/not important’ distinction.
• Of the non-urgent tasks, which ones are more important?
• Again, it is a good idea to list them in order, rather than giving them an absolute distinction.
 Now use the answers to these questions to allocate your tasks to the boxes in the priority matrix, following these rules:
• Each box should contain no more than about seven or eight tasks.
• Start with the ‘Do Now’ box.
• Crucially, don’t put off urgent or important things just because they are unpleasant. They won’t get any better for procrastinating
• Next, look at the less urgent but still important tasks. Decide what you are going to do about them, and then schedule time into
your diary to do them, or consider delegating them to someone else.
• Delegate the urgent but easier/less important tasks.
• Now eliminate the non-urgent and non-important tasks.
• Finally, do the work. Start your ‘Do Now’ list. When you finish it, move onto the scheduled work or tasks.

TIPS FOR TIME MANAGEMENT

 Motivational Tips
• If procrastination is a problem, do your most difficult or distasteful task first. Getting it over with can help reduce
anxiety.
• Divide up large projects into subprojects. It makes them less intimidating, reduces procrastination, and allows a
sense of accomplishment even before the project is complete.
• Complete at least one task each day, even if that's a small part of a larger project.
• Schedule time to worry. Try not to worry about task B when you're working on task A. Schedule task B and tell
yourself that you'll worry about B at that time and not before.
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

DR. ESTRELLA SALMASAN

WHY IS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IMPORTANT? THERE’S 5 MAIN REASONS.

1. Provides you with an overview of everyone and everything involved in your

project;
2. Enables utilization planning;
3. Makes the planning and management process more transparent;
4. Helps you see problems before they start;
5. Gives you control over your project.
DIFFERENT SKILLS OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 Planning and scheduling – Understanding what resources are available and when
• Available and required skills – Assessing the skills of each person and whether additional skills (or people) need to
be added
• Resource utilization – Knowing where people are already committed and if those allocations are appropriate
• Resource capacity – Understanding true capacity to do work, recognizing that not all time can be utilized
• Resource prioritization and allocation – Identifying those prioritized initiatives that the most attention and possibly
specialized skills
 Resource management ensures resource managers have on-demand, real-time visibility into people and other
resources so they can have greater control over delivery.
 THE BASICS OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 Resource management is critical for organizations to ensure they are optimizing and allocating resources to the
right initiatives – the initiatives that are aligned to corporate strategy and bring the most value. By minimizing
waste and duplication, streamlining and automating processes, and maximizing and speeding throughput, the
enterprise is in a better position to respond quickly to customer demands and be nimble to change. Program and
project delivery demand better resource management.
 Regardless of work methodology, leaders seeking to practice effective resource management must balance demand
with capacity while also understanding the needs of the business to prioritize, plan, and schedule work with the
right teams, people, and skill sets. Gartner says that the opportunity and challenge for leaders is to “respond and
move from a static to an agile planning approach, one that can continually reshape the workforce to incorporate
changes in business and skill needs.”
 With increasing demand and change, continuously delivering value with resources is not easy, even for the most
mature organizations. It is a common and constant challenge for the enterprise: Making sure there are
enough of the right resources and funding on hand to complete work well and on time. And that is where evolved
resource management can help.
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DEFINITION

 Resource management is the process of planning, scheduling, and allocating organizational and project resources
in the best possible way. Its ultimate aim is to maximize your resources’ efficiency. Which in turn will help
fulfil project, task, or organizational goals.
 When doing project management, managers need to know if there’s enough capacity and the proper means to
bring your projects to life. Resource management can ensure that you’ll not only have the right resources to
achieve your objectives, but you’ll have the right resources that can take your projects to the next level. With as
few of hiccups as possible.
 Resource management is the practice of planning, scheduling, and allocating people, money, and technology to a
project or program. In essence, it is the process of allocating resources to achieve the greatest organizational value
. Good resource management results in the right resources being available at the right time for the right work.
WHAT ARE RESOURCES?

 Resources can be anything from people to machinery to facilities. They are whatever you need to complete your
project or task.
 For a construction company, a resource can include a special piece of equipment or tools. A software company
would need computers and developers. And an event manager might need caterers and a venue. For a lab, you
have rooms for experiments, specialized tools, materials. Because resources exist in every field, so does the need
for resource management.
COMMON TYPES OF RESOURCES:

• Labor
• Equipment
• Materials and supplies
• Cost
• Facilities
• Time
DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 There are actually a number of different types of project resource management. These include resource
scheduling, planning, and management itself. The biggest difference between the three is the depth of planning.
1. Scheduling – Ensures that you have the right capacity for projects and that no one is double booked in the process
2. Planning – This looks not only at current projects, but future projects, with more emphasis on getting the right
resource for the right job.
3. Management – Allocating resources and monitoring utilization, engaging in resource leveling and smoothing,
long-term planning, and strategic management of your entire project portfolio.
WHAT’S THE GOAL OF MANAGING RESOURCES?

 While, maximizing efficiency is the official credo of resource management, maybe you have a different goal in
mind. Perhaps you’re seeking an overview of your resource allocation. Or say you want more transparency in the
planning process. Maybe you’re looking to forecast resource availability 5 months down the line. Or you simply
need a better way to track your project’s progress.
 Managing resources can help you with all these goals.
HOW CAN YOU BENEFIT FROM MANAGING YOUR
RESOURCES?

 Below are 5 ways in which you benefit once you implement a resource management strategy. It can help with:

1. Maximizing resource efficiency: Resource Utilization

2. Getting a bird’s eye view of your project: An overview
3. Preventing miscommunication mishaps: Transparency
4. Predicting the future: Foreseeing and avoiding problems
5. Taking Control
1. MAXIMIZING RESOURCE EFFICIENCY: RESOURCE
UTILIZATION

 Resource utilization is all about making the most out of the

resources available to you. It is the percentage of the
resource’s working time (Busy time) within a certain time
period (Available time). The easiest way to understand the
concept is through a formula
WHY DOES IT MATTER?

 Utilization tracking and planning is the number one thing to consider if you are planning your team and its
resources. It’s especially important if your resources have concurrent tasks or if they work on multiple projects
simultaneously. This provides you with insight on resource availability and allows you to find the
best match between tasks and your resources.
• Prevents boredom and burnout
• Both over and underbooking your team can lead to negative outcomes. For example, studies found that on days
when people experience more challenges, they also tend to feel more positive and engaged in their work. This
means your team should feel challenged in order to be more productive.
• On the flip side, it has been found that over utilizing a resource and an extreme workload can lead to burnout.
However, research indicates that when managers carry out management practices that promote job control (i.e.
resource management), it reduces the risk of burnout.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?

• Better forecasting
• Plus, utilization can also be extended to planning other (nonhuman) resources. You can track the downtime or
efficiency of a piece of heavy machinery, for example. This can help with long-term planning, and allow you to
nip a problem in the bud. If you know that you will be using a specific machine extensively, you can make
arrangements for repairs or replacements ahead of time.
HOW CAN YOU BENEFIT?

• Better utilization means a happier and healthier team, helping to reduce burnout and stress.
• Resources are used to their maximum potential, keeping projects on time and on budget.
• It helps project managers keep an eye on the project, reducing oversights and double-bookings.
• Changes and hiccups can be caught more quickly, preventing problems from getting worse.
2. GETTING A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF YOUR PROJECT: AN
OVERVIEW

 Contemporary project management is tricky. Offices in different

locations. A number of ongoing projects. Hundreds of different
resources with different tasks. Without resource management, it’s a
catastrophe waiting to happen.
 Effective resource management strategies will give you an overview of
everyone and everything. And an overview gives you control over
what’s going on.
 To do so, it might be wise to take a cue from the ancient Romans. Their
concept of dīvide et imperā, (usually translated to “divide and conquer”)
can help give you an overview.
 First, divide the plan into different views. Then, manage the resources
within each view. Finally, take a peek into the general resource plan to
see if everything’s adding up.
 Congrats! You are now essentially the modern-day Julius Caesar of
resource organization.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

 In project management, you should aim to have a better overview of everything. This will help you see exactly
where your project’s at, what still needs to be done, and by when. It turns out, an overview will help you manage
your team better and give you more efficiency.
HOW DO YOU BENEFIT?

• An overview allows you to track team and project progress, giving everyone better visibility and keeping you all
up-to-date.
• You can see how efficient your team and resources are, allowing you to make better predictions for future projects.
• Overviews give you more control. Which helps you to conquer all required tasks.
• Looking at your resources from a different angle can increase your efficiency, especially when dealing with
dozens of resources spread-out across the country or world.
3. PREVENTING MISCOMMUNICATION MISHAPS:
TRANSPARENCY

 With resource management, every (human) resource is

able to view their tasks. Every project manager can
see how resources are allocated. This means
planning is transparent both ways.
 And transparency is to planning like the weekend is to
the workweek. Without it, it’s just Monday-Friday.
And we all know what can happen when it’s all work
and no play. You’ve seen “The Shining,” right?
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

 There are both practical and theoretical reasons why you’d want your project management process to be
transparent.
• Better communication
• Misunderstandings are often unavoidable. Especially if you are working in an organization with simultaneous
projects and managers. And while workarounds for this are abundant, they don’t always get the job done.
• It’s easy to create a Gantt chart from your Google calendar. Or make a project management doc in Excel. But
without dedicated resource planning software, you opening yourself to a host of other problems.
• Resources will get overbooked. Task statuses will be changed over and over again. And no one will be sure what
the “right” version of the project plan is. This can mess things up with your team, bosses, and stakeholders.
• It’s no wonder that miscommunication is the #1 reason why projects fail.
• Resource management with a central resource management tool will provide you with better transparency.
Helping to avoid such misunderstandings.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

• Happier team
• The other reason why you should aim for transparency is the engaged workforce that comes with it. With links
between organizational transparency, credibility, and organizational accountability. There’s plenty of proof
transparent communication drives employee engagement.
• So, when managers encourage more participative information sharing, employees feel more engaged with their
work. So with greater transparency, you’re essentially creating a better workforce.
• However, to achieve that kind of transparency, you need a tool that allows controlled access to every team
member. Unfortunately it can get quite expensive if the tool is priced per user. Which is why you should aim to
find one that is priced per resource.
• That way you’ll only pay for the resources in use. More transparency and less money, makes for a better business!
HOW DO YOU BENEFIT?

• More transparency helps prevent avoidable miscommunication mishaps between team members, managers, and
clients, keeping everyone up-to-date and on the same page.
• Project transparency is beneficial to everyone involved. It increases employee engagement and stakeholder trust.
• Transparency can reduce email noise, eliminating confusion and freeing up your inbox’s storage.
• A central resource management tool can give an entire organization transparency, allowing controlled access to
every team member.
4. PREDICTING THE FUTURE: FORESEEING AND AVOIDING
PROBLEMS

 Crystal balls. Tarot cards. Tea leaves. Resource

management?
 Though it may seem like the odd one out, managing
resources can really help you predict the future. And
unlike the others, it can be a lot more reliable.
 It turns out, planning your resources gives you the ideal
opportunity to understand the actual timeline of a
project. The phases, the tasks that need to get done, and
the resources that are required to make miracles happen.
Planning lets you account for all of this, before they
even occur.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

 By planning out your resources, you have a better idea of where your team and equipment are located. And what
they’re up to.
• Track your team and tools
• Booked machines, client meetings, incoming shipments, everything is planned and accounted for. Allowing
project managers to quickly and easily check the availability and utilization of a resource. This is helpful if a plan
changes quickly and alternative arrangements need to be made. And trust us, this will happen!
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

• Fix problems ahead of time

• Plans can also show the bottlenecks of the projects: upcoming holidays, overlapping vacation days, scheduled
repairs, mandatory safety trainings. Long-term planning can help you prepare for the future and make adjustments
in advance. By fixing the problems when they are still “invisible,” you can prevent them from getting worse.
• Taking the time to plan and organize your resources now means “future you” will be better prepared and more
able to focus on everyday tasks. You can thank yourself now for all the free time you will have.
HOW DO YOU BENEFIT?

• Resource planning lets you understand the actual project timeline, helping with long-term planning and making
more accurate forecasts.
• Planning gives you a better idea of what your resources are doing and where they are located. Making it easier to
sort out unexpected problems.
• Bottlenecks can be ironed-out before they occur. And when changes are made in advance, you can focus on the
current tasks on hand. This means a more efficient use of your time and less stress.
5. TAKING CONTROL: RIGHT DECISIONS

 As a project manager, you not only need to see what’s going on

with your various projects, but you also need to have control about
what’s going on. Being able to track your resources’ progress is
essential. But without the correct tools to help you, you can’t
actually take control and manage what needs to get done.
 Nowadays there are a plethora of tools that recognizes the
importance of resource organization and planning. You can start
with a simple hand-drawn Gantt Chart, or a spreadsheet in Excel.
Or you can move onto software that’s more adapted to your needs,
once you decide to move beyond Excel.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

 Planning out and managing your resources gives you a clear understanding of who is doing what, where, and how
long before they finish.
• Ensure project capacity
• You can see who has more downtime and who can be reallocated to help out on other tasks. Are there enough
people, machinery, and other resources to finish a task? Or do you need to hire someone else? Having all this info
gives you a feeling that you have a control over a project.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

• See the “big picture”

• Resource management is a continuous activity. But when you plan it out, you are better able to have a bigger
picture of the entire process. As well as the long term.
• You can measure the performance of your resources, which makes for more accurate forecasting. This can help
you choose the best direction for your company. So instead of running into problems, you can see what lucrative
opportunities lay beyond the horizon.
• Having control means you’re the captain of your ship. The projects and tasks are for you to manage. Not the other
way around.
HOW DO YOU BENEFIT?

• Resource planning tells you where your resources are and what they are doing. Giving you not only an overview,
but control of the whole process. This ensures that nothing is forgotten and issues can be solved ahead of time.
• Control allows you to measure resource performance.Which helps you make the best choices for your company. In
turn, this can help grow and expand your business.
• Being in control lets you stay calm in times of emergencies.
• There are resource management tools made specifically for this purpose. Which can take the pressure off of the
project manager and help you succeed. Find the best one for your needs!
 SUMMARY

 Start Managing Your Resources, Now!

 If there is just one thing you take with you from this article, it is the fact that resource management is essential to
your organization. Not only is it beneficial for your team, company, and projects. It can also help to avoid
unnecessary headaches.
 Effective resource management is not simply a “nice-to-have” feature of project portfolio management; it is essential
to success. Transparency is the key, giving project managers insight into all resources and where they are allocated
across projects. Instead of randomly allocating resources or saying yes to every project, you are able to plan and
manage resources effectively to avoid project delays, increased costs, and ultimately, failed project delivery.
 If you lack visibility and the appropriate tools to keep track of resources and direct these toward the most valuable
work, you and other leaders will likely fail to complete projects and deliver the products that bring competitive
advantages, missing out on potential benefits. With the right resource management solution in place, you are
enabling your organization to ensure it has the ideal people and appropriate funding to execute projects. With full
transparency and insight into resources, you can ensure resources are consistently allocated to those strategically
aligned programs that deliver value to the organization and its customer
 Thank you!