Unlock productivity and conquer project deadlines with effective time management strategies.
Your responsibility shapes your reputation, and your projects are your responsibility. Keeping projects on track, maintaining project team cohesion, and meeting stringent deadlines isn't just a delicate balancing act—it's the currency of your professional standing. With 71% of project managers underscoring the importance of timely project delivery in their annual reviews*, mastering time management becomes a non-negotiable for success.
So, if you're a business owner, team lead, or project manager coping with overflowing to-do lists and conflicting priorities, you're in the right place. Drawing on insights from Gartner[1] and wisdom from Megan DuBose[2], a PMP expert from Project Management Institute (PMI), you can use these practical strategies to mitigate stress, enhance productivity, and elevate project outcomes. Your time is precious—let's make the most of it.
“The importance of time management in managing projects cannot be overstated—it's not just about keeping up with deadlines, but also about harnessing the true potential of your projects.”
Megan DuBose
Project manager at Project Management Institute (PMI)
Strategy #1: Focus on prioritization
When working on a project, there will often be multiple tasks that seem crucial and urgent. These competing priorities can create a situation where the team feels overwhelmed and unsure of where to begin. This is where prioritization comes in.
As DuBose underscores, "Understanding the hierarchy of your tasks will guide you in assigning resources and scheduling your time effectively." By arranging tasks based on their relevance to the project's objectives and their deadlines, the team can more effectively manage their time and resources. To help set these priorities, it's essential to consult with key stakeholders.
An essential part of the prioritization process is deciding which tasks take precedence over others. While it is possible to do this manually, for example by using a basic spreadsheet or even pen and paper, this method can become complicated as the project scales up and the number of tasks increases. To streamline this process, many project managers turn to project management software.
So, what are some of these prioritization features in project management software? Let's explore a few.
Task ranking: Enables assigning priority levels to tasks, making their relative importance clear.
Dependency mapping: Visualizes task interdependencies, guiding the sequence of task completion.
Gantt charts: Provides a timeline for each task, helping schedule tasks effectively.
Use this time-saving technique
The Eisenhower Matrix: A great time management technique that requires you to divide your tasks into four quadrants based on their urgency and importance. Supplementing this, leveraging project planning software can streamline project task organization and boost prioritization efficiency, bridging the gap between project planning and execution.
Leveraging the Eisenhower Matrix can be instrumental in achieving effective time management as it helps ensure:
Important task prioritization: Using the Eisenhower Matrix, you can distinguish critical tasks from non-critical ones and allocate resources effectively.
Strategic delegation: The matrix helps identify tasks for delegation, promoting optimal team efficiency.
Project tracking: When you prioritize and schedule tasks appropriately, projects remain on track, minimizing the risk of delays.
Goal alignment: This matrix focuses on tasks that contribute directly to the project's goals and objectives.
Strategy #2: Set clear goals
Goal setting in project management is crucial as it provides direction and a clear focus, enabling teams to understand what they're working towards. Clear, well-defined goals give a roadmap that guides project tasks, helping to manage time and resources efficiently.
DuBose says, “Goal setting is the compass of project management. Without clear goals, effective management is impossible. Every task should align with these goals and be evaluated against them. It shouldn't be prioritized if it doesn't guide us in the right direction."
For example, imagine a team developing a mobile app with the goal to launch in six months. With this clear goal, tasks like design, development, and testing can be planned and prioritized. If an unexpected feature request emerges, the team can evaluate it against the launch goal. If it risks delaying the launch without significant benefits, it may be deprioritized, saving time. Hence, clear goals guide task prioritization, helping in effective time management.
Use this time-saving technique
The S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) goals technique clarifies goal setting, ensuring each goal is quantifiable, achievable, and time-bound.
Collaboration software combined with S.M.A.R.T goals can enhance goal alignment and tracking, fostering seamless team collaboration with features like progress monitoring, file sharing and version control, and more.
DuBose shares an example of how she applies the S.M.A.R.T. framework in her projects:
"I work with my project sponsors and team to ensure all success measures are S.M.A.R.T. goals. For example, we identified 'increasing claims accuracy' as an objective. The current state showed us an accuracy of 92%. Considering the project's objective and the impact level, we defined the goal as 'Increase claims accuracy from 92% to 94% by 12/31/2023' rather than a vague 'Increase claims accuracy.' This clarity promotes understanding and provides a definite aim."
Megan DuBose
This example embodies the S.M.A.R.T. framework:
Specific: The goal focuses on 'claims accuracy.'
Measurable: Progress can be tracked through the 'claims accuracy percentage.'
Achievable: A '2% increase' is a realistic target considering the volume of claims and the business context.
Relevant: The goal aligns with the project's problem statement about increasing claims accuracy to reduce unexpected spending.
Time-bound: The goal has a clear deadline for completion, 'by 12/31/2023'.
Strategy #3: Break down and delegate tasks
Delegation is a cornerstone of efficient project management. It allows a better distribution of work, utilization of diverse project management skills, and elevates team empowerment. Yet, it can be challenging due to a tendency for control or doubts in team capabilities. DuBose shares her early days experience:
“I was hesitant to delegate, favoring control over teamwork. I quickly realized this approach was neither feasible nor beneficial. Focus on the high-level view, trusting the team's expertise in the details. Maintain open communication and remember your role—you are an expert in project management, not in everything else.”
Overcoming delegation barriers requires fostering trust, clarity in task descriptions, and recognizing each team member's unique contributions.
Project managers seeking efficient time management should:
- Conduct a Delegation Barriers AssessmentA diagnostic process project managers use to identify obstacles hindering effective task distribution. This could include a lack of trust in team capabilities, communication issues, or inadequate skill levels. The assessment helps develop targeted strategies to improve delegation.to uncover factors limiting effective delegation, which could be causing project delays.
Implement suitable delegation strategies that directly address identified barriers. Proper delegation allows simultaneous task progression, saving time.
Regularly monitor and tweak delegation strategies to sustain effective time management throughout the project's lifecycle.
Use this time-saving technique
The Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) is a roadmap for effective delegation, providing a visual snapshot of task responsibilities. Integrated task management software can augment this process, automatically assigning tasks and tracking progress, thus streamlining delegation and ensuring efficient task completion.
DuBose emphasizes the significance of using tools like the Responsibility Assignment Matrix, specifically a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) chart, to avoid confusion:
“I create and maintain a RACI for every project. With multiple deadlines, workstreams, and frequent questions from project sponsors, you don't want to be in a position where roles are unclear. In my current role, each report we roll out has a clear RACI. Everyone knows who is responsible for writing, making decisions, giving approvals, etc. Without this clarity, managing confusion within the team can consume a significant amount of time. Set clear expectations upfront and reinforce them throughout the project.”
Megan DuBose
This example underscores the usefulness of the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) in project management, which like the RACI, provides a clear visualization of who is responsible for what, thus enhancing delegation and time management. Here's how:
Clear role definition: RAM clearly defines roles and responsibilities, ensuring everyone knows them. This reduces confusion and makes delegation more effective.
Enhanced efficiency: When responsibilities are clear and aligned with team capabilities, tasks are executed more efficiently. This improves overall project timelines and success.
Better risk management: By clearly defining responsibilities, project risks associated with miscommunication or overlooked tasks are minimized.
Power up your projects with these expert tips
Concluding our dive into project time management strategies, it's clear that it's more than a time management tool and technique—it's about understanding, relationships, and foresight. DuBose encapsulates this perspective in her key takeaways:
Inquire and understand: Understand your business, stakeholders, and project purpose for alignment with objectives.
Foster relationships: Clear communication and dialogue with your team aid expectations and time management.
Anticipate and buffer: Proactively account for potential setbacks, creating buffers to handle delays.
Track, document, and learn: Consistently record progress for future insights and improved time predictions.
Leverage time tracking software: Enhance timeline control with real-time data on task completion, fostering delegation and accountability.
In essence, time management in project management blends prioritization, goal setting, delegation, and contextual understanding of your project. Implement these strategies, and you'll be on your way to mastering project time management.