One o'clock in the morning. The room is dark, except for the bluish glow emanating from the screen of my PowerBook. I'm sitting in bed, the laptop propped on my knees, typing the words that you are reading. Beside me sits my wife, typing furiously on her PowerBook. We both have do-or-die deadlines at 10 AM sharp.
I should have finished this hours ago, but I wasted the day playing phone tag with a source and answering 37 e-mail messages and getting stuck in a meeting that went on way too long. By 5 PM I still hadn't gotten to the first item on my To Do list. My wife's day was pretty much the same -- lost to time-sinks. Now it's 1:15 AM The minutes are slipping away.
What an absurd picture the two of us must make. Absurd, but not uncommon. Not so long ago, this time of night was for finding love, or losing it, or even for sleeping. And now? Deep into the night, all across America, I hear the sound of people clacking away on their computers, trying to make up for lost time.
All right, I'm getting a little punchy. But I won't concede the point: your company, your competition, business in general, all move at one speed only -- faster! Your work day has been stretched to 12, 14, 16 hours, but there still isn't enough time to get everything done.
If there's any solace for the bleary-eyed, it's this: though we're all feeling squeezed, some among us have come up with creative tactics and tools for keeping pace. In this edition of ToolBox, you'll find the best in time-saving planners, workshops, and books, plus innovative approaches to prioritizing assignments, managing work flow, getting organized, and finding shortcuts.
Is this the Definitive Story on Saving Time? Not quite. I don't have enough time to nail it. But if you apply some of these lessons, you'll find the time to do other things at 1 AM besides work.
No one has all the answers. But when it comes to tackling the challenges of using time wisely, some people can deliver a few hard-won lessons. So we've gathered four time mavens from different walks of corporate life: a high-tech tax man who rides a seasonal roller coaster of intensely demanding work; a new-media guru who snubs beepers and e-mail; a quality assurance champion who escapes time traps; and a consultant who favors spontaneity over strict time management. Here are their lessons.
Training Regimen for Marathon Work
Time Maven: Bruce Johnson, program manager for QuickTax, Intuit Canada's personal income-tax software, which supports 150 different tax forms and schedules to help consumers prepare their returns. Based in Edmonton, Alberta.
Minutes from My Daily Log: Commute 5 minutes to the office ... Work up to 17 hours a day during product-development periods ... Average 15 hours a week in meetings. . .
The Challenge: To perform at my peak during marathon stretches of work, without sacrificing my family responsibilities.
When we're developing new product for the upcoming tax season, we work in overdrive. Typically, our rough periods come twice a year and last from three weeks to a month. I leave my watch at home. It would drive me crazy to look at it all the time.
Lesson #1:Prepare your family for those killer 17-hour days.
Before tackling stretch goals, have a talk with your family. Tell them you've got a tough period of work coming up, why it's important, and that you'll have more time for them when it's all over. Your spouse and children need to buy into your commitment. If they don't, it will weigh on you -- and you won't achieve your goals.
Lesson #2: Work the hours that suit you best.
When deadlines hit, most people get here by 5 AM and leave around 10 PM My most productive work comes after seven in the evening. I work until one or two in the morning, head home and get some sleep, and return to the office around 9 AM I'm in the office for scheduled meetings, and I've got enough hours at the end of the day to make real progress on my most important work.
Lesson #3: When you reach the point of diminishing returns, recharge.
When fatigue kicks in and I realize I'm reading but not comprehending, I take a five-minute time-out. If I can't solve a problem, I move on to a different task and come back to it later. Sometimes, I just have to go home and sleep on it. But I won't let up -- I still keep pushing myself.
Lesson #4: After completing a big project, take time to decompress.
Once the deadlines have passed, I usually take a power-down period where I work half-days for about a week. It's payback for my family, and it gives me the chance to get prepared -- physically, mentally, and emotionally -- for the next round of work.
Coordinates: Bruce Johnson, bruce_johnson@intuit.com
No comments:
Post a Comment