e-skills UK Guide
Effective time management
Effective Time and Task Management
For the business person time is probably the most significant asset you have. The problem is there are so many demands on your time it can be difficult to know where to turn. The only way to deal with this problem is to put in place a decent system that can help you organise your tasks as effectively as possible.Unfortunately time and task management has been hijacked by a variety of individuals and companies offering seminars and tuition to learn ‘their’ task management packages. Some of these activities are sold in the same way as get rich quick schemes, with exciting prospects of immediate wealth based on a newly found task management technique.
Thankfully there are a host of IT solutions available to help you with time management and ‘to do’ lists for little or no cost. We will explore the most commonly used ones in this guide and offer some pointers along the way.
If you are more interested in managing appointments then we covered this topic in this guide here
By effectively managing your time and tasks you will save money and time.
The PC Based ‘To Do’ List
This is probably the most useful time management tool available, a simple ‘to do’ list of tasks and activities. There are a number of software products that run on a PC to help manage your ‘to do’ list and a number of them offer additional features such as online calendaring. Others enable you to link to your favourite websites and data files using a Microsoft Explorer type interface. If you are already using Microsoft Outlook you will probably notice that it comes with a sophisticated task list that integrates into the Outlook email and calendaring applications.
Some more advanced ‘to do’ list management tools have some interesting checklist templates covering activities such as moving house, moving office or planning a wedding. Whilst these may not be business centric, you may undertake a process at work every few months when a checklist would be really useful if it can be saved from the last time you did the work. This would make a useful tool for passing the work onto someone else and monitoring their completed tasks.
The cost of these PC based systems do vary. Some are free of charge whilst others are around £20 per user. Don’t forget that if you have Microsoft Windows then the Notepad application makes a good starting point for a ‘to do’ list and is free.
Here are some links to PC based ‘to do’ list and time management applications;
Web Based ‘To Do’ List
Unsurprisingly a number of business people are using the internet to host their ‘to do’ lists on the basis that the data is held on the internet and available to them whilst travelling. Web based ‘to do’ lists are also useful as they can easily be shared with co-workers who are remote from you.Do consider the security implications of sharing work lists on the internet and make sure that your application supplier is reputable and able to protect your data. Make sure that passwords are closely controlled. We cover security in more detail in these guides if you wish to learn more about it before using an online list management product;
Here are some links to suppliers of web based ‘to do’ list management products;
Again, the price of these does vary from £50 - £100 so shop around.
Personal Digital Organisers
With the advent of small, personal electronic organisers carrying around your ‘to do’ list is very simple. The benefit of these devices is that they will often have a calendaring tool and they will be flexible enough to connect to your PC in the office. That way you can synchronise your calendar and ‘to do’ list.With the inclusion of email as well you can have an entire office in your pocket. Even some basic mobile phones have the ability to create and store ‘to do’ lists if you do not wish to purchase a more expensive organiser.
The cost of top of the line PDAs can be quite high as you will need to pay for mobile phone connectivity as well, but these are far more than ‘to do’ list managers and offer enormous levels of functionality.
These are some of the more popular suppliers;
The Solution that suits you
Ultimately you need to decide how much you money wish to spend on a time and task management system. Many people cope very will with a pencil and paper, others need to use the latest and greatest digital assistant. Remember, the tools are there to support you and ultimately it is your time and your business, so you call the shots on how you manage them.Commercial suppliers
We do not recommend specific products or suppliers; instead we provide you with a representative sample which covers the range of suppliers/products available. You may choose to look at these suppliers or products but this is entirely at your discretion.
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