Hosts Merv Jersak and Tim Jerome dig deeper into the foundational aspects of project management, focusing on the critical areas of time management and prioritization, and relating these back to yesterday’s topic of discipline. They explore the necessity of effective time management both in scheduling and overall project efforts, emphasizing the importance of allowing team members input and engaging them in the project schedule. They also discuss the challenges and pitfalls of multitasking and interruptions, offering practical strategies for mitigating their negative impacts. Lastly, they address the nuances of prioritization, differentiating between urgency and importance and the significance of risk management and dependencies. This episode is essential for project managers striving to enhance their leadership and project delivery skills.

Main Take-Aways

Time management and prioritization are two critical skills that must be developed to help manage projects with a more disciplined approach. Some key aspects of time management and prioritization:

• balance the amount of detail in a project schedule with the amount of leeway given to those assigned the tasks
• explain the “why” to aid in understanding the task to be performed
• be diligent with time management and prioritization in remote work situations
• be aware of the pitfalls of poor time management, multi-tasking, interruptions
• differentiate between important and urgent tasks when prioritizing work
• review task dependencies to remove blockers
• manage stakeholder expectations when prioritizing project work

Show Notes

Today’s Project Managers Coffee Chat: The Discipline Diaries: Harnessing Time Management and Prioritization in Project Management

00:29 Introducing the topic of time management as an important aspect of project management, not only to the project schedule, but in all of our project-related efforts.

01:35 Balancing the detail developed in a project schedule while giving leeway for creativity in task execution by the individuals assigned the tasks. Sometimes less detail is more in terms of productivity.

03:30 The importance of providing the “why” behind the tasks in the project schedule with regard to time management and prioritization of work.

04:17 Consideration of time management challenges when in remote work situations.

05:47 The pitfalls of not managing your time effectively.

07:13 The fallacy of multi-tasking and its ineffectiveness in managing your time.

09:05 Being aware of the negative cost of interruptions to time management.

10:58 Switching to the topic of prioritization and its importance to your work discipline.

11:18 Prioritizing your work effort by understanding the difference between importance and urgency.

12:29 Applying the concept of risk management to aiding with task prioritization.

13:43 Judicious procrastination can help with prioritization as some previously defined tasks may become unnecessary.

14:42 Eliminating work blockers by reviewing task dependencies among team members.

15:16 Taking the critical path into consideration when establishing work priorities.

16:24 Managing stakeholder expectations when stakeholders introduce additional priorities into an already approved project schedule.

19:42 Concluding summary reminding you that discipline, time management, and prioritization are important skills to develop as project managers.