Behind every good worker is a toolbox. Magicians have a bag of tricks, mechanics carry a tool bag, lawyers carry a briefcase and even janitors have a cleaning cart. Without the tools needed to help us get the job done we’re aimlessly placing effort at the mercy of our shortcomings.

Project Managers have their own bag of tools – tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way that make us more efficient, more productive, and – most importantly – more sane. Serving as the second edition to our Agile + Analytics Project Management series, we would like to share with you one of the biggest efficiency gains you can make, and a process that is a MUST in the agile workspace: Planning your work and working your plan.

Time Is a Wastin’

The most important activity to support a productive and sane workday is to manage your schedule and personal time. If you don’t make the time, it will quickly be filled with other people’s priorities. This includes prioritizing our work (which includes 30 minutes to yourself!), planning our day based on that prioritization and ensuring we make the time to ‘git ‘er done.’ Making the time means blocking it. Take the calendar approach – just like an important meeting, clearly mark your calendar with ‘heads down’ time and ensure it’s enough to get through your prioritized list. And don’t forget the discipline! Stick to the schedule you laid out. It’s ok to say ‘I can’t make that meeting’ or ‘it will have to wait until tomorrow’ if the ask is not urgent. Use discretion, of course, and ensure that fire drills are managed accordingly.
Calendar
Legend: Blue = Call, Green = Ops, Orange = MBO

Lest We Forget

Project Managers would be absolutely lost without our daily reminders and pop-up nudges. These days we’re forced to multi-task, which means we’re not giving our full attention to any one thing. This is the perfect storm for missed deadlines and forgotten tasks. As an Agile PMO we have found Outlook tasks to be our saving grace. We can set a reminder to follow up on something specific, or create a follow up to an email to ensure we receive a timely response. Reminders can be for today, this week or even months down the road. Having helpful and reliable reminders in place helps us free up some “brain space” to focus on more important things instead of thinking about what we might not be thinking about.

Task reminder

There are countless ways you can go about planning your work and even more ways you can go about working your plan. The important thing is that you DO IT! If you’re not being proactive you’re working reactive which leads to missed deadlines, unnecessary escalations and lots and lots of Excedrin. Stay ahead of your work and remember to make time for yourself! A sane PM is a productive PM. A productive PM is a productive team. A productive team is a happy client. And a happy client is a happy team (and the circle of happiness completes itself). Happy planning!




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Further Reading
The Agile+Analytics Project Manager: Props All Around
The Agile+Analytics Project Manager: How to Make Preparation a Priority
PMO: Grace Under Pressure – Managing the Chaos
The Agile+Analytics Project Manager: Calenders Aren’t Just for Meetings