1. Use To-Do lists. A To-Do list is a list of tasks that we plan to accomplish at some point in the future. Having that said let’s see how to create a To-Do list. The first time you will create a list a million things will come to your mind. My advice is to write them all down. Do not let anything out of your list. You need to get them out of your brain into a piece of paper. As you doing this you will realize that some tasks are simple but other tasks are more complex and you will need to divide them to sub-tasks. Since you are going to reorganize and rearrange your list several times, I propose to you to use some software to write your list. You can use something simple like notepad or you can use something more advanced like Toodledo^® or Microsoft Outlook^®. I am using like Toodledo^® with my iPad, with my smartphone, and with my PC but you can use whatever software you choose on your favorite platform.
2. Use Checklists.Checklists are the best tool to capture experience while performing a process/Workflow. You want to train another person to perform a specific process or routine? Just give that person your checklist. Do you want to improve your process? Just update the checklist.
3. Use the 20 Minutes to Success® method. This is a method I developed to improve my productivity. In a nutshell, split your hour to twenty minutes interval in order to schedule 3 tasks per hour. This method is far more efficient compared with the Pomodoro technique.
4. Block distractions. It is OK to say no to a colleague asking you for help or simply wanting to chat with you. Avoid checking your email/ social media account (Facebook) every 5 minutes. Focus on the task at hand. Set your browser to block your access to the sites that distract you.
5. Use Evernote. Evernote is a must have application to help you save and retrieve information lightning fast. I have a premium account and I can scan documents and business cards. No more loosing time searching for contacts or documents. I Tag them and I can retrieve them on my mobile, Ipad, desktop at no time.
6. Bonus Tip. Do not multitask! Stay focused accomplishing a single task at a time.

1. I identified the bottlenecks in my workflow
2. I used a better method for archiving and retrieving the information I am looking for.

It all started with applying te Pareto principle when analyzing my workflows.

In 1906, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that the 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Pareto also popularized the term “elite” in social analysis.

The term “Pareto Principle” was introduced by Joseph M. Juran when in 1941 became aware of the work of Vilfredo Pareto. He began to apply the Pareto principle to quality issues. Generalized, the principle states that 80% of a problem is caused by 20% of the causes.

The Pareto Principle can be stated in the business as following:

• 80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers
• 80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers
• 80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spend
• 80% of your sales come from 20% of your products

In other industries:

• 20% of patients have been found to use 80% of health care resources

Fixing the top 20% most reported bugs, 80% of the errors and crashes would be eliminated.

I applied the Pareto Principle to time management to help me identify the causes that produce the most delays in my daily work. When I identified these, I was able to work in the correct direction to fix the true cause of the problem.

In order to do this, I recorded the time that I used to complete my tasks, and I also included the time for interruptions, breaks or destructions.

I then identified the 20% of the activities that take up 80% of my time. Can I delegate some of these activities? Can I reorganize my work in a way to minimize the impact of these activities on the time I use?

For example, I have found that I use a lot of time to search for files or notes that I have taken in the past. I changed the way I file my notes, I used an electronic filing program and the benefits were amazing. I am using Evernote. It is an amazing program that allows you to create notebooks to organize your documents, pictures, business cards and thoughts. The most powerful feature are the Tags. You can create as many tags you need and categorize your Evernote entries. Searching using the Tags is powerful. I freed up a lot of my time. There are a lot of online programs to choose from according to your needs.

20 minutes to success!

The secret of 20 minutes time intervals. You split the hour into three parts, accomplishing 3 tasks per hour. You can, alternatively, combine 20 minutes parts to accomplish a much bigger task. For example, you receive a task that needs 4 hours to complete. You can combine the 20 minutes chunks to build the 4 hours that you need to accomplish your task. You can even schedule a 20 minutes break after accomplishing the task. The 20 minutes break down of the hour is very efficient fo meetings too. 15 minutes is not enough time for a meeting. In 20 minutes you can have a well-organized meeting. If you need more time you can add another 20 minutes making it a 40 minutes meeting. This leaves you another 20 minutes to accomplish another task. I can write many examples but I think that you get the idea.

Dividing the hour to 20 minutes alone cannot bring success. For success to come you need also to discuss personal goal setting, the use of to-do or action lists, prioritization, estimation of the tasks, delegation, how to manage interruptions, how to beat procrastination, risk management and how to remain self-motivated at all times. All the discussion points presented previously affect either positive or negative your time management.

The topics mentioned above will be covered in future blog posts.

Have a great, happy and productive day!

The 7 steps presented below helps you achieving more effective meetings.

Before the meeting

Preparation is a key element to success.

1. Scope: You set the scope of the meeting. What is the meeting about? Choose a title that represents the purpose of the meeting, like “New office planning”.

2. Time and Location: Instead of having a meeting title like “New Meeting 14:00” or a similar generic description prefer something more specific like “New office planning 14:00 – 15:00” which has a detailed title and also a starting and ending time. You guess it right! The place is missing. You have to state where the meeting is going to take place. “New office planning 14:00 – 15:00, Meeting Room 1 @ Main Building”. The duration of the meeting depends on the agenda of the meeting. If there are many participants allocate 40 or even 60 minutes for the meeting. If there are few participants you can allocate 20 minutes for the meeting. Proper time management is a key element for effective meetings. Needless to say, if the key persons cannot attend you will have to reschedule your meeting.

3. Agenda: You define the contents of the meeting. Write a list of the items that will be discussed during the meeting. This is the agenda of the meeting. Next to each item of the agenda, write the allocated time. You may also include the owner of the particular item and the objective of the discussion.

4. Agenda buy-in: Distribute the agenda by email to all participants of the meeting with a note asking for their feedback and to also add to the list any other item that they think belong to that meeting and send it back to you. Ask them particularly to reply to you and not to all. You do not want to start an email discussion before the meeting. Ask also to receive their reply by a certain date. You may also request their questions regarding specific topics of the discussion. Review the list and distribute it to all participants, latest at the next day of your deadline.

During the meeting

5. Time: Start immediately the meeting with the first topic for discussion. Manage the time and be careful not to overrun the allocated time.

6. Topics: Keep presenting the items for discussion. Ask for comments or questions. If no one has questions then move to the next topic. Give the floor to the owner of the item to present it. Make sure that the presenters stick to the allocated time. Sometimes this may be difficult especially if the presenter is a senior manager or your boss.

Ensure that the meeting stays on topic.

After the meeting

7. Meeting minutes: Send the meeting minutes to all participants. Ask them to add any item that feel that was left out of the meeting minutes. If there are items left uncovered schedule a new meeting.

Are you using these steps for your meeting? What would you add to these steps?

Dr. Atul Gawande author of “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right” explains, in detail, the benefits of the checklist. He points out some hints about the checklists. For example if the list is too long the people will not use it. Checklists are not only for simple things, as he points out, but also for complex things, especially when the unexpected occurs. In unexpected situations our stress level increases blurring our thinking. Checklists and training can rescue us from such situations. A situation like this was the US Airways 1549, where 90 seconds after takeoff and while was climbing it crossed the path of the geese. They lost power of both the engines. The main pilot, Sullenberg, took over the plane from his copilot and his copilot immediately pulled out the engine failure checklists to see if he could put them back online. With the help of luck and the professionalism of the pilots, the airplane was saved.

I have great personal experience creating and using checklists. I am using checklists daily both at work and home. I am using a checklist when I create a new project, when I gather project requirements, when I do risk management, when I check test plans, when I deploy software to production servers. I am keeping a version number of my checklists and make sure that I have and use only the latest version. I have realized additional benefits using checklists. They are great to capture experience. I am updating the list to include checks or tasks that prevent delays and / or failures. This is a great time saver which is another great characteristic of the checklists. Having great checklists helps you also to delegate some tasks more efficiently. You do not have to explain everything if they have the required training they can just follow the steps to get the right result.

I am looking forward to hear your experience with checklists.

We all have 24 hours per day in our disposal but some of us use the time more efficiently and effectively than other. My goal was to optimize my time as good as possible in order to get the most out of my day.

There are several steps that you need to take to start organizing your time. I can tell you what I did and how organized my time. If you find it useful you can try it too.

First of all I used the 20-minutes as the basis of my time allocation strategy. By using 20 minutes as the basis you can do 3 things in an hour. In contrast when you use a 30 minutes interval you can only schedule 2 tasks within an hour. Interestingly, all calendars either support 15 minutes and/or 30 minutes’ intervals. I have not yet found a calendar to support the 20 minutes interval. My advice, do not let the software that you use manage your time. Take management of your time to your hands. Use 20 minutes intervals. Use a paper agenda if you want.

Second, design your day in advance using a to-do list. In order to do this step you need to write down all your tasks for the next day. As soon as you do this you need to set the priority for each one and sort your list with the high priority tasks first. This is a tedious task so I used my ipad to accomplish it. I used the Toodledo – To Do List application.

Third, you need to schedule your tasks. Arrange them for the next day using the 20 minutes intervals. If you feel that a task will take more than 20 minutes then use 2 20-minutes intervals. It is important not to break the 20-minutes rule. Do not forget to allocate time for organizing the following day’s tasks. I tried to use Pocket Informant Pro but it does not support 20 minutes intervals so I end up using 3 15 minutes intervals. Other than that Pocket Informant Pro is an extremely useful application to have.

Fourth, have in mind that your schedule will change the next day due to unforeseen or urgent events that you did not know at the time you prepared your schedule. This is something normal. I will give you some hints on how to prioritize your time to make room even for emergencies.

Fifth, cross out the tasks that you accomplished. It is very important to see your progress and have a feeling of achievement.

Let me know your comments or ideas on the topic.