你好。你很忙吗？(Hello. Are you busy?)
I’m very busy nearly everyday. I’m so busy, that I have a calendar to help me figure out when I have time to do something or not. Even when I have time planned for a task or three, I still have to find ways to occasionally multi-task successfully since not all tasks are consecutive.
Hence, the Chinese heading. I have to practice my 汉语 (Chinese writing) when I can or else I’ll miss out on my study efforts.
Are you still waking up every morning and getting to work right away only to break away for meals and bathroom breaks only when most needed? Then are you working late into the night, much to the dislike of your family members?
For the first 5-years of Cannonbose, I worked like that. Then I started figuring something out, it was a simple principal. So simple, it was a bit silly to have not realized it before.
Work not done now, will still be there tomorrow.
Sure, there’s the folks that says why wait till tomorrow to do what you can today. However, for many of us, moving from the understanding that there’s always work, to there will always be work. Is an epiphany type moment.
My moment came when I realized that I was eating my meals cold and not when my lovely wife Peichi was sitting down to eat. Talk about a serious shame. Peichi is getting to be a kitchen master, on top of being a great conversationalist, and a bright spot in most anyone’s day.
The understanding that work will be there when I step away and probably not changed much when I come back, let me know it’s okay to have more time for myself and family.
These days, my work day is 10 AM to 6 PM Eastern, Monday through Friday, closed Federal holidays. On weekends, I only spend a few minutes checking email for major issues. Otherwise, I try to spend more time with my family and pursuing things “outside” of Cannonbose, yet the same things will help “inside” Cannonbose.
Case in point, my Chinese studies have already let Cannonbose start targeting the Chinese markets for TYPO3 products.
In the business, spending time well definitely leads to a better understanding of what tasks are profitable or not and improving client relationships. Here’s some of the things I do these days to help me manage my time and even expectations of clients.
- I’ve implemented a basic communication policy
- 1-business day initial response
- 3-business day resolution or follow-up
- I’ve scheduled daily office time for checking email and voicemail
- first thing in the morning
- mid-afternoon
- just before leaving
- I’ve set three 90-minute periods per day to schedule client work
- Long-term projects
- Scheduled maintenance
- Adhoc support requests
- Online or in-person meetings
- If a task is under 90-minutes, schedule it to the closest 15-minute increment, rounding up.
- If a task is over 90-minutes, break it up into 90-minute blocks.
- Since I still need to provide adhoc support to a good amount of clients, I try hard to not schedule more than two blocks of time per day to any one client.
- If a client says something has to be done “now” and I’m booked for the next four days, I tell them “I’m booked for the next four days”.
- If it’s really an emergency, I’ll do what I can to “squeeze” them in around the other scheduled tasks and even office time.
- Otherwise, schedule their work for the next open block and remind the client that tasks are best known in advance and what the deadline is.
My closing thoughts to getting a hold on your time.
- Give a try to limiting your day
- Figure out when you work is best for you and then clients
- Create an initial base schedule
- Revise the base schedule once or twice a week to fit your work patterns
- When clients ask you to do something, schedule the task in your calendar and then respond to the client when you’ll do it.
Good Luck!
I use Google Calendar via Google Apps for Cannonbose.
Recent Comments