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12 September 2011 SHAKTI Organisation
Time Management -Managing Interruptions
Sheila Ash
Sept 2011
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Agenda
Interruptions
Record, analyse, act
Know your Rocks & Sand
Hints & Tips
Make the change!
Go from being interrupt driven
To actively managing interruptions
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The problem with interruptions
Break your concentration
Distract your focus
Make you go back over what youwere doing
Make you repeat things
Waste time Reduce productivity
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Managing Interruptions
Record interruptions
Analyse interruptions
Act on what you find Manage interruptions
Change your behaviour & others
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Record the interruptions
Keep a interruptions log for a minimum of 1week
Person Date andTime
Descriptionof
Interruption
Valid? Urgent?
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12 September 2011 SHAKTI Organisation
Know your ROCKS & SAND
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Rocks & Sand the problem
You have a pile of large rocks and apile of sand to transport from A to B
You have 1 bucket and a shovel astools
How is it best to move these?
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Rocks & Sand the learning
Know your ROCKS
depending on your job these are
your big tasks
the most difficult ones
the Urgent AND Important tasks only youcan do
Know your SAND everything else is sand
Do your ROCKS FIRST!
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Analyse your interruptions log
Make lists the valid interruptions
the NOT valid interruptions
the urgent interruptions
the valid AND urgent interruptions
the NOT valid AND NOT urgentinterruptions
Review and look for patterns whoand why?
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Review the Valid interruptions
Could someone have avoidedinterrupting you by waiting for aroutine meeting?
Pattern e.g. you are regularlyinterrupted byA as you are required tosign official letters.A brings you these as(s)he produces them
Resolution
fix an appropriate time inyour daily schedule forA to bring youALL letters for signature at once
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Review the Urgent Interruptions
Just how urgent were these? BeHonest!
Was it something unforeseen that had tobe done by you at that moment in time?
Could it have waited until later the sameday?
Could it have waited longer? Could have been pre-empted?
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Valid AND Urgent
For these you should be interruptedand you need to deal with them
From the Interruptions log, work out
how much time these took? TIP : This amount of time is your
Required Contingency Time, block
this into your schedule - it is aROCK
All other work is SAND
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Pre-empt the non Urgent
TIP : pre-empt by holding routine meetingswith people
Fix appropriately scheduled meetings in
your calendar with key people you interactwith (reportees, your boss / boardmembers etc)
Once people are confident that they will have
time with you at a defined point in the nearfuture, they will change their behaviour andsave up non-urgent issues until then
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Schedule regular check ups
Invite the people you talk with most toregular individual time slots
TIP : Get them to keep a running list ofthings to discuss, so as to cover all the
points at one time You should do this as well TIP : Decide where you will meet
If you meet in their office or in a meeting room
it is easier to excuse yourself when you haveachieved your purpose for the meeting
Stick to agreed time slots and meetinglengths
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Available and Unavailable time
Simple yet effective
TIP : Let people know when you are availableand when you are not
Make sure people know during your"unavailable time they should only interruptyou if they have to
TIP : Agree the signal This alleviatesinterruptions, avoid misunderstandings, avoids
hurt feelings e.g. door closed, nameplate turned over, use ofDo
Not Disturb sign
As a manager dont over use this, staff needyou to be approachable
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Still interrupted
Be assertive
Take a breath take a moment todecide to
Schedule a more convenient time tosuit your assessment of urgency andimportance OR
Quicklyset the timeframe fordiscussing the issue now "I only have five minutes to talk about
this right now," Stick to it.
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Dos and Donts
Do not ask the interrupter to sit down
Do not engage in small talk
Encourage the interrupter to get right to
the point If no solution is reached before the allotted
time runs out, then set a time for gettingback to them. Stick to it
Stick to it!Be dependable and people will change
their behaviour
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Time Snatchers (1)
Time snatcher are not just people Email Deal with email at a fixed point in your
day Screen in the same way Assess Urgency & Importance Know you Rocks & Sand
Telephone Use an answer machine OR get someone
else to answer, take message Screen mobile calls in the same way as
you screen people
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Time Snatchers (2)
Ideas Keep a notebook to hand jot down ideas
for later action, then get straight back to
what you were doing Tidy desk Schedule a desk tidy up
The only things on your desk should be
those things you are working with Everything else should have its filing
place
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Remember you are the driver!
Set schedules get things done