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A simple but effective time management approach

4th May 2010
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Steve Pipe describes a spreadsheet based time management approach that has transformed his personal productivity.

Accountants are always looking for ways to make the most of their chargeable time and there are several time management systems out there which promise to help them do just that. Having read David Allen’s ‘Getting things done’ last year, which sets out a comprehensive system for re-arranging how you manage your workload, I decided to adapt the key messages from the book in a way that works for me. This consists of a simple spreadsheet that has genuinely transformed my working life.

The spreadsheet contains separate worksheets for each of my main areas of responsibility – e.g. research, resource creation, seminars etc. Whenever I identify a new action point, I immediately add it to the relevant worksheet and assign a do-by date to it. I also record improvement ideas in exactly the same way – except instead of assigning a date, I simply write ‘idea’ in the date column so that I know this is merely something to consider in due course rather than something that must be acted on by a certain date.

Every few days I re-sort each of the worksheets in date order, and transfer the things that need doing that week to a separate to do list worksheet, which I print out on one side of sheet of A4. I keep this printed to do list on the top of my desk and manually colour in each action on it with a yellow highlighter pen as I complete it to give me a visible way of tracking progress.

Since my resulting printed to do list is always quite short, it always seems manageable and I get real satisfaction as the items on it are rapidly highlighted as done. As my non-current actions are carefully recorded out of sight on a spreadsheet, they are fully under control but they never play on my mind and I never feel swamped by the quantity of them as I used to when they all appeared on a single action plan document that stretched for pages! To me the psychological impact of these two benefits is priceless – they completely remove the stress and anxiety I used to feel and ensure that I always feel in control.

My current actions are printed on the left hand side of my A4 to do list page. That leaves the right hand side of the page free for something equally important. Whenever I am waiting for someone else to get back to me or do something before I can take my next step, I list that in pen in a column on the right, and highlight it in yellow once they have done their part and the ball is back in my court. This way, I can see at a glance who ‘owes me’ what, and I can easily chase them when needed.

As a result I always know what to focus my energies on at any point in time, and what I am waiting on others for. I get real pleasure from seeing what I have already achieved, as evidenced by all the yellow highlights - and I know that all my other future actions are logged and in hand.

As simple as this system is, I can honestly say it has transformed my productivity. It allows me to feel fully in control and it has eliminated the stress I used to feel at being swamped by a huge action list.

 

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Steve pipe
By Steve Pipe
04th May 2010 11:17

To clarify... this has helped me to halve my working week

 

When I said in the article that the spreadsheet has transformed my productivity, I wasn’t exaggerating.

In fact, it is one of the things that has made it possible for me to cut my average working week from around 50 hours a few years ago to 21.8 hours in the first four months of 2010.

Not all of that almost 60% improvement was down to the spreadsheet of course – I have also made some other big changes that I will perhaps describe in a future article. But the spreadsheet has played a very important part.

The benefits to me personally were really three fold:

It makes sure I do the stuff that it urgent It prevents me overlooking the stuff that is important but not necessarily urgent It means I can literally forget about the things that simply don’t need to be dealt with at the moment – secure in the knowledge that they will automatically resurface when their time comes

I can’t tell you how much less stressful this all is, and as a result how much more productive I am, than when I used to keep a seemingly endless single list with every outstanding action on it.

Since it is hard to properly describe all this, if anyone wants me to send them a copy of the spreadsheet I will gladly do so

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Steven Bone
By Steven Bone
04th May 2010 12:31

ToDoMatrix

For those of you with a Blackberry there is a really good to-do application called ToDoMatrix by RexWireless (see www.rexwireless.com).  This is specially designed to facilitate David Allen's Getting Things Done method and allows you to do what Steve describes without using a spreadsheet.  This means you always have your tasks with you (you're not always at your desk) and you can't lose your data because it's backed-up to the internet (wirelessly and encrypted).  It is very flexible and key features include for example, allowing you to store tasks by bespoke folders/sub-folders and search for them (so tasks can easily be found), prioritise by importance ('wish list' to crucial), assign visual/audible reminders for when things must happen, track tasks that have been delegated to others and specify where tasks should best be done so you can choose appropriate things to do depending on where you are at any time (i.e. in the office, your car, at home, your local shops etc.).  Like Steve's spreadsheet, this is a productivity tool that allows you to focus on what is really important, means nothing gets forgotten and puts you firmly in control.

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By chatman
04th May 2010 15:04

ToDoMatrix for Non-Blackberry Users

The ToDoMatrix sounds great. Is there anything similar for PCs or Nokia (Symbian 60) phones?

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By ricardo1
05th May 2010 10:29

FREE book to the first 5 people to get in touch

Good morning Steve and thank you for the article.

A really great book. I will send the book to the first 5 members who get in touch.

Perhaps AW should start a " Great business books that will change your business and your clients' businesses " list. 

Richard

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By Becky Midgley
05th May 2010 11:34

@ricardo1

That's a good idea Richard; does anyone else think this would be useful?  If so, I can easily set up a discussion group dedicated to this topic.

We can trial this and see how it goes - Richard, let me know your thoughts, perhaps you would like to manage the group?

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By chatman
09th May 2010 00:15

Good spreadsheet

 I have been using Steve's spreadsheet for about three days now, and it is quite good. Much more info at a glance than a bog-standard to-do list, but not so much you can't absorb it all at a glance.

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