Here is pdf of the presentation I gave at Adobe MAX CF Unconference on Project Management and Time Management.
The main theme is that having great information before, during and after a project are the keys to a successful project. That information gives you a basis for good communications and good management (of your team and client expectations). The presentation then discusses how time tracking can be an easy habit and powerful tool for generating great information.
Plan for Success
Your project management plan is your bible for success. Without it, there will not be a project because without a workable plan, you have no way to reach your goal. Your plan must start at with the goal that you want to achieve. Then, break down that go into workable segments. Set a timeline for each segment. Your team should know these timelines and adhere to them. This does not mean that you make a mad dash between segments. You want to allow enough time for these various stages to be achieved while still being able to meet the overall deadline. Remember, you can rework your plan to find better ways to get you where you need to be.
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Nowadays, more than ever, people need to have effective time management skills. This is especially important when it comes to students. Whether you’re working on your associates degree, bachelors, graduate degree or going through job retraining, time management plays an important role in a successful educational experience.
Often students are juggling numerous things. They of course have their academics. Then there’s family and friends, and oftentimes a job. Depending on the amount of classes you are taking this can be an enormous task.
For time management to be effective you will need to schedule your normal activities, plus your class time, time for your assignments, work, etc. School will be a large part of your time management.
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We’ve all seen how time management can be a valuable skill for us. It helps us become better at utilizing our time wisely. However, each of us is different and therefore the way we manage time is different. Determining your time style is important so you can learn how to make your time count, reduce stress when changes happen and become a more productive person. The fact that people have different time management or management styles has been known for years by psychologists like Carl Jung. So the idea itself is not new.
One place to help you find your management style is to look at Life Tour . They offer a quick, simple little survey that can give you a brief look at what type of leader you are. Knowing this can help you determine your time management style and how well you manage your time.
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Have you ever wondered where your time goes each day? Why is it that you never seem to have enough time to do the things you want to do? Where is your time going? Are you wasting it or using it wisely?
These are questions that you should ask yourself if you want to manage your time more effectively. We have all said to ourselves “if I just had another hour, I could get so much accomplished”. The fact is, there are 24 hours in a day. How you use them is up to you.
Activity logs are an effective tool for time management and can help you make the most of each day. An activity log is place where you record what you did during the day, when you did it and for how long. Activity logs can take on numerous forms: paper notebooks, electronic organizers, software on your computer, the internet or on your phone. No matter which tool you choose, the idea is to track every event so you can see the larger picture of where your time is going.
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Content is Critical
Content is an important part of business –both on the marketing and sales end, as well as when talking about internal communications. On the marketing side, we’ve been encountering content for as long as we can remember. It is used in newspapers and magazines to tell a story, on billboards advertising a service. We read it on labels in grocery stores.
Good Content = Good Business
If you don’t have the proper content or if the content isn’t managed to get your message across, then what’s the point of having it?
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Procrastination: the American Heritage Dictionary defines procrastination as “to put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness; to postpone or delay needlessly”.
We all have a tendency to procrastinate. It’s seems to be a part of human nature. We tend to think we have plenty of time to get everything done or we think we can do it later. And when the time comes, we just can’t seem to do it. The sad fact is, the more you put something off the harder it is to get it done.
So why do people procrastinate? Well, for several reasons:
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Mark Phillips
I am the product manager and lead spokesperson for Vertabase. Its my job to make sure the Vertabase approach to project management gets out there and that feedback from our customer’s and the market make it back to the engineers who build the great products we sell. I spend a lot of time traveling, talking to customers, users groups and conferences in the US and Canada primarily about project management, time management and getting more done.
I write about those same topics on this blog and in other places including a regular column for Fusion Authority. My work has been published in publications like C|Net, ComputerWorld Magazine and the Financial Times. News about Vertabase (which my team generates) has been in almost every major project management magazine, vertical industry magazine (e.g. the insurance industry, banking industry, education, municipal government, oil and gas, etc.) and local newspaper around the United States.
Besides project management I am an active member of Adobe Technology related communities. This includes ColdFusion, AIR and the Creative Suite group of products like Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.
Before getting into project management and software I worked on Wall Street as an economic and financial analyst. Those topics are still very dear to me. Sometimes, on this blog, you’ll find that I can’t help but comment on economic and financial events going on in the world. But I do stay away from politics (on the blog).
Philosophically, the Vertabase approach to project management comes from over 15 years of real world experience helping thousands of people at hundreds of companies get more done -everyday. It has been used to produce projects for companies like MTV, Young and Rubicam, Sesame Street and the State of California. It is based on having to produce high quality work with limited resources. It is built on making it easy to get project related information, track information and use that information for intelligent reporting and decision making.
I hold a Masters degree in Applied Economics from the University of Michigan and a Bachelors of Science [Econ] in Philosophy and Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. I live in Michigan with my wife and kids, our dog and a fish.
