Testing the classics: A Time Management Experiment: Time Blocking

Nothing beats project anxiety like a plan. -- me :-)

You know me - I love experimenting on myself almost as much as on you. Or my clients. Kidding aside, I've studied many, many techniques to manage ourselves as we work, and a classic on is time blocking, AKA time mapping (see [1] for more). It's a simple idea: Schedule regular chunks of time with yourself for important tasks. The experiment I've tried for the last few weeks is applying it to three largish projects coming up (higher education workshops) with a relatively short timeline (less than a month). The advantage is it forced me to make steady progress on projects to prevent last minute scrambling, stress, and failure. The result: Worked great!

Following are the details, along with a few rules and caveats when time blocking. 

(Updated 2009-06-08 to remove confusing project plan image.)

Planning and estimating

My first step was to get my head around all the work I'd committed to. The three workshop projects ranged in complexity from updating an existing full-day one, through adapting one for a shorter program, to creating a brand-new 90 minute one from scratch. I applied the planning ideas I'm developing (see Simple Project Planning For Individuals: A Round-up) and came up with the number of hours needed per project: 8, 12, and 18 hours, respectively. I tried to be conservative in my estimates, but ultimately only time would tell (uncertainty is a function of experience).

I then calculated the number of days available for each project from the day I started: 15, 24, and 19 workdays, respectively. Thus, to stay sane and on-target I needed to spend the following time every day for the next four weeks: 1/2 hour/day, 1/2 hour/day, and 1 hour/day. In other words, because of my (happily) agreeing to take on the jobs, I'd committed to working on these three projects 2 hours EVERY DAY. That was a shock.

Implementing

The next step was to simply create repeating entries in my calendar for the three blocks. Here's a screenshot from iCal for a typical week. (Note: Not all client work is shown in this view.) What you should focus on is the orange chunks.

You'll notice a couple of things. First, while they were all initially scheduled for the same time each day (in the morning - my prime time), you see that they've been moved. This was the first thing I learned - my life is unpredictable and varying enough that planned times don't always meet reality. So I adapted by negotiating with myself and pushing them down. I'm sure you see the possible problem: Pushing them completely off the bottom, i.e., not getting some done. I found I was consistently able to honor my commitment to myself (a zero tolerance rule), but this meant working late some nights - part of the deal of being a self-employed parent.

One novel thing I did that was helpful was using each block as a project accountability record. I did this by simply editing each appointment after finishing it by adding a short description of what I got done. This kept me honest. This little record-keeping didn't replace my full project plan. Like all my projects, that was captured and tracked in each project's outline.

Finally, if when I was deep in the flow I extended the time beyond what I'd allotted. The rule, though, was no borrowing from the others! This information was useful in after-action project analyses, esp. in answering, "How did estimated and actual compare?"

Wrap-up, Questions, and Challenge

Though I've tried smaller versions of this, overall the experiment validated this approach, and I'll continue recommending it to clients.

I'm curious: Have you (or do you) used this for yourself? For what projects does it work best? What have you learned that you'd like to share?

If you haven't yet tried time blocking, I'd like to challenge you to give it a spin on your next new project. Call or email me if you'd like help. I'd love to hear how it goes. Cheers!

References

• [1] See Time Design ("consistently setting aside time for high priority activities") or Julie Morgenstern ("allotting specific spaces in your schedule for tending to the various core activities of your life").

I know about you! (I think)

What I like about you,

you hold me tight.

Tell me I'm the only one,

wanna come over tonight

(With apologies to YouTube - The Romantics)

The results are in from the fabulous IdeaMatt survey [1]. A big congratulations to the 12 lucky winners; enjoy your Amazon booty!

At the risk of making sweeping overgeneralizations, I will tell you a bit about yourself based on my sample, and how I plan on changing (or not) as a result. Let me know if this sounds like you.

• What you do: You do all kinds of work [2], in all sizes of organizations, with a correspondingly wide range of responsibilities. I'll continue to keep the ideas I write about generally applicable.
  
  
• Primary interests: The message was clear: By far, topics on productivity are most interesting to you. In addition you like inspiration, book recommendations, self-improvement, and general "unstick/made me think" posts. I'll make a renewed emphasis on time management. At the same time, I'll continue weaving in my Think, Try, Learn perspective to productivity, and more broadly to self-development and living.
  
  
• Post length and frequency: For the most part you're happy with both. Of course it may be that those who didn't like what one reader called "deep dives" have stopped reading, but I can't help that. For my own time management sanity I'll work on getting posts more concise.
  
  
• Productivity challenges: You've pretty much got your act together, productivity-wise. Can I take credit for that? A little, maybe :-) Some exceptions seem especially to be procrastination and work-life balance, accompanied by: clutter, concentration, information overload, interruptions, personal information management, perfectionism, goals, and team productivity.
  
  
• Products of interest: You are interested in buying:
  
  
  
  • Books ("The Productivity Missing Manual," "Think, Try, Learn: A scientific method for discovering happiness" - $20 range),
    
  • Informational Guides & How-Tos ($5-$10 range), and
    
  • Workbooks & Courses ($25-$100 range)
    
  A smaller portion of you found appealing a Micro-Blog Subscription published throughout the day ($5/month range). In the near future look for my Engineer-Approved, No Woo-Woo Guide to Solving Procrastination (working title :-) along with other unique productivity-minded goodies.
  
  
• Services of interest: While some of you were interested in one-on-one desk-side consulting, most of you preferred my virtual offerings, including:
  
  
  
  • Facilitated book study group (read, discuss, and apply ideas from influential top authors),
    
  • Productivity mastermind group (weekly conference call. discuss productivity practices, share and learn from fellow members),
    
  • 6-week Individual programs (Daily Planning, Goals-to-Action Reconnect, Media Diet, Procrastination Experiments),
    
  • Rent Matt's Brain (targeted thinking and brainstorming for your project),
    
  • 6-week Group programs (Project Planning Boot Camp, Workflow Self Study, Work Audit), and
    
  • Executive coaching (3, 6, and 12 month programs for building a sustainable practice)
    
    
  
  
  Make sure to let me know if you're excited to start one of these right away. I can have any of them ready within the next 6-8 weeks, some sooner.
  

Thanks again for your feedback. As aways, I love to hear your comments.

References

• [1] See Make This Blog ROCK: Take A Quick Survey. You Could Win A Prize!
  
• [2] Sample job titles: Research Executive, Clinical Physicist, MD, Consultant, Attorney, Senior Pastor, Parent Educator, Sr. Architect, IT Manager, and Owner & Artist.
  

New! Matt's Guides: You Did WHAT? 99 Playful experiments to live healthier and happier

I am delighted to announce the first in my series of productivity and living guides, You Did WHAT? 99 Playful experiments to live a healthier and happier life. While there will be plenty of productivity ones coming soon (including a forthcoming one on procrastination), this one popped out first. (As Steven Pressfield writes in The War of Art, "But the muse had me. I had to do it.")

This one is my guide to small activities you can easily try that help you be more engaged with your world. Unlike other books on improving your life, our approach uses small observations to foster change naturally through awareness.

The book starts with an essay introducing our unique perspective on treating life as an experiment, details the procedure for how to run them (including managing your experimenter's notebook and celebrating your results), and then lists 99 of them grouped by topic - Mindset, Emotions, Relationships, Being present, Community, Just for fun, Health, and Work.

Here's a sneak peek of a bonus one from the financial realm:

• Saving Money: For one month count the times you eat out at a restaurant. Don't worry about changing your behavior, just tally them up. Afterwards, look at the final numbers. Did the total surprise you? Did you become more aware of the cost? Did you find yourself thinking about whether to instead eat at home? Were there any patterns you could discern?

I invite you to buy a copy, and to feel free to share your stories [1] with me. Cheers!

You Did WHAT? 99 Playful experiments to live a healthier and happier life Downloadable PDF Price $9

References

• [1] As an aside, our site thinktrylearn.com is on hold while we finish up our first prototype of edison, our experimenter's log that will let you track the experiments you start, make observations rapidly via your cell phone, and share what you discovered with others. On top of that will be a large self-help repository documenting the major ideas and techniques for personal development, along with suggested experiments. We'll tag each with categories like productivity ("Does GTD work?" "For who?" "For how long?"), health ("What diets have others had success with?"), personal development, etc. Finally, we'll ultimately have a statistical AI layer on top that will act as a guide to answering the question, What methods have most helped people like me? Overall this TTL PLATFORM will replace the current "search engine" mode of getting help (1. Search a massive self help section. 2. Find a thousand possibly-related pages. 3. Wander through the top hits on your own. 4. Maybe try some, probably with no careful testing. Etc.) Instead, our approach will be a more personal (and scientific!) one, based on trusted guidance and empirical results. More as it progresses!

ExperimentLab follow-up: That's not MY garbage. Or is it?

Our last ExperimentLab was That's Not MY Garbage. Or Is It? where you picked up someone else's garbage. I'd love to know: How did it go?

Sometimes laser, sometimes blind: How natural converge/diverge cycles explain progress

(Reminder: There's still time to take my survey and help make this blog work better for you. Not to mention getting to enter to win an Amazon gift certificate :-) Click here to get started. I'd sure appreciate it!

As I continue developing my consulting practice and simultaneously move my Think, Try, Learn (TTL) philosophy ahead, I've seen an important cycle I want to share with you. This comes up because sometimes during projects I'm frustrated when I don't feel like I'm getting traction. Some examples of when this happened/is happening: Writing the TTL book, creating new workshops, building the TTL platform, getting a handle on productivity metrics (see How Do You Measure Personal Productivity?), defining my blog's topics and style, and deciding my consulting market. What was going on?

After observing this multiple times I realized there's a natural cycle when doing something new, and I've come to think of it in two stages - divergence and convergence. I don't have all the answers, but I'll give it a go.

Divergent thinking happens when you're getting your head around the thing - groping in the dark, if you will. Indicators: Feeling of no clear direction, trying wildly different approaches, taking (appropriate!) risks, making lots of mis-starts, and generally learning a hell of a lot.

Convergent thinking is when you've got enough from the divergent phase to laser in. This is when it clicks, you have an insight, and your energy changes from discovery to direction.

Have you experienced this yourself? For me, a few questions came up:

1. How do I know when I'm in one?
   
2. How can I enjoy my time in each?
   
3. When is it time to move between?
   

My thinking follows.

How do I know when I'm in one?

To identify where you are in the cycle, I've identified some characteristics of each. (A tip of the hat to Anne McGee-Cooper's Time Management for Unmanageable People. Her ideas about divergent and convergent personalities with respect to productivity have been influential.)

Aspect	Diverging	Converging
Learning curve	Steep	Shallow
Tangible output	Lower	Higher
Structure	Low	High
Discomfort	Low	High
Direction	Unclear	Clear
Certainty	Low	High
Perspective	Breadth	Depth
Attention type	Radio telescope	Laser
Expansion	One to many	Many to one
Process	Intuitive	Logical

How can I enjoy my time in each?

While you may be different, what's hardest for me is gracefully manage divergence. My urge to know the answer overwhelms enjoying the process, and I despair. I found it helps to be gentle with myself, to capture everything I try and learn, and to realize that this is something that cannot be skipped. It's the ticket that gets you in the door of originality. Can it be frustrating? Absolutely. But you can get relief by letting go of expectations (where you think you should be instead of where you are) and by appreciating how much you are learning. Finally, realize by definition that you probably weren't ready to do something different.

For the convergent phase, this is a time to focus and bring it into being. Use good self-management tools (I can help) and keep in mind that ideation is relatively easy, but fewer people have the skills and determination to make it real.

Both phases take courage, so be proud that you've put yourself into this position. Remember, when you're doing something original there are no shortcuts.

When is it time to move between?

The cheap answer is "You'll know when the time is right." But like any cliche, it is meaningful when you experience it, but unfortunately it's descriptive, not procedural. Here are a few tips: Converge when you've seen just enough - don't be a perfectionist and think you need to know it all. Ask whether you've grabbed ahold of the big pieces, and trust that the rest will come when necessary.

Diverge when you're stuck or need inspiration. Don't push, get broad. Do not worry, you'll be back.

Note that in the same project you can have a back-and-forth between the two. It's why in TTL we talk about "Iterations, recursions, interleavings, and orderings" (see How Do You Treat Life As An Experiment?)

I'm really curious:

• What do you think about this?
  
• Where else have you seen this described?
  
• Have you experienced times in your life when you were more comfortable with one over the other?
  
• Where else does this natural cycle come into play?