Sterling Rose Design Blog

Yesterday, I tried an experiment in time management. I am always working on at least a dozen projects (professional and personal) at a time, and was feeling as though a) I wasn’t getting enough done, b) I was distracted even while working by all of the things I hadn’t finished yet, and c) time just kept getting away from me. So I decided to try a little timeboxing, in conjunction with #dailygoals.

The basic concept was this: Via the #dailgoals Twitter hashtag, I define what projects I want to work on that day. I stayed away from saying I wanted to complete anything but the most insular of tasks (placing an order, for example) and left everything else open-ended. Then, I whipped out my handy-dandy timer application, Apimac timer (I’m sure a kitchen egg timer would work just as well) and set it for 30 minutes.

I picked a task, started the timer, and focused purely on that topic for the allotted time. OK, as purely as having four small children would allow. :) When the timer dinged, I got to a stopping point (no more than a minute or two over), posted my “Ding!” tweet, and reset the timer. I switched to a different task and did it all over again. Most tasks I assigned 30-minute intervals, but for some, I went for shorter times. These were mostly things that were for fun/breaks. I even timed my nap!

So how did it work? I must say, I was surprised. It was the best time management technique I have ever tried, in terms of it working for me. I felt productive and focused – I didn’t allow myself to think of other tasks, because I knew my time allotment for the task at hand was limited and I would be switching soon. I timeboxed almost my entire day, which relieved the guilt – nobody can work more hours than there are in a given day! I was able to look back on my “Ding!” tweets and see just how much I had accomplished, and feel proud rather than anxious. I was – for once – at peace.

I had Twitter followers throughout the day ask me how it felt, and that they felt they were being productive “vicariously” through me. A friend on Facebook said I worked on too many projects at once to be normal. This gave me a chuckle, because yes, I do work on a lot of projects in a given day, but during a given “ding-spot” (a term I just made up – go me!) I was entirely focused on only one task. I was able to bill a good amount of time to a client project, but I was also able to complete and deploy a major new feature on another project – one that I had been putting off for weeks because I “just couldn’t find the time.”

So, is this the part where I try to get you to drink the timebox Koolaid? Nope. All I’m saying is, this worked very well for me. YMMV. There are lots of Timeboxing approaches out there, including (as hardbap pointed out) The Pomodoro Technique. I am no management or productivity guru, and I have tried this exactly one day, so I’m certainly not going to stand on a pedestal and say, “This is awesome! You should do it, now!” But I can say that for me, it’s a winning strategy, and one I will repeat as often as I can.