We as a society tend to focus on instant satisfaction and accomplishing your goals, or, workflow as quickly as possible. This becomes so much of our focus that we often don’t realize that what we are trying to optimize really only saves us milliseconds of our day. This holds true for many job roles, including Website Developer and Account Manager.
A Website Developer, for example, is able to run a series of tests while working on another set of coding. Which, in theory, should save them time and finish the project faster. However, if the search they are doing is for anything that says “!=false”, but, because they are too focused on saving time they forget that PHP could consider “0” a false and should have done “!==false”. This seemingly small mistake renders the search, essentially, pointless. Once they find this mistake has been made, they need to fix their search and run it again. This does not really shave off much time from their task list. Instead of managing their time in this fashion, sometimes it is easier to finish all the “small” tasks on their list at the start of their day and save the big project for later on, knowing it will take them more time.
Account Managers are often faced with questions and concerns from their clients, often times, on a daily basis. It will save you, and the client, more time if you respond to them as soon as you have an answer. Scheduling an email response for an hour or more may seem like the best idea. You have your response written, ready to go, now you are moving on to other tasks. Why not respond as soon as you have the answer for them? It may not feel urgent to you, but to them it is. A quicker response time gives the sense of urgency, importance and responsibility. You are my client; I value you and your concerns and will give you the time you require. This also allows ample time for any follow up questions they may have for you.
In short, pick and choose opportune tasks and times of your day to optimize. Can an hour-long meeting be shortened with time management skills? Perhaps instilling a strict time schedule can ensure the meeting stays on track. Is a meeting necessary or would a group email do just as well? To learn about these strategies and more, contact us today!
