Measurement before management.
WHY IT COMES FIRST
People are consistently wrong about how they spend their time.
WHAT THEY UNDERESTIMATE
Interruptions Time spent switching between tasks Administrative work Travel Waiting
WHAT THEY OVERESTIMATE
Time spent on important work.
HOW TO FIND OUT
Record what you actually do, for a period.
HOW LONG
A week or two is enough to see the pattern.
WHAT TO RECORD
What you did, and for roughly how long.
HOW PRECISELY
Roughly. Precision defeats the exercise.
WHAT TO CATEGORISE AFTERWARDS
Work only you can do Work others could do Work nobody needs to do Interruptions Administration
WHY THAT SECOND CATEGORY
It is the delegation opportunity.
WHY THAT THIRD CATEGORY
It exists in every business and nobody notices.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Activities consuming far more than you believed Blocks of time producing nothing Days with no uninterrupted period
WHY UNINTERRUPTED TIME MATTERS
Work requiring concentration cannot be done in fragments.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
How much of your week is actually available for substantial work.
WHAT THAT NUMBER USUALLY IS
Far less than expected.
WHAT TO DO WITH IT
Plan against the real figure.
WHY
Plans built on imagined available time fail predictably.
WHAT TO REPEAT
The exercise, occasionally.
