Have you ever noticed that there are two types of people when it comes to time management? One is always on time with everything: their deadlines, their daily chores, their meetings—they even have time for hobbies. Others miss their deadlines most of the time and with mostly everything. What’s even more interesting is that it usually has nothing to do with overall intelligence or capabilities.
With self-discipline, most anything is possible.
Theodore Roosevelt
So, is it possible to simultaneously increase team performance and decrease business expenses? Time management tools might be the answer! In this article, we explore the time management tools and techniques that can help businesses boost their employees’ productivity and cut costs effectively.
Tools for Time Management
The common time management tools for employees include:
- Task boards
- Time trackers
- Shared calendars
- Collaboration tools
Tools for time management are crucial in today’s dynamic corporate world, where multitasking and hybrid work setups have become a new norm. Like this, seeing the whole picture of one’s working time and having it handy on a laptop is a guarantee of better focus, productivity, and work accuracy. Here we provide an outlook on some of the most efficient, hence popular, time management software and look at their functionality by using particular examples.
1. Task boards
If you feel exhausted and stuck from constantly rewriting deadlines on your to-do list, it might be time to change your approach. Consider switching to a task board, which is widely recognized as one of the best techniques for project management today. Whether used by individuals, teams, or entire organizations, a task board visually maps out the progress of work from start to finish.
How does this work? Typically, tasks are represented by “cards” which can be placed in a few columns on a physical board or arranged across multiple levels within a digital platform. At its core, a task board includes three primary columns: “To do,” “In progress,” and “Done.”
A task board is a tool that is universally applied across industries: IT, logistics, finances, manufacturing, you name it. It enables teams to effectively track workflows, assign tasks, share vital information, enhance effectiveness, boost production, and meet crucial deadlines.
Whether you’re planning a small project or managing complex business operations, integrating a task board could significantly improve your team’s effectiveness and smooth out workflow.
2. Time tracker
Time trackers might be essential for those managers who want to have a clear understanding of their team performance and efficient resource management. Similarly, they support employees by enabling them to manage their productivity better by reducing idle time. Here we will provide an outlook on how time trackers can benefit organizations with the example of Traqq, an easy-to-use but highly efficient time tracker.
Help for managers
Productivity tracking provides managers with detailed records of how employees spend their time on various tasks by tracking apps and website visits.
Activity tracker based on keyboard and mouse activity drives additional insights on how managers can better allocate resources by identifying which tasks require too much time to be completed or need more manpower.
It also helps to make an objective performance assessment based on detailed reports of productive vs. idle time for each employee. One of the crucial advantages of the software is the ability for managers to track the time their employees spend on different tasks with full transparency and make well-informed decisions based on accurate reports and analytics.
Help for teams
The time management tool allows for the assignment of managers to monitor specific teams or groups, granting them access to comprehensive data on both team and individual productivity. Like this, a manager assigned to a group can make a direct comparison of labor costs against profitability.
The ability of to generate detailed reports on the time productively worked and amounts earned by team members helps identify which team members are contributing the most in terms of value and which in terms of idle time.
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Help for employees
The time tracker offers several benefits for employees, particularly enhancing the comfort and ease of tracking hours worked. Here’s a summary of the key advantages:
- Detailed time monitoring: Provides insights into how much time is spent on specific websites and applications. This feature helps employees understand the balance of time spent on the task and the outcome, enabling better time management skills. This feature is especially valuable for those who earn on an hourly basis.
- Automatic time logging: Simplifies the process of creating invoices with its automatic time logging feature. This ensures that every minute spent on a project is accurately recorded and reflected in invoices. This makes billing straightforward and reduces the administrative burden on employees, especially freelancers.
- Smart alerts and notifications: Helps maintain continuous and accurate time tracking with smart alerts and notifications. If an employee forgets to start the timer, the app sends reminders, ensuring that no work time goes unrecorded.
3. Shared calendars
Shared calendars are one of the most efficient time management tools that can bring the efficiency of teamwork to the next level. They represent a centralized platform where teams can plan and track meetings, deadlines, and important events. This ensures that every team member is on the same page and fully informed about upcoming tasks and milestones.
One of the most well-known and powerful shared calendars is Google Calendar. Its rich functionality allows teams to quickly schedule meetings and events and provides reminders about upcoming activities. You can have a clear outlook on your agenda and share it with others too. This functionality allows different team members to maintain their own specialized calendars and make them available for others when needed.
It also allows you to indicate your working hours and meeting availability slots and mails you daily agendas at the beginning of your working day.
4. Collaboration tools
While Google Calendar might be used as a task management tool as well, that is not its primary function. Specialized collaboration tools developed for productivity management suit this purpose much better. While developed with the same purpose in mind—to make team collaboration as convenient and smooth as possible—they have their own unique features as well.
For example, Asana stands out with its wide functionality and flexibility. Being very interactive, this tool allows members to communicate through internal chat and even share files within the app. You can assign tasks to members, set deadlines, and leave comments about them. Besides, the app allows for different project views, such as calendar views or Kanban-style views.
Trello stands out for its integration capabilities. Through Zapier, the platforms can connect with thousands of other tools, which allows you to add features such as calendar views, advanced analytics, and integrations with other tools like Slack, Google Drive, and even Salesforce. This makes Trello extremely adaptable to various business needs, allowing it to serve not just as a task manager but as a comprehensive project management hub.
Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, allows for deep integration with Office 365. This allows users to edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files directly within the chat or meeting window. This makes communication streamlined, enabling users to manage documents within one platform.
Time Management Techniques
Time management techniques should be considered as working hygiene habits; if conducted regularly, they will maintain your corporate “health” on a due level and prevent unpleasant surprises in the long run. Here we present some of the most common, yet efficient, working habits that can be easily implemented in every organization’s working routine.
1. Pomodoro Technique
One of the simplest time management tools to prevent burnout and the lack of focus is the “Pomodoro Technique.” Invented in the 1980s by an Italian student named Cirillo who was struggling with work fatigue and burnout, the technique is about breaking down one’s work hours into 25-minute periods and taking 5-minute breaks in between. After four such ‘pomodoro’ work sessions, you take a longer, 15-30-minute breather to more fully recharge. The term ‘pomodoro’ has nothing to do with the tomato’s restorative properties. Cirillo used a kitchen clock the shape of a ‘pomodoro’ so he named the method after the clock. The 25-minute work bout is not rigid; to each his own. Some may put up with longer activity spells, some would go for shorter work sessions. What matters is the 5-minute break in between. As the method has gained a lot of traction and since Cirillo’s kitchen clock is long gone, you can make use of the online version of the Pomodoro Timer.
2. Daily stand-up meetings
Adherence to stand-up meetings is one of the good old time management techniques that is still efficient. Usually held at the beginning of the day it allows team members to quickly share updates, set priorities, and discuss obstacles. It is crucial to keep them concise—ideally under 15 minutes—to avoid overwhelming employees and turning them into a tedious routine. This balance helps maintain the meetings’ effectiveness without contributing to meeting fatigue.
3. The Two-Minute Rule
The Two-Minute Rule, popularized by David Allen in his bestselling book “Getting Things Done”, suggests that if a task can be completed in two minutes or less, it should be done immediately.
This approach promotes efficiency and reduces procrastination by encouraging us to tackle small tasks promptly. To implement this rule, use an online timer set for two minutes. As soon as you start the timer, begin working on the task. Aim to complete it within the designated time frame. Using an online timer ensures that you stay focused and adhere to the rule, helping you stay organized and productive.
4. Regular check-ins
Regular checkups are another beneficial time management tool that can come in particularly handy when you work on a project as a team. In cases where you need to coordinate your tasks with other team members, live discussions might be crucial, especially when you face challenges that might affect other team members. Like this, you can decide what is a priority in your group at the moment or agree on some crucial aspects face-to-face. Later, these updates can be split into smaller tasks or added to an online collaboration tool.
5. Time Blocking Technique
Time blocking is a technique that involves dividing your day into specific time blocks dedicated to different tasks or activities.
Using a stopwatch can help you effectively implement this method. Here’s how you can use a stopwatch for time blocking:
- Set aside a specific amount of time for each task, such as 30 minutes, in a time block.
- Start the stopwatch as soon as you start working on the task.
- Track the time accurately and stop the stopwatch when the time block is over.
- Switch to the next task only after the time block for the previous task has ended.
- Repeat this process for all the tasks in your day.
By using a stopwatch, you can ensure that you stay focused on one task at a time and avoid wasting time on unnecessary activities. This can help you stay organized and increase your productivity.
6. Daily progress reports
Daily progress reports are another time management technique and an overall useful working habit. By summarizing their activity at the end of each working day, an employee benefits in several ways:
- Gets a better understanding of their own productivity.
- Has a clear picture for planning future activities (thus meeting deadlines more efficiently).
- Contribute better to the team’s working dynamics by being more organized and ensuring that nothing is forgotten.
- Make sure all their achievements are well documented (which might be beneficial for future promotion). The same goes for falling behind with tasks (in case additional help or advice is needed).
- Finally, summarizing daily their working part of life on paper or digitally helps to prevent work-related ruminations after work and have more efficient rest. This helps keep a better work-life balance and maintains better productivity.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed some of the most popular and efficient time management tools and techniques, as well as provided an outlook on the functionality of some popular time management software. While these tools and practices are very supportive in preventing idle time and boosting overall organizational effectiveness, no company should underestimate the role of efficient leadership and supportive working environments. Organizations where employees support each other and can discuss their challenges with managers in an open manner are more successful by default. A healthy corporate culture supported by the right time management tools and techniques is a solid foundation for success.
