What is Time Management?

Time Management (TM) involves the conscious control of the amount of time spent on tasks, activities, projects or initiatives, in order to maximize efficiency.

As Eisenhower once put it, “Plans are nothing, but planning is everything”.

TM involves analyzing how time is spent, and then prioritizing different work tasks. To be effective as a manager, you should be able to distinguish clearly between what tasks, activities, projects are important (and deserve to spend time on) and which ones are not.

TM can be performed on an:

• INDIVIDUAL LEVEL (yourself, your colleagues, your employees);
• TEAM LEVEL (your project, department); and
• ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL (division, country, firm, corporate).

What is the Eisenhower Matrix of Time Management?

Eisenhower said that to approach a full agenda and to determine priorities for issues and tasks at hand there are two dimensions to consider: 

• URGENCY, and 
• IMPORTANCE. 

Putting these 2 dimensions on two axis results in 4 quadrants of issues and tasks:

1. Important and urgent. NOW! Get done with it right away.
2. Important but not urgent. SCHEDULE. Make an entry into your calendar.
3. Not important but urgent. QUICK FIX. Try to delegate as much as possible and reduce involvement.
4. Not important and not urgent. DROP. Trash it.

What are the 6 Steps to Create an Eisenhower Matrix?

1. List
2. Rank Importance
3. Rank Urgency
4. Divide the issues and tasks into the 4 categories
5. Plot them in the Matrix
6. Act upon your classification

What is the Action Priority Matrix?

The Action Priority Matrix is a time management tool that focuses on the impact and effort that goes into tasks. 

The Action Priority Matrix has 4 quadrants along 2 axes: 

• EFFORT, and 
• IMPACT

Each of which can be High or Low:

1. High Effort + High Impact: “MAJOR INITIATIVES”. Decide. (Very) good returns, but time/resources consuming. This means that one major initiative may “crowd out” several quick wins.
2. Low Effort + High Impact: “QUICK WINS”. Focus. Attractive projects, because they give a good return for relatively little effort. Focus on these as much as you can.
3. High Effort + Low Impact: “THANKLESS TASKS”. Avoid. These initiatives or tasks give little return and also soak up precious time that you should be using on more useful things.
4. Low Effort + Low Impact: “FILL-INS”. Don’t worry too much about doing these activities If you have spare time, do them, but otherwise drop them or delegate them.

What are the 6 Steps to Create an Action Priority Matrix?

1. List
2. Rank Impact
3. Rank Effort
4. Divide the issues and tasks into the 4 categories
5. Plot them in the Matrix
6. Act upon your classification