Image by Zak Neilson from Unsplash
The Pros & Cons of both you didn’t know you needed
Hey, you! Yes, you — the guy (or girl) juggling a multitude of different productivity apps & not knowing what to do with them.
Ever felt that after listening to all the different self-improvement gurus, you still don’t know how to track your projects?
You’re not the only one feeling this way, in fact, we all have trouble finding an app that works for us.
Well, actually more importantly- a strategy, because that’s what an app is based on after all!
As Peter Drucker noted,
“Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.”
Maybe, and just maybe, you need to track your projects based on two principles:Â Tasks & time.
Why just these two?
Time is the quantity that we have, whereas the tasks are what fill that time.
Often, it’s the struggle with managing both to fit into a deadline that makes things so stressful, isn’t it?
That’s why choosing to have your schedule time or task-oriented can be so important.
The Pros
Are you someone who is right on the dot when it comes to a meeting?
Then a time-oriented schedule probably suits you best! Why? Because if you’re consistent about your hours, then it’s easier to estimate when a project, with its many tasks, gets done in that time.
But if you feel focused when working on tasks within the same category, maybe strategizing your schedule based on tasks would suit you better.
Time blocking is a great strategy if you’re time-oriented, as Rachel Cohen from Snowe says,
“focusing on one thing for a certain period of time helps you to stay on track and accomplish more tasks throughout the day.”
That means that there’s an,
“emphasis is on determining the completion time of the project given the necessary precedence relationships among activities.” — article
But what about ya’ll who are task-oriented?
As the Crows Nests of Software nicely puts it,
“The planning process of task-based process scheduling refers to the ability to incrementally break down a project into parts based on the tasks required to be undertaken sequentially. The tasks and resources are allocated to complete the project in a defined timeframe.”
For this you can try task batching, a strategy where you focus on a category of tasks (ex. work-related) until you move to the next category. This is extremely good if you hate context switching, something multitaskers may relate to.
So it really depends on what you’re working on as well, whether you chose a time or task-oriented schedule.
Now about about those cons?
The Cons
If you’re horrible with scheduling, maybe focusing per task helps you focus better.
Then vice versa, if you lose track of your focus with task batching & focus better based on time.
The negatives with both of these strategies depends on:
a) If you’re using it wrong
b) If the strategy doesn’t suit you
Since we discussed b, How can you know a?
For time blocking, plan ahead of time what you need to work on & schedule it into 1-hour increments onto your schedule.
This seems simple, but basic planning can do wonders for helping you focus when you’re doing a task!
Here’s an article that explains this nicely.
For task batching, it’s important to prioritize your most important tasks first.
Think: hard first, easy last.
Planning ahead tasks that work together, instead of tasks that make you context switch will immensely help your focus!
Switch ’em up!
As Asana says it, “Task batching is an element of time blocking.”
Even though these two are used separately, like I noted in the beginning:Â time & tasks work hand-in-hand.
Using them intermittently according to how you personally need these strategies can keep both tasks & time in their place.
Take this example,
“say you manage your company’s social media calendar. Every Monday, you need to triage that week’s posts, share a recap of the past week’s posts, and check in with the design team to make sure they’re on schedule for next week’s work. Typically, you do this work whenever you can, and it tends to be scattered around the day.”
Maybe in addition to this, you can only focus in 1-hour increments. So voila! Using task batching & time blocking together may be a combo you never knew you needed.
Just remember, you have time frames where you’re more energized or exhausted**. So don’t push yourself to complete an assignment if you’re not within that time slot! As I do it, my schedule is based on deep & light work — which keeps me balanced & helps me better plan my time blocking.
In the end, this isn’t about raising awareness about these specific strategies, but to talk about the tools they are — when they’re used for your personal schedule.
Whether you’re a social media marketer, writer, or the etc., there is a strategy, or even multiple strategies that work for you!
Now you know the pros & the cons — what to do & what not to do.
Are you ready to experiment?