Time Management Tips for IT Leaders

At some point, executives and IT leaders have complained that there’s not too much time in a day to complete a task. As a team leader, you are always confronted with an issue or problem that takes your concentration away from your main job—such as driving sales or moving your organization forward.

Time management is an approach in order to make the most of the time we spend at work and boost productivity to achieve both short-term and long-term goals.

This is the difference between success and failure. After all, everybody’s given the same amount of time every day. Those who are able to maximize each second and use it efficiently will not only be able to generate more results but also avoid more stress.

Quick Time Management Tips for IT Managers

1. First Things First

You should set your priorities according to the urgency of the task. Those that need to be delivered immediately goes at the top of the pile. Differentiate between urgency and importance. For instance, a task may be urgent but it doesn’t really add that much value to the overall goal. List down your to-do-list according to priority.

2. Delegation is key

Regardless of how you view your talents, you can’t do it alone. You need to trust your colleagues more, especially if you handpicked them to be part of your team. It does sound challenging to cede control to somebody else. And many top executives are still struggling with this challenge even today, so you are not alone.

3. Audit the time you spend on each task

It sounds like you are putting in extra work to audit the time that you spend on each deliverable. More importantly, set a deadline on each task.  But this is an investment that is worth a try. Besides, you are only going to do this in the initial stages up until you identify the gaps and weaknesses in the delivery chain.

4. Sleep early, start early

An IT leader who spends too much time doing overtime because of an unfinished task is not a hard worker. This is an indication that they are not managing their time efficiently. You need to take care of your health first. Get enough sleep and start early the next day.

5. Steer clear of distractions

Go back to auditing how much time you spend on your phone or watching TV every day? It doesn’t mean you forget to have fun, but when there’s work to be done focus all your attention to the task at hand. But you and your team need a break, too, so you also include this in your time management routine. During these intervals, don’t talk about work. Go out to eat, talk to your team about how they are feeling, how their families are doing, etc.

To conclude, some IT managers equate working harder with productivity. But you need to be more efficient in order to maximize the talents of your team without burning them out. You won’t do any favors if you work yourself to sickness due to stress and late night shifts. Instead, you need to work smarter by adopting an effective time management system.

Learn more about the importance of time management…