What is time management?

Time management is the process of planning how to use your time effectively. It’s essential for working efficiently and aims to maximize productivity and work value. In a professional setting, time management enables internal teams to complete work more efficiently, thereby adding additional value to the business.

Similarly, project time management involves analyzing and developing a schedule and timeline for project completion. Formalized time management processes provide a buffer for things like unexpected roadblocks and under- or over-estimated project timelines.

Project time management plans determine what tasks to adjust within project timelines and how best to allocate and manage resources throughout the process. How leaders define project time management varies, and techniques differ between project management methodologies. For instance, an agile marketing methodology might require tasks that can fit into short sprints as requirements change. Managers using Kanban methodologies, on the other hand, might plan time in more generous segments, allowing for smoother flow.

Regardless of your work, project time management involves setting time markers against your project’s key stages and tasks. It means defining the time value of each task and allocating the relevant resources to complete each step.

This post will cover:

• What is time management?
• Why is time management important?
• Project time management strategies
• Time cost in project management
• Managing your time effectively with Adobe Workfront

Mastering project time management can help streamline and enhance project execution and effectiveness. It directly impacts the quality, scope, and cost of a project, making it one of the most important project management knowledge areas. Managing time effectively helps ensure project completion on time and within budget. It also clarifies:

• How much time a project requires
• Which stakeholders (internal and external) should be involved
• At what point their expertise should be included

This process provides a framework for developing a sequence of activities, durations, resource estimates, and how these fit into the overall project management plan.

The time management phase in project management is an important step. When you know what you intend to deliver and why, planning helps you get there smoothly while assigning value to each abstract subtask. With this in mind, let’s explore some of the benefits.

Increase productivity.

Knowing what to prioritize increases productivity and allows you to focus on the most beneficial points of action. It gives your teams a sense of urgency, control, and direction. Each of your project deliverables should be accompanied by a time investment estimate to serve as a guide. This prevents tasks from taking more time than they’re worth, keeping everything on time and track.

Increase focus and reduce distractions.

Planning and prioritizing tasks help you focus on what’s important. This can also help remove unnecessary distractions and allow you space to delegate or manage ad hoc tasks that may arise. Following a to-do list or a more formal structure can also help reduce overwhelm, enabling you to make more informed, effective decisions and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Reduce and mitigate project mistakes.

Focusing on only one aspect of a project helps ensure the right work gets done and prevents mistakes overall. Incorporating time values into your project plan allows staff to understand the required investment for each task. When time is planned for checks, this effect is heightened even further. Excellent project time management helps avoid last-minute rushes and ensures lead time goals are met without sacrificing quality.

Increase proficiency.

Having a timeline in place provides visibility into what teams need to work on and when. This helps make them more proficient and, in turn, focused. Effective time management in project management allows leaders to assemble the best talent for the required work, allowing for specialization and individual proficiency. As a result, delivery teams will quickly become familiar with project details, reducing workload and making oversight easier. To further streamline the process, project management tools can help keep everything moving efficiently.

Create more opportunities.

With the right approach, teams or departments can become more efficient at managing projects and completing them on time and within budget. This may even generate further opportunities to manage additional projects in the future.

What’s more, great project time management techniques allow you to showcase your ability to lead ad-hoc projects effectively alongside core work. Time management doesn’t mean tunnel vision — instead, it’s about making accurate projections. This allows you to be flexible in a positive way.

Stay on budget.

Keeping a project on target not only ensures that things stay on budget but also keeps stakeholders happy, knowing that their investments are working in the most efficient and valuable way.

For this to work best, consider implementing project monitoring and controlling processes. The sooner you have accurate data on delivery, the sooner you can recalibrate if certain aspects start to become unprofitable.

Better meet your goals.

Building strategic project management plans helps you to achieve project goals as well as influence other personal and professional goals. All of these benefits lead to increased efficacy and satisfaction across the board.

The primary task for any project manager is to complete all work efficiently. Effective project time management increases the likelihood of successful delivery by reducing the risk of timeline overruns.

There are many strategies to improve project time management. These ten provide a good starting point:

1. Set clear priorities: Rank your tasks in order of importance to ensure you follow an appropriate sequence.
2. Introduce shorter deadlines: Bring forward deadlines to allow for leeway in case of any delays or interruptions.
3. Plan at the end of the day: Planning what you need to do the next day while today’s work is still fresh in your mind can help build a more effective to-do list. It also saves time the following morning.
4. Delegate tasks effectively: Ensure that relevant personnel are assigned tasks within their area of expertise. As a leader, it’s beneficial to establish healthy habits around saying ‘no’ when you don’t have the capacity.
5. Use time blocks and boxes: This includes carving out set blocks of time to focus on specific tasks. Timeboxes, meanwhile, encourage you to break down larger tasks into smaller boxes of time.
6. Reduce interruptions: Improve focus by managing external, environmental, and other distractions.
7. Plan with intention: Create a to-do list for each day that covers all tasks to be completed. This works as a powerful way to increase productivity.
8. Practice the Pomodoro Method: For this method, have your to-do list ready and set a timer. It involves you working for four 25-minute blocks with 5-minute breaks between each one. After the fourth block, you take a longer 30-minute break.
9. Regularly revisit the timeline: It’s easy to get hyper-focused once your head’s down. But it’s important to revisit the project plan to ensure you’re staying on track.
10. Prioritize key tasks: Trying to tackle everything at once and jumping from task to task will reduce focus and productivity. Prioritize your tasks based on urgency, using the ABC method.

What is the ABC priority method?

The ABC priority method is a common technique for improving project time management. Every task is ranked with the letter A, B, or C in order of importance. Tasks marked A are completed first, followed by B, and then C. These rankings are based on the impact each one will have on your project goals and the time they should take. This method helps project managers define which tasks need immediate focus and which can be deferred, ensuring efficient and timely project completion.

In project management, time cost refers to the impact of time spent on overall project finances. It focuses on the monetary value associated with the hours worked, not just the hours themselves. Essentially, every hour or minute counts.

Workforce costs, general expenses, revenue, and quality are all considered when evaluating the success of a project. And, generally, it is affected by the triple constraint — also known as the project management triangle. This includes:

• Scope: The work that’s needed to complete a project, including tasks and deliverables.
• Cost: The project's finances, including individual tasks, resources, and labor.
• Time: The project schedule that covers all deliverables necessary to meet the scope.

This is why effective time management is crucial for optimizing both time and cost. Ensuring your team is as efficient as possible — by delegating to the right people, utilizing time management methods, and setting clear priorities — can make all the difference.

Time is invaluable and, unfortunately, not unlimited. It is a crucial resource that holds as much value as any other. Effective project time management can ensure you utilize every hour as efficiently as possible, keeping time costs low, team members focused, and processes streamlined. Managing your team’s time well has the power to shape the project scope and overall revenue.

Workfront can help you manage your projects in one place, eliminating the need to switch between platforms. Focus on what you need, when you need it — organize independent tasks, plan larger initiatives, and track employee hours. Unify teams, ensure transparency, and reduce the overwhelm that often arises from project overviews.

Watch the Workfront overview video to learn more.