Project Me

What is the best way to organise your time and workload? Here, project managers give their productivity hacks, tips and recommendations.

“Take sprint breaks”
Alex Constantine, head of project management, CMC

I break up my day with 10- to 15-minute breaks every 90 minutes. I dedicate the 90 minutes to a specific theme or task. If I have a 60-minute meeting, I then have 30 minutes to follow up, noting down thoughts, initiating actions or having a follow-up conversation. The 10- to 15-minute break is an opportunity to do the things I would otherwise not have the time to do. I have a bit of me time, check in with someone or simply pick up on the conversation in the corridor I was not able to have because I had to be somewhere else. Those 10 to 15 minutes, four to five times a day, are my chance to help others while managing my physical energy.

“Record random thoughts”
Daniel Odediran, project manager, Leidos

Whenever I have a random important thought, instead of thinking, ‘I will deal with it later’, I record it on my phone calendar against a specific time or date so I remember it. I sometimes record them in my diary. I find that, although sometimes I do remember thoughts without recording them, it’s usually too late or out of context, and so not as helpful to me as it should be.

“Read your emails three times a day”
Jonathan Aldworth, senior consultant, Pulse Consult

Try not to get too hung up on emails. Working in the construction industry, I am involved with a huge number of stakeholders and can easily receive over 100 emails a day, which is a major distraction to my task at hand. Trying to avoid reading and replying to each one can be difficult, but if you are able to structure your day to look only at emails in the morning, at lunchtime and at the end of the day, you will be more productive.

“Conceptboard and Circuit for collaboration”
Jeffrey Er, senior service pM, Siemens

Using Conceptboard makes my communication with the team easier, given time-zone differences. I place documents for review onto Conceptboard and invite my team members to provide their feedback. It’s a must-have tool for effective collaboration when team members are not located in the same office. To communicate with my team, I use the Circuit by Unify app, through which virtual meetings and sharing of files happen in a secure manner.

“Schedule in my work time’”
Shani Page-Muir Project Hub, assistant lead, DCMS

Days get filled with meetings, which means my time for actually getting work done can be limited. I put time in my calendar called ‘my work time’ to ensure that I can work on various tasks. I set aside time throughout the day, but I always put in an hour in the morning that includes 30 minutes to respond to emails and archive them. I also set aside 30 minutes for this at the end of the day. Gmail is great for its ‘tasks’ to-do list, which is a worthy addition to this productivity hack.

“Microsoft Planner and Trello”
Naomi Blissett, project management apprentice, HS2

I use Microsoft Planner to document and organise day-to-day tasks. I find the alerts invaluable for informing me when tasks are due. This tool is also brilliant for teams and provides clear visibility of assigned tasks via different chart types. The coloured labels are great for categorising tasks. Trello is a free app that I use on my mobile device. You can easily see what is being worked on and by whom via highly visual Kanban boards, which are flexible and easily shared. Progress can be tracked simply and you can also share files and comment on tasks.