Educause Institute: Managing Time and Priorities It's very difficult to manage our time and priorities as IT professionals. In talking to people at the institute, many of had similar problems. We had too few resources (both people and money) and not enough time in a day to get everything done. For some reason, too, technical problems always seem to reach crisis level instantaneously. When email becomes slow or goes down, it is an emergency immediately. It's hard to know what to prioritize when it all seems so important. I struggle with this especially at the beginning of semesters when everything is coming at me very quickly. I end up instituting a first-come, first-served policy, which seems to work for me during that busy time.

We spent a lot of time talking about delegating, which is a big weakness of mine. I manage about 6 students workers right now. It's difficult sometimes to know what can and can't be delegated and even more difficult, is figuring out a process for delegating. I'm still working on that because I certainly don't want any monkeys on my back. I have a great group of students though who I know are capable and who have managed a number of difficult projects. I think my main goal is becoming more efficient at handing out assignments.

I was happy to see mention of the GTD method, which I have used for a little over a year now. The book is an easy read and most of it can be put into practice immediately. I would also recommend a blog called 43 Folders, which provides lots of tips and tools for putting the GTD method into practice. It's a perfect site for geeks!

Well, I'm off to do some reviewing of my project list. How do you all manage your time? Do you have tips to share with the rest of us?

Technorati Tags: educausem071, time-management, gtd ¶ 11:40 AM, posted by Laura