Time management is necessary to keep operations running smoothly. If time management is neglected, progress cannot be monitored, and serious problems such as missing deadlines can occur.
However, there may be many people who are not good at time management and do not know effective solutions.
In this issue, we will focus on 5 causes of poor time management and solutions practiced by people who are good at it for below people.
- “Lack of good time management and frequent work errors are occured in our workplace.”
- “I want to find points that I can utilize in my team from people who are good at task management.”
- “We want to know how we can quickly improve the efficiency of task management, which our team members are not good at.”
If you are not good at task management, this article will help you understand why you are not good at task management and enable you to smoothly complete your tasks.
Contents
- 1 Harmful effects of inability to manage time
- 2 5 common causes of poor time management
- 3 5 solutions practiced by people who are good at time management
- 4 Why apps can improve time management efficiency?
- 5 A best app for efficient time management
- 6 Summary of 5 causes and solutions for poor time management
Harmful effects of inability to manage time
Here, we will explain 2 harmful effects of not being able to manage time. If you are not good at correct time management, it will have the following negative effects on your business, so you should improve it as soon as possible.
Poor schedule management
If you cannot manage time, you cannot manage your schedule well.
If you do not have a good grasp of the tasks you need to do, or if you accumulate tasks without being able to prioritize them, you will not be able to complete them systematically. As a result, you will be prone to schedule omissions, and you will not be able to allocate time to important tasks.
Since schedule management is essential for effective use of time and efficient execution of work, the prerequisite time management difficulties must be overcome.
There is possibility of bad negative impact on your team regarding sharing progress by poor time management.
If time are not managed properly, tasks may be washed out or shared with omissions each time they are shared with the team. Such a situation can lead to miss deadlines of tasks.
Therefore, in order to complete tasks in a timely manner, share progress frequently and improve the circumstance that team member have not organized their time.
5 common causes of poor time management
Here are 5 common causes of poor time management. If any of the following apply to you, review them immediately.
Cause 1｜The granularity of tasks is too large
First of all, one of the causes of poor time management is that the granularity of tasks is too large.
Task granularity refers to the degree to which a task is broken down. For example, the task “to create a business plan” is too granular and abstract, so it needs to be made more concrete, such as “to do research by 11 a.m.” or “to create an estimate by tomorrow 2 p.m.”.
As described above, if the granularity of a task is too large, it becomes difficult to understand the man-hours and deadlines. As a result, it may become “I set a task, but I do not know how to proceed”.
Cause 2｜Vague task estimates
Another reason why time management is not good is that the time estimates for tasks are vague.
If the time estimate is vague, it will cause the situation that are “it took longer than expected” or “I packed in too many tasks”, and you will not be able to digest the tasks as planned.
Therefore, when setting tasks and estimate time, make sure to clarify the due date and the concrete contents of each work.
Cause 3｜Overloading tasks
Cramming too many tasks without consideration of time is another cause of poor time management.
It is meaningless to cram in an amount of work that cannot be completed in the work hours because you are trying to manage tasks thoroughly. As a result, they cannot catch up with the tasks and carry them over to the next day, which leads to a vicious cycle.
If tasks continue to be carried over to the next day, the sense of difficulty that “time are not being managed properly” will grow. Therefore, first estimate the time for tasks and figure out the appropriate amount of tasks.
Cause 4｜Taking on all the work
Another cause is taking on all the work that you cannot complete by yourself.
Even those who are good at task management cannot handle an amount of tasks that exceeds their own tolerance. Therefore, share the task management status with your team and adjust the burden as necessary.
As mentioned above, if you are taking on too many tasks, you should think about “how to support them as a team” or “how to adjust tasks I have”.
Cause 5｜Trying to memorize tasks without note
People who are not good at time management tend to try to memorize tasks without writing them down.
When multiple tasks are being performed simultaneously, there is a limit to what can be done from memory alone. Also, since it is difficult to visualize the overall picture, omissions of tasks may occur.
Therefore, make it a habit to leave a note as soon as a task occurs to grasp time of completion. However, it is important to organize them by project so that information is not mixed up.
5 solutions practiced by people who are good at time management
Below are 5 solutions practiced by people who are good at time management. If you want to apply the methods of good people to your team, this is a must.
(1) Break down tasks
People who are good at time management practice task brakedown to make it easier to start each task.
Task breakdown is to break down tasks into smaller pieces to make it easier to estimate time. Specifically, we proceed in the following order.
- Determine the general flow to the goal
- Identify the tasks necessary for each flow and time
- Discard and select tasks
If you break down tasks to the appropriate level of detail as described above, you will be able to allocate appropriate resources and time to each task.
(2) Prioritize tasks
Prioritizing tasks allows you to work more efficiently within the limited time available.
For example, you can classify tasks according to their importance and urgency. Use a matrix with a vertical axis (importance) and a horizontal axis (urgency) as shown below.
Classify all tasks into 4 categories using the above diagram as a reference. The order of priority of tasks is (1) > (2) > (3) > (4), so you can see at a glance which tasks need to be addressed immediately.
(3) Organize tasks
Organizing tasks before starting work is another characteristic of good time management.
If you organize tasks in advance, you can start work after confirming the overall flow of the work. As a result, by working backward from the goal, it is easier to solve unnecessary work and prevent omissions, which makes it possible to proceed with tasks more efficiently.
Therefore, if tasks must be completed in a day, set aside “time to organize tasks” before starting work.
(4) Leave room in your schedule
People who are good at managing time make a schedule with plenty of time to spare.
If you have a good buffer of schedule, even if one task is delayed or you are suddenly asked to do a new task, you do not have to worry about everything being pushed back. This prevents the situation where a task is not completed until just before the due date.
Therefore, make sure to leave enough time in your schedule in advance so that you can respond flexibly to unplanned cases.
(5) Utilize time management apps
Finally, another key to being good at this is to utilize a time management apps.
Time management apps allow you to check and share tasks and time regardless of time or location. Therefore, even if you are behind in your task progress, you can quickly find a solution.
However, a multifunctional app is difficult to master and may not spread throughout the company, so “apps that are not excessive in necessary functions” should be selected. For example, Stock, which can be used by anyone in a non-IT company without explanation, will save you no time at all in managing tasks.
Why apps can improve time management efficiency?
The reason why time management improves with an app is because it solves the hassle of setting up and sharing tasks.
It is tedious to write down each task in a notepad or input them into Word or Excel. It is also inefficient to go to the trouble of using email or phone calls to share tasks.
This is why even people who are not good at task management can manage tasks easily and without hassle useful by using time management apps.
A best app for efficient time management
Below, we introduce an app that streamlines time management, which is used by anyone.
People who are not good at time management often use analog methods such as paper notepads, Word, and Excel. Such methods are inconvenient because it is hard to know where the information is managed or it takes time to share it.
On the other hand, if you use a “time management app” that allows you to check and share tasks in real time, even those who are not good at task management can proceed with their work smoothly. However, be aware that many multifunctional apps are difficult to use and may not take root in the company.
Therefore, you need an app that anyone can use without explanation. In conclusion, to solve your time management woes, you can choose Stock, which is not overloaded with necessary functions and can be used immediately even in a non-IT company.
“Note” of Stock make it easy to store all kinds of information, and each note can be tied to a “Task” or “Message”, so information is not disorganized. Also, as Task of Stock allow you to manage tasks efficiently, you will be able to organize members’ time management.
Stock｜An app that allows anyone in non-IT companies to quickly manage tasks
The simplest tool to stock information "Stock"
https://www.stock-app.info/en/
Stock is the simplest tool to stock information. Stock solves the problem, "there is no easy way to stock information within the company".
With Stock, anyone can easily store all kinds of information, including text information such as requirements, images, and files, using the Note feature.
In addition, by using the "Task" and "Message" functions, you can communicate with each topic described in the Note, so that information is not dispersed here and there and work can always be carried out in an organized manner.
＜Why do we recommend Stock?＞
- A tool for companies that are not familiar with ITYou don't need to have any IT expertise to get started.
- Simple and usable by anyoneStock is so simple that anyone can use it without any unnecessary features.
- Amazingly easy information storing and task managementIt is amazingly easy to store information such as shared information within a company, and intuitive task management is also possible.
＜Stock's pricing＞
- Free plan ：Free
- Business plan ：$5 / User / Month
- Enterprise plan ：$10 / User / Month
Summary of 5 causes and solutions for poor time management
We have focused on 5 causes and solutions for poor time management.
People who are not good at time management tend to overload tasks beyond their personal limits. Another cause is that they try to memorize all tasks, which leads to omissions.
To solve the above difficulties, a “time management app” that allows users to create and share tasks in real time is indispensable. However, a multifunctional app may be difficult for employees to use, so it is essential that it be simple and intuitive to use.
In conclusion, the best solution to solve the difficulty of task management is “Stock”, which has just necessary functions and can be easily used by people who are not familiar with IT.
It only takes 1 minute to register for free, so using Stock to streamline your poor task management and make your projects run smoothly.
