Hi, this is Brett Harned.
I'm at TeamGantt today, and we're
going to talk about working hard to achieve work-life balance.
Before we get started, I want you
to think about what work-life balance means to you.
To me, work-life balance is really
about being able to have a personal life and a really
productive work-life.
And I think if I have a productive work-life,
I can have an easier, happier, more fun home-life.
I get to go home at the end of the day, enjoy my wife and kids
and time away from work.
I'm also the type of person who always thinks about work.
Work tends to be not just something that I
do every day but also a hobby.
So I might approach it a little bit differently.
But, today, I really want to focus on productivity.
So for the terms of this presentation,
I want to think about productivity.
So with that let's start with my first point.
Let's talk about organizing your day.
We're all really busy.
We get to work.
You might end up with 40 emails in your inbox.
Before you even sit down you feel overwhelmed.
But it doesn't have to feel that way, if you organize yourself.
If you put yourself on a morning schedule, a routine that
helps you to get through those 40 emails
or to set up your day to be productive,
you're going to end up much happier,
and you're going to have a lot more time
to actually focus on work while you're in the office.
First thing I want to talk about is to-do-lists.
Your to-do-list can be your new best friend.
If you're handling it the right way,
you're going to want to live and die by that to-do-list.
There are a lot of apps out there
that can help you with to-do-lists.
I'm sure that there are probably 10 more apps than I've even
got on the slide.
Probably, a couple have been released since then.
What you need to do is find an app that works for you,
or, if you're like me, resort back
to just a plain notebook and pen.
So, for the sake of this presentation,
I'm going to show you how I keep my own to-do-list.
When I get into the office every morning,
I'll sit down with my to-do-list,
look at what I had it on my to-do-list the previous day--
what hadn't been finished-- what I have
on the calendar for that day, any meetings I have going on,
and then what's in my inbox-- what I might anticipate
might come my way that day.
What I'll do is record all the tasks
that I have to do by project-- because I'm
a project manager a lot of my tasks
relate to specific projects.
And then I'll organize by task types and deadlines.
So you can see on my list here that I've
got three projects, or two projects
and then some admin work that I have to do,
and then I break out my meetings as well.
I think it's really helpful to think about your tasks
in terms of priority.
So for me highest priority are things that must be done today,
medium priority are things that I'd like to get done today
but they could wait until tomorrow,
and then lowest priority are things
that could be done tomorrow or even the next day.
I'll record as much as I possibly can
and organize my list that way.
And then as I go through my actual to-do-list
I'll prioritize my notes.
You can see on the slide of my notebook I circled things
in red that are highest priorities;
those are things I really want to get done.
This will help me understand how I'm
going to organize my day and my week;
you'll see I also listed the admin items that I have
to do-- things that might not take as much time
but I do know that I need to get them done-- as well
as meetings.
So if I'm going by my to-do-list,
I've got my meetings there as well,
so I know that I won't actually miss them if a calendar
invitation slips my mind.
The next thing I do as I'm going through my day
is make sure that I actually update my to-do-list.
It feels really good to be able to cross something out
on the list and put a check mark next to it.
Sounds silly, but it's true.
So I'll add things when I cross things off,
so if a new thing comes up on my list
you can see I've written in red where new items have come up,
and I'll add a deadline to them as needed.
Then I always think about does the priority need to change,
do I need to shift where things are on my to-do-list?
Do I have to look forward to the next week and how
what I'm doing on this list might be impacted by something
else-- is there a large meeting that I need to prepare for?
All of those things are in your head, and they're in your head,
too, but if you get them on your list,
and you're managing them on a piece of paper or with an app,
it'll help you to organize yourself,
and you'll find more time.
It's that easy.
So whether using an app or a pen and paper,
if you follow those quick guidelines about setting up
your lists, thinking through your priority of your work
items, cataloging when you're in meetings, what admin
work you have to do, you'll find time in your day.
The next step is staying focused.
There are a lot of interruptions within the workday,
whether it's by the internet with your coworkers--
with your family trying to get in touch with you.
There are a lot of things that can really suck time out
of your day and leave less time for you when
you're at home at night.
My first tip is to turn off distractions
whether that's email, IM, or your phone.
If you spend time focusing on the work
that you need to do without distractions
you're going to find more time in your day.
One thing that you can do to find more time in your day
is to check email, periodically.
If you leave your inbox open all day
and you check email every time you see your email app blink
that you've got an email, you're wasting time.
You can set expectations around when
you check email, when you respond to email, so
that people don't expect an email response, immediately,
or you don't feel like you need to respond
to things immediately.
If you shut email off, you can actually
focus on the work they need to get done and check it later.
No social media.
This is a big one.
So I work in the web, basically.
So I've got connections across the globe
who are on Twitter, email, Slack, and all of the apps.
And I can get in touch with them all day, every day,
and vice-versa.
But I found that it can be a really huge time-suck.
So if I'm really focusing on trying
to get something done and delivered,
I will shut down all social media.
It really doesn't matter what's happening on Twitter
at any given time, I can always check back
and look if I want to.
Same thing goes with Facebook or any other app that's out there.
Shutting off social media has saved me a ton of time.
Also, know when you can be social.
So if you're the type of person who
likes to get up and walk around and take a coffee break
and chat, that's great.
It's good to be social with your coworkers.
It's great to get to know people and be
comfortable with your team members.
If you're trying to save time and focus
on getting your work done, know when you can be social.
Know that if you get up and take a coffee break
and talk to one of your coworkers
that can eat 20 minutes to half an hour out of your day.
That's 20 minutes or half an hour
that you can focus on getting something done.
So thinking about that-- keeping that in the back of your mind
will make you make better judgments in your workday.
And it doesn't mean that you won't be social
and you won't have friends at work,
it just means that you'll focus on your work and your focus
on being more productive.
Next is control your calendar.
So this is really tough, especially
for project managers, because we're often
pulled into meetings or asked to schedule meetings.
But there's work that we need to get done at our desks
in solitude.
So know that you can control when things are scheduled.
If you're busy, and you need to get
work done, it's easy to say, sorry,
I can't do this meeting now.
Can we push it to an hour later or can we do it tomorrow
morning?
Never feel like you have to accept a calendar
invitation to a meeting just because it was sent to you.
Feel free to ask or negotiate for a better time,
if you need it.
Structuring your days.
Some people aren't able to do this, but if you are,
this could be a good practice.
Think about doing no-meeting zones, times in the week where
nobody in your team or your company
actually attends meetings.
This means that everyone is focused
on getting work done for a good chunk of time
during the day or even a full day.
Also think about different or alternate work-spaces.
Sometimes people work better in-- at home or in a coffee
shop or somewhere outside of the office.
If you can structure time that works
for everybody in your office, everybody
will be more productive.
If that doesn't work for you, and you just really want
to be at your desk, you could be the only person
in the office and maybe that will work for you, too.
Next, I want to talk about being an effective communicator.
I think it's really important to remember
that there's no such thing as over-communication.
I think the more that you can put information out
there and share information about a project,
or what's happening within a company, or within a team
the better everyone's going to be.
The more you communicate, the more people
will understand details of projects and things
that are happening on the project,
and the better outcome you'll get.
You also want to set communication expectations.
This goes back to the email rule.
If you're not checking email continuously through the day,
let people know.
If you've blocked out time of your day to get work done,
let people know.
Let them know that you don't want them to message you.
That's OK.
If you're going to be away, let people know.
It's OK to shut off your email, or your instant messenger,
but just let people know that you're going to be away,
and let them know when you will get back to them,
if you need to get back to them.
Another important tip is to actually listen to people.
I found in so many meetings that people bring their laptops in,
and there's a conversation happening maybe with six people
and four people are on laptops.
You have to wonder if people are listening,
and if it's actually worth their time
and if they're being productive in the meeting.
I recently started a rule that no laptops or tablets
were allowed in meetings because I
felt like it was lengthening our meetings
and really taking away from the overall point of a meeting.
Taking notes is an obvious one, but it's very important
if you have a meeting-- and you have one person with a laptop
there, and that person's taking meeting notes.
That person is actually recording
what's happening in the meeting and making sure that everyone
is productive and on track.
The next is to be proactive.
So as a project manager you're probably
proactive in looking down the road
and at what might be happening on a project-- what
risks might be there.
If you're proactive about communication,
it's even better.
If you're calling people out and actually following up
with them on how things are going,
do they see any issues with their projects--
that kind of stuff is going to help you save headaches
in time in the long run.
Next is providing regular status updates.
If you work with a team and a client,
there are two different types of status meetings you can do,
and they're both very important to make sure
that you're staying productive, and you're
making the most of your time together at work.
So as a team you can meet every morning
or meet regularly for about 10 to 15 minutes
and talk about things like who's doing what,
are there any problems on projects,
does anyone need help-- those are the kinds of things that
are going to make sure that everyone on the team
is not only keeping up with their responsibilities,
but they're also helping out where needed,
and everyone is actually being productive as a team.
At the same time you want to provide regular status updates
to your clients to make sure that everyone
has a general understanding of the project
process, temperature checks, and how things are going,
task prioritization-- all of the things that
are going to contribute to actually moving
your projects along quickly and actually being productive.
Every status should include basic information--
what was done last week, what will
be done this week, action items, updates on your timeline
and budget, and then information about potential risks
on your project.
You want to make sure in communications
you're staying completely honest and that relates back
to the status report.
If you're giving an honest update of what's happening,
you're going to be an effective communicator.
Next, I want to talk about delegating tasks.
This is an easy one in theory, but it can be
really difficult in practice.
You can take a lot of work to want
to prove your worth or your expertise in the job,
and that means that you probably won't
want to give up some tasks that you're doing,
but you have to remember that you can only do so much.
And if you think about your work-life balance and how you
want to be more productive while you're at work,
that means saying yes to the things that you can do and no
to the things that you can't.
So you have to use the data that you have.
You've got to to-do-list, you've got your estimates
on the projects that you're doing
and how long it will take you to get some of that work done,
you've got your calendar, your meeting schedule
and you've got your status reports in the process
documentation that you have.
This is all documentation that will support your decision
on what you can and cannot do on a day-to-day basis.
So, like I said before, saying no
is something that you have to do,
And you have to practice it.
It's a tough thing for a lot of people to say no.
I know it is for me.
I don't say no too often, which can be a problem.
But I always want to help people and that's
sort of part of the theme.
But I have to understand that when it comes to saying no,
I'm saying no because I don't think that I can do something
to my best ability within the time that I'm given.
So if I say no, I say, sorry, I can't handle something
because I don't think I'm going to be
able to give it my full effort.
And that is like a weight lifted straight off of my shoulders,
and it helps me to have a better balance-- not only in my work
day-- but then I don't bring the stress home of all the things
that I need to do that I know I can't accomplish
within a certain time frame.
Next is to enjoy work.
Have fun and take it easy when you can.
Sounds silly, but if you're not enjoying your job
then why are you in your job.
You have to follow the fun.
You have to be a person who likes to go to work every day.
I know that not everybody has a job that they consider
to be fun, but sometimes you have
to make your own fun in order to maintain some balance.
Some ways to have fun at work-- first, keep perspective.
Remember how important your work is.
Are you saving lives?
Are your decisions impacting in the world?
Maybe they are.
Maybe that's the perspective you need to have.
How can you have fun within that setting?
I don't want to minimize your work,
but it's important to think that if you're
trying to maintain a work-life balance
you have to kind of keep perspective on what impact
your work is having on the world around you
and the world bigger than you.
You have to be yourself.
If you're comfortable and you're yourself
in your work environment, you're going
to be much more productive.
You're going to be happy to do the work you're doing,
and you're going to feel comfortable and confident
in the work that you're producing.
You have to take breaks.
Five minutes, here, 15 minutes, there, an hour for lunch--
those things all add up.
But if you're stressed out you probably need that time.
So, be sure to make some time for yourself,
and try to get some physical activity in those breaks.
Maybe you're just taking a walk around the office,
maybe you're going outside, maybe you're working out
on your lunch break.
Make sure that you're actually getting up and moving around
and actually feeling healthy and good about yourself.
At the end of the day, if you put the effort into your work--
the effort that will make your work great,
you'll have the time to put the same effort
into your home-life.
So you can work hard and be happy.
That's the end of my presentation.
Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.