Manage time or manage achievement

Most people are driven by calendar; some manage it; a handful of people keep an eye on time, but focus on deliverable.

I have always felt sorry for those staring at their calendar on a Monday morning, trying to figure out what is happening next. In the same time, jamming calendar with pre-booked hours is nothing more than a desperate driving instructor who could not help worrying about how to fill his hours.

You might have heard of GTD practice (get things done). You might be also a fan of prioritised to-do list. The pitfall is, organising resource could easily slip into you focus area, as you spend more than enough efforts in feeding the time machine, rather than actually get things done!

I keep a very reasonable calendar, too much available slot that my boss would not normally be impressed from the first look of it. It almost too simple and easy to say, what matters is what has happened, what has been transformed, what has been produced from nothing to something, what has been delivered. To keep boss happy is very important because only that way you can have the support you need to carry out your mission. However, to those who believe that's the core of their jobs, you probably want to click away from this blog. It's also important to manage expectation and show due diligence, especially for management or leadership role. Unfortunately, many bosses have failed to recognise that at the end of day, one thing matters the most, more than any fluffy gestures, is deliverable. No matter what roles you are playing, you are supposed to deliver something. Time you have, time you have been paid for, is the ultimate resource you have, absolutely the same to everyone else in quantity.

I guess there is little to argue that people who can manage their time tend to be more organised and efficient. However, being organised is completely different concept to being in control of what's happening; being efficient is also not equivalent to being effective. Interestingly, being able to deliver, are largely depended on the amount of control you have over the matters which you are responsible for, and how effective you are in processing what is required to actually produce desirable results, being a receptionist or a chief architect.

How to maximise the output given limited resource (time)?

• Hit those big ones.
• Hit those will cost a lot if not happening on time. (penalty)

I have had this illusion long time ago that once I resolve all known problems, done all planned tasks, it is the end. We all have to live to realise that you can not possibly finish all the work at any possible points. The truth is, you will have no need to exist if that happens :-). So pick those which have higher return of (time) investment or those with higher penalty. To manage around this point of view, you will not be swerving about and lose clue of what you were trying to achieve, by putting too much love in your calendar.