17 Time Management Tips for Market Researchers · 17 Time Management Tips for Market Researchers Real-world Lessons for Market Research Success 13 9. Embrace Dictation Voice memos,

17 Time Management Tips for Market Researchers Real-world Lessons for Market Research Success

By Kathryn Korostoff, President & Lead Instructor at Research Rockstar LLC

17 Time Management Tips for Market Researchers

Real-world Lessons for Market Research Success

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Contents

Welcome ............................................................................................................................... 2

How most researchers spend their time ................................................................................. 3

How they wish they could spend their time ........................................................................... 4

1. Use To-do Lists................................................................................................................... 5

2. Set Realistic Goals Each Day ............................................................................................... 6

Prioritization Questions ............................................................................................................................ 6

3. Try a New Tool ................................................................................................................... 7

4. Know Your Daily Rhythm ................................................................................................... 8

5. Keep a “When Time Permits” Folder .................................................................................. 9

6. Deal with Email ................................................................................................................ 10

7. Work Backwards .............................................................................................................. 11

8. Plan Ahead to Mitigate Risk Factors ................................................................................. 12

9. Embrace Dictation ........................................................................................................... 13

10. Set Reminders ............................................................................................................... 14

11. Set Deadlines ................................................................................................................. 14

12. Avoid Insanity ................................................................................................................ 15

Job Priorities Exercise: Replace Yourself ............................................................................... 16

13. Ask for Help ................................................................................................................... 17

14. Set Important Meetings Early in the Day ........................................................................ 18

15. Avoid Analysis Paralysis ................................................................................................. 18

16. Have a Theme of the Day ............................................................................................... 19

17. Hire an Intern ................................................................................................................ 20

Thanks for reading! ............................................................................................................. 22



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Welcome

A recurring challenge I hear from Research Rockstar students is that of time

management. Too often, deadlines converge, fires erupt, or clients “need it

yesterday.” So based on my 25 years of market research reality, I have put together

17 time management tips. I hope you find them useful!

Kathryn

Kathryn Korostoff

President & Lead Instructor

Research Rockstar LLC



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How most researchers spend their time

Documenting10%

Data entry10%

Troubleshooting20%

Explaining schedule slips

20%

Managing client

expectations15%

Boring meetings

25%



4

How they wish they could spend their time

Helping clients apply

research15%

Crafting powerful key

findings30%

Designing cool projects

20%

Testing new tools &

methods20%

Attending training &

conferences15%

Okay, maybe that was a little facetious. But

you get the point.



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1. Use To-do Lists

A written task list has 4 benefits:

1. Minimizes the risk of forgetting something important

2. Provides a senses of accomplishment when items are checked off

3. Reduces stress since you now have one place to look

4. Eases the task of prioritizing

I use a special notebook that has numbered

rows. I update the list every 3 or 4 days. I also

have a code to indicate when I have started

an item, when it is half done, and when it is

completed.

— On especially busy days, I will color

highlight tasks that must be done that day.

— I prefer a physical notebook versus online,

but that’s just me!



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2. Set Realistic Goals Each Day

Save an hour a day for ad hoc, time-sensitive tasks

Make careful, conscious prioritization decisions at the beginning of each

day

Is that hard? See prioritization questions

Prioritization Questions As you look at your overall to-do list, ask yourself the following questions.

The answers will help you to logically prioritize items.

What items need to be done so that others can do their work? (Doing

these items prevents you from being a bottleneck)

What items are risky? (Doing these items sooner will give you

breathing room for troubleshooting if there are problems)

What items require collaborating or communicating with others to be

done properly? (Doing these items earlier in the day is usually a good

choice, so that you have time to coordinate with other peoples’

schedules)



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3. Try a New Tool

If you haven’t looked at new project, task or time management tools in a

few years, it’s time to look again

Lots of new tools are available, many with free starter plans

Asana

Do.com

RescueTime

Smartsheet

Trello

+ Many more!

Using a new tool doesn't mean marrying it for

life. I have sometimes used a tool

temporarily—to get through a particularly

overbooked month, to help transition team

members, or to manage other workload

fluctuations



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4. Know Your Daily Rhythm

When do you do your best thinking? Best detail work?

Make an “appointment” in your calendar to block off those times

Some people do their best analysis in the morning. Tasks like writing a

Management Summary, an article, or something else that requires deep

reflection

“When it comes to doing cognitive work, for example, most adults

perform best in the late morning”, according to research by University

of Southern California as quoted in the WSJ

Personally, I prefer meetings before 2 PM

whenever possible. I am susceptible to the 2

PM “slump”, which makes afternoon

meetings less effective for me.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444180004578018294057070544



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5. Keep a “When Time Permits” Folder

A “catch all” folder ensures that you capture the less urgent items that can

still be important

The folder becomes a simple, handy tool during commutes or while waiting

for meetings

Contents for a WTP folder:

Articles to read

Products to check out

Blogs and podcasts to catch up on

My WTP folder is filled with sticky notes and

scraps of paper where I have quickly jotted

down products, people or book titles I want to

look-up when I have more time



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6. Deal with Email

If you can set specific blocks of time each day for email, great!

For many market researchers, especially those managing projects, this is

unrealistic. We need to receive and send time-sensitive information. BUT

we can still prioritize. Here’s one method:

Step 1: Quickly scan new incoming messages

Step 2: Respond quickly to those that NEED responding to right away.

Step 3: Any that can wait, color code or toggle a flag. That way you

can sort your inbox at the end of the day by “flag” status, and catch

up.

Step 4: Any that were never coded can be scanned and deleted at

another time, or can be moved in bulk to a folder titled “TPO email”

TPO = Time Permitting Only

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”

― Stephen R. Covey

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1538.Stephen_R_Covey



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7. Work Backwards

In a time crunch to get that next report done? Try working backwards

Planning project subtasks and interim milestone dates backwards can often

force us to be more efficient

Start with an end date, and work backwards to fill out your project

schedule

Tip: Know your end deliverable (be specific about success criteria),

and create a series of steps working backwards to the start



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8. Plan Ahead to Mitigate Risk Factors

All market research projects have them. No exceptions. And most are

known.

At the start of every project, document your risk factors

What are the top 3 risk factors for this project?

How can we mitigate them?

Risk factor example: unknown quality of list to be used for recruiting In-

depth Interview (IDI) participants

Possible mitigation steps: Build in time for a soft launch, identify a

fallback list, document risk factors for client (advising of specific

benchmarks that need to be met)

I can avoid schedule slips by mitigating risk

factors. And clients appreciate the proactive

approach.



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9. Embrace Dictation

Voice memos, voice recorders, or dictation apps make it easy to dictate

notes and ideas

When working on longer written pieces (management summaries,

articles), add on transcription and you get a first draft

Dictation allows you to use your time efficiently, and also helps pass the

time when doing boring tasks (like sitting in traffic!)

I use SpeakWrite. I dictate in the car, when

walking the dog, even on the treadmill.

Sometimes just the process of talking out loud

helps me to clarify my thinking about complex

topics.



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10. Set Reminders

Set up meetings with yourself for important tasks. That way you can have

both a visual and an alarm reminder.

Use recurring meetings for those tasks that need to be done regularly.

11. Set Deadlines

Parkinson's law observes that, "work expands so as to fill the time available

for its completion.”

As Market Researchers, we often manage our time better if we have

several interim deadlines leading to a project deliverable date.

Without deadlines, many market research tasks can expand needlessly

Another famous adage related to this, attributed to Daniel Kahneman,

is the “planning fallacy”; a tendency to underestimate how long we

need to complete a task, even when we have experience with the type

of task in question.

http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/08/the-planning-fallacy-and-the-i/



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12. Avoid Insanity

Recall the tragically over-used, but decidedly applicable, quote: “The

definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting

different results.”

When pinched for time, our tendency is to do things the way we always do

them, because its seems less risky. But sometimes, change is good.

Do you always proofread your own reports? Have someone else do

it. You may get better results and you can use the time to QA your data

or do another task.

Do you always recycle the same question formats and scales? Maybe

its time to refresh on scale options. You may find yourself reenergized

to the point where your analysis actually goes faster because your data

is more interesting!

Need help thinking about how to change

your work habits? Try the following exercise.



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Job Priorities Exercise: Replace Yourself

Step 1: Imagine you have just been promoted! But first, you have to hire

someone to replace yourself. Your task is to write a job posting. How would

you define your job? Your key responsibilities? Write down this job

description

Specify the top 5 responsibilities

Note: Step 1 should take you at least 15 minutes. Be sure to think

carefully and precisely about your top 5!

Step 2: Now look back at your last week: how much of your time was spent

on those five items? What percent was spent on other items?

What are you spending time on that really is not a good use of your

time and brain power? Do you really have to do those things?

Many people realize that they are spending as much as 50% of their

time on things they wouldn't want their replacement “wasting” time

on!



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13. Ask for Help

There is no shame in asking for help

Possible sources of help:

Colleagues: having colleagues do a “mock” pre-test of a survey design,

or having them sanity check a report, can be a quick task for them that

will give you some relief

Outsourcing: Low-cost sites like Fiverr can be a great way to get help

with simple tasks

Professional Association members: Member of CASRO, ESOMAR, the

MRA, or QRCA? Associations like these all have online forums (some

on LinkedIn) where you can ask qualified peers for advice

I have found low-cost proofreaders and

graphic designers on Fiverr and Guru.com



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14. Set Important Meetings Early in the Day

A morning meeting FORCES you to be ready the day before

Reducing the temptation to complete preparation the same day—

which is a recipe for disaster

15. Avoid Analysis Paralysis

Market researchers often have piles of data to work with, and it can be hard

to judge when the analysis is “done”



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Analysis can be a never-ending activity. How do you know if you are

done?

Focus on the project’s documented objectives. If you are spending more than

X hours (your call as to what “X” is for you) on analysis that is not directly

related to your primary objectives, stop

You can always do more later when the client isn't waiting impatiently

for your report

16. Have a Theme of the Day

The theme is a recurring focus that may take as little as 5 minutes or as

much as an hour per event, but is something you need to do consistently.

Here are my themes:

Salesforce Monday (review and catch up on CRM reports)

Twitter Tuesday (write tweets for the week, schedule for time

release)

Class Prep Wednesday (prep materials for upcoming classes, refresh

content as needed)

Social Media Thursday (write posts or comment on articles, LinkedIn

discussions, etc.)

Favor Friday (send thank-you notes/gifts, make calls to new clients,

send discount or free sample codes to new contacts)

By having recurring tasks scheduled, I don't

stress about if and when I will do them.



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17. Hire an Intern

A sharp, motivated intern can easily be trained to help with many market

research tasks:

Coding of open-ended survey responses

Selection of verbatim quotes from focus group and IDI transcripts

Data checking

Incentive management

Basic charts & graphs

Writing articles and memos based on your transcribed dictation (see

#9!)

I have found many excellent interns at local

colleges and via Internships.com



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In the world of market research,

time management = stress management

Knowing all about methodologies and tools is great; but add in solid time

management skills, and the market researcher’s success potential soars.



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Thanks for reading!

Please send any comments or questions to [email protected]

Find out why over 1,000 busy professionals have taken Research Rockstar classes. Visit Training.ResearchRockstar.com today!

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.training.researchrockstar.com/

Documents

17 Time Management Tips for Market Researchers · 17 Time Management Tips for Market Researchers Real-world Lessons for Market Research Success 13 9. Embrace Dictation Voice memos,