Time Management for Public Works Professionals

Charles R. (Chas) JordanM.P.A., P.W.E., F.M.P.

Assistant Public Works Director / Facilities Manager

City of Largo, Florida

Florida Public Works InstituteAPWA Florida Chapter

Time – The Changing Point

Ian Hill of The Changing Point http://youtu.be/5qDe0ZdPzCM

About me...What does he know? Assistant Director of a City Public

Works Department Manage a Division of 35 people and

almost 50 Buildings Have a family with a 4 Year Old

Stepdaughter Officer of the APWA Florida Chapter,

Committee Member of the local Branch and National Leadership & Management Committee

Committee Member for FCCMA Currently overseeing 54 separate

projects, managing 8 of them On two non-profit boards (one as the

Board Secretary, the other as the Finance Chairman)

Officer or Committee Chair for five other organizations

Finance Committee Member at my Church

Member of the City of Dunedin's Board of Finance

I travel just about every month for work or personal reasons

Completed by Masters Degree in one Year

Received Certifications in Facilities Management, Public Works, and LEED

I still work a normal 40 hour work week (sometimes 50) and get ample sleep per night

Have not been diagnosed with High Blood Pressure..... Yet.

So what do you need to know?

How to manage life with less stress? How do I fit all of my work into 40 hours

a week? How do I get ahead? If I can't get ahead, how do I at least get

current?

How much work time do we have?

52 Weeks 260 Days 2,080 Hours 124,800 Minutes 7,488,000 Seconds

At least...officially

How much work time do we really have?

Based on a person getting two days of leave (generally) per two week pay period.

46.8 Weeks 234 Days 1,872 Hours 112,320 Minutes 6,739,200 Seconds

We all have the same amount of time. What are you going to do with it? Do you get the most out of it? Are you allocating it well? How do you allocate it?

Who has one of these?

Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.

- Charles Richards

Time Management – Beyond the Calendar - OPPIM

Organization Prioritization Planning Implementation Maximization

Organization

Workspace− Time searching for Files− Time Cleaning and Re-filing

Your Calendar− Do you use the computer busy system?− Meeting Time – Length, Duration, and

Agenda− Adequate Time for Adequate Projects

Electronic− How many emails do you have in your

inbox?− How many are unread? − How many are read and you need to

keep? Can someone walk into your office and

find something if YOU are not there?

Prioritization

Value− Is this task important?− Does it's completion benefit you?− Does it's completion benefit your

customers?− Does it's completion benefit your

superiors?

Prioritization

Urgency (Time)− When is the task due?− Do you have control over the time frame?− Emergency or Necessity?

Prioritization Prioritization means determining the

importance of a tasks value and it's urgency.− Highest Priority – High Importance, Urgent− 2nd – High Importance, Not Urgent− 3rd – Low Importance, Urgent (Putting out

Fires) What is the root cause? Can we mitigate this

issue in the future (mitigation of the issue would be high importance)

− 4th – Low Importance, Not Urgent Do we even need to be doing this? Are we distracted??

Planning Calendar

− Do you know how to use one?− Is is accurate? Is it consolidated?− Do you give access to coworkers or

clerical staff? Project Management

− Scheduling of Project Milestones into Time Schedule

Scheduling “Work Time” Setting and Keeping Meetings

Implementation

Follow Through− The hardest way to manage time is to get

a reputation that you will not commit and complete.

Budget Time Appropriately− A good manager budgets everything, not

only their funds, but all resources, including people, equipment AND time.

Maximization Maximize – What Does This Mean? Why do you “Maximize” a Computer

Window? With the time we have, how do we get

the most out of it?− Order of Work− Pre-Planning− Appropriate Delegation− Scheduling− Budgeting

Knowing the Waste

Procrastination− I'll get to it later− I have other deadlines

Pointless Meetings− Staff Meetings with no Communication− Project Meetings with no Agendas− Committees with no Charge

Clutter / Disorganization

Value Added Meetings

From Brian Tracy International:− Begin with a Purpose (Charter or Charge)− Encourage Open Discussion− Press for Closure (Set a Goal / Timeframe)− Summarize the Main Point− Keep a Record (Keep Minutes so you don't

have to rehash things)

Takeaways

Prioritize through value Limit the BS Plan for an outcome, not for tradition User a Calendar! Learn the Computer

System Find something to focus on Remind yourself that everyone has the

same amount of time you do

Questions / Comments?