Time is money, they say, but it’s not entirely true. While I understand the intent behind this expression, there is a gaping hole in the theory. Time is worth MUCH more than money for the majority of us. Time is the only resource we can’t buy any more of. We all get the same amount of hours in each day, but none of us can ever get time back. The positive response to all of this? Make the best use of your time as you possibly can! This goes for work and personal life alike. As far as work is concerned, let’s talk about how Project Managers waste their time. If you’re looking to make the most of your time at work, avoid doing these 13 things!
How Project Managers Waste Their Time: Avoid Doing These 13 Things
Without further ado, here’s our list of 13 ways Project Managers waste their time. Do any of these sound familiar?
- Not Delegating Work
- Emailing Too Often
- Avoiding Dealing With Issues
- Not Working On High Priority Items
- Not Saying ‘No’
- Working On Redundant Processes
- Failing To Get/Stay Organized
- Picking Up The Slack Of Others
- Favoring Work Related To Their Specialty / Existing Skillset
- Seeking Perfection When ‘Good Enough’ Is Good Enough
- Hosting Too Many Meetings
- Not Giving Others A Chance To Give Their Input
- Too Much Talking, Not Enough Action
Scroll below to read more about each of these Project Management time wasters and why they’re so detrimental to our performance.
1. Not Delegating Work
There aren’t enough hours in the day for one person to handle all of the work. Some tasks must be delegated to others so the P.M. can stay on top of the big stuff.
What does the opposite look like? Trying to have a hand in everything; running around all the time; doing everything ourselves.
Project Managers waste their time when they lose focus on what’s important. It’s essential that P.M.s figure out which tasks to delegate and then do so ASAP.
Read Next: Project Management Efficiency Tricks & Hacks: 10 Go-To Techniques
2. Emailing Too Often
Email is a great tool, but too much of anything great is, well…too much. While emails are an excellent supplemental means of communication, they don’t make the best primary form of communicating.
When emails begin to take the place of important meetings, group discussion and in-depth conversations, we should pump the breaks and slow down on the emails.
Emails are best for coordinating vital information, sharing large files and serving as documentation – anything beyond that can be a waste of time.
Read Next: 10 Email Sins At Work To Avoid At All Costs! Do These Sound Familiar?
3. Avoiding Dealing With Issues
All problems eventually sort themselves out, right? Not so fast. One of the most important things Project Managers do is handle issues as they arise. It’s essential that P.M.s address these issues head on and as quickly as possible.
When an issue is particularly undesirable, it’s tempting to avoid it. Perhaps it will get resolved without our involvement? Sometimes. Most of the time, though, issues will fester and gain strength the longer they go unattended to.
When issues get big enough, they’ll end up taking much more time and effort to deal with than if they were dealt with early.
Read Next: Being Direct In The Workplace, Without Being A Jerk: 10 Simple Steps
4. Not Working On High Priority Items
The Pareto Principal states that 80% of results come from 20% of our actions. It’s up to us as Project Managers to be able to identify which category a task falls into and to maximize time and effort spent on these things.
Project Managers waste their time when they spend too much of it on unimportant tasks. It’s helpful to be mindful of these two categories and spend our time accordingly.
Read Next: How Do You Manage Multiple Projects Effectively? Our Top 10 Techniques
5. Not Saying ‘No’
It’s easy to get pulled in a million different directions as a Project Manager. We get requests from clients, associates of our clients, consultants, managers, coworkers and teammates.
While we can’t say no to all of them, we can say no sometimes. When it comes to Project Managers wasting their time, it’s critical that the word ‘no’ is used whenever appropriate.
We know what’s on our plate better than anyone else. If we need to focus on hitting deadlines or completing specific tasks, we must vocalize this when appropriate. We aren’t doing anyone any good saying ‘yes’ all of the time if doing so is at a greater detriment. We must say no.
Read Next: How To Stop Being Too Nice At Work: 12 Simple, Quick Techniques
6. Working On Redundant Processes
Do you ever feel like you’re doing the same work over and over again? Are there multiple processes you work through regularly that are more or less identical to one another? These duplicate processes can take up quite a bit of time.
There are even basic examples of these processes in our day to day working lives. For instance, imagine taking down a set of detailed, handwritten notes. You then go and type those notes up into a Word doc. This is a redundant process that could be so much easier if the notes are taken directly on the computer.
Beware of doing redundant work if you’re looking to save time!
Read Next: 7 Simple, Effective Ways To Get Ahead As A Project Manager
7. Failing To Get/Stay Organized
When our notes, emails and documents are organized, we think more clearly and work more efficiently. Both of these actions are vital to the overall completion of our projects.
Reviewing notes and emails takes time, as does organized files and documents. While it does take more time, it’s time well spent – the efficiency and precision of our work will more than make up for it.
When Project Managers are disorganized, things will slip between the cracks. Tasks will be forgotten and work will get done more haphazardly. Project Managers waste their time big time when scrambling at the last minute!
Read Next: How Do You Organize Project Documentation? A Few Must-Know Methods
8. Picking Up The Slack Of Others
It’s seen as honorable and noble when a leader falls back to help others along. In Project Management, this is more complex.
Sometimes we’re stuck working with a particular person or company who is not performing as expected. For whatever reason, we can’t get the job done without them. In these instances we have to do whatever’s necessary to bring all parties to a successful completion, even if that’s “dragging them to the finish line”.
There are also instances when people need to be added or replaced. When we have a less-than-stellar teammate that’s not carrying their weight, it’s tempting to just make up for it by picking top their slack.
The alternative is to get this person off the project, work for a period with no one in their position and then hiring/training their replacement – this seems like the worse option in the short term but is actually the right play in the long term. Choose wisely!
Read Next: How To Manage Vendors Effectively As A Project Manager: 10 Crucial Tips
9. Favoring Work Related To Their Specialty / Existing Skillset
We all have a speciality of some kind. Business management, engineering, accounting, programming, etc. When we get promoted to Project Manager, we often drift back to our speciality whenever possible.
There are many reasons we want to do this, but only one thing comes from it – we get behind on other work. What happens when this other work is more important than our preferred tasks? If we don’t choose the former, the project will suffer.
Ironically, Project Managers waste their time when they spend too much time doing what they’re known to do best!
Read Next: Common Weaknesses Of Project Managers: Overcoming My 6 Main Flaws
10. Seeking Perfection When ‘Good Enough’ Is Good Enough
“The enemy of good is perfect“. So true! Perfectionism is a dangerous characteristic when it comes to project management. A wide variety of work must be completed on time to a certain level of satisfaction on every project – there’s usually not time to do everything “perfectly”.
Perfect is subjective anyways. What we think of as perfect is not the same as what someone else thinks. Striving towards perfection is quite taxing, too. A letter might be good enough after 30 minutes of writing, but we decide to rewrite several parts to make it ‘perfect’, which takes another 30 minutes. We’ve suddenly spent double the time on our seemingly perfect letter than we would have to make it just good enough…which is already good enough!
Read Next: Project Management Perfectionism: Rise Above With These Simple Tips
11. Hosting Too Many Meetings
We rely on ourselves and our teams to get a project done. In order to do this, we all need adequate time each week to actually spend on work.
Meetings are an integral part of work – particularly in team environments – and we can get a lot out of them when we try.
Meetings can also be time-wasters. When several people are sitting in a room for several hours, there’s no way they’re all contributing 100% of the time. There’s likely time spend spacing out, messing with the phone or just sitting in silence. This is all prime time our teammates could spend on getting work done.
Project Managers waste their time along with everyone else’s when too many meetings are hosted each week!
Read Next: How Do You Run An Effective Status Meeting? 10 Best Practices
12. Not Giving Others A Chance To Give Their Input
Since projects rely on multiple people to successfully reach completion. it stands to reason that all parties involved should give their input whenever possible. There’s too much to gain in the long run to not shine the spotlight on good idea when we hear one.
It’s essential that we get input from teammates whenever possible. It’s egotistical to assume that our way is automatically the best. In fact, the further we drift from our core responsibilities, the less likely our idea will be better than someone who specializes in that field.
It’s essential that P.M.s set aside ego and listen to the good ideas all around us – doing so will certainly save time, among other things.
Read Next: Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important In Project Management?
13. Too Much Talking, Not Enough Action
Talk is cheap. Actually, it’s free – we can blabber on all day long about how much we know, who is right vs. wrong, what accolades we have, etc. Some people do just that – they talk and talk…and talk.
Action is all that really matters. A talker doesn’t matter at all – if they talk AND perform, that’s one thing. If they talk all day but never seem to get a thing done, that’s just a lazy person in disguise.
Project Managers waste their time and others’ when they talk excessively. Even if they get work done too, time could be spent better than useless banter. I’m all for joking around and having relatively close relationships at work, but performance is top priority.
Read Next: Overwhelmed By Big Projects? 6 Approaches With Metaphors & Examples
How Project Managers Waste Their Time: In Summary
Time is extremely precious. We can never get back the time we spend, so we must make it count. Work is no exception! In terms of how Project Managers waste their time, you can see that there are many pitfalls we must avoid when at work. After reading this article, you’ll be well on your way to never wasting time again! Thanks a lot for reading.
