Managing Multiple Projects & Time While Maintaining Your Sanity

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
Howard Schultz, MSW Executive Director Jewish
Family Service
Have you prepared yourself for this presentation?
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
I have higher expectations than this!
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
1) Time Management is Stress Management
Worry only about what you can actually affect.
Dont waste energy (angst) on things you can do
nothing about
Anxiety feeds on itselfstop worrying about how
much you are worrying about things.
Separate anxiety about the project as a whole
(the guts of what it is you are trying to
accomplish) from worrying about how it is getting
it done. For you social workers separate
content from process
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity

• Dont assume the worst or allege intent
• CHECK THINGS OUT

Weve never done it that way
We cant do that!
My plan is going to be shot down anyway
We cant spend any money
What I do doesnt really matter because someone
else will just change it anyway
No one wants my input anyway
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
Share the newsgood and bad

• Establish a trustful relationship with your
  supervisor and be transparent
• Follow instructions and seek priority decision
  making help and guidance
• Dont own problems or good news all by yourself
• Schedule decision making and planning time
• Schedule and take your vacation. If necessary
  engage your supervisor to help you prioritize or
  delegate your work so you can take your time off
• Have faith in an open decision making process.

IOAJ---Its Only A Job. Dont take your baggage
home. (and dont bring problems from home in)
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
2) Understand the Project Completely
Whats the goal of the project?
Understand the big picture and little picture

• The 5 Ws H
• Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?

Recognize potential conflicts, obstacles, or
competing priorities
Apply a What If philosophy
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
Applying What If scenarios

• What resources would be necessary to succeed, if
  they could be made available?
• Alternatives to the initial plan
• Buying Time
• Delegating to others
• Hiring more staff
• Re-prioritizing other projects

• Engaging new partners or co-sponsors
• Changing venues
• Changing goals
• Changing projects

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
3. Working Out a Game Plan
Avoid the trap I dont have time to plan
anything, I will just squeeze it in somehow
You will make up planning time in efficiency,
more help, better results, and less stress

• Saves time overall
• Reduces anxiety
• Allows opportunity to involve others and get help
• Shares the pain when necessary
• Avoids overflow and overload
• Provides steps to check the plan as you proceed

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
4) Time is Relative Not Linear
Time can be managed. Think about money
Think of time like cash flow. You dont need to
have all the money in hand to buy a house or
lease a car, just the ability to manage your debt
through cash flow for the period of time you own
it. Time is similar. Learn to handle the time you
need for the projects you are managing.
Think of the components of a project as a series
of events that can be orchestrated around both
flexible and fixed situations to create a
Project Flow
Break down the project into identifiable
componentslayer each into the Flow to make the
picture work out.
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
Speaking of Time
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
5. Methods of Project Time Management
A) Straight Line Easy to see the path, no
conflicting issues
Beginning End
B) Managing Obstacles Knowing where the end is
but needing to avoid obstacles to progress
Beginning x xxxx End   xxx xx
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
C) Component Management with resultant end if
you complete all the components, the end will
resultorder doesnt really matter
  Beginning End
D) Leapfrog With a deadline established,
implementing plans based upon the facts you know
at the time, even if you dont have everything
lined up
 Beginning 1) 2) 4) 5) 3) End  
Match the method to the project and the other
competing priorities and available resources
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
6. Balancing Conflicting Projects

• Resolve the conflict using agency priority as a
  guidepost
• Dont own the angst of choice by yourself
• Request guidance from supervisor or
  administration on what should be done first, and
  what can be delayed or put off if necessary
• Be realistic about the time needed to complete a
  project
• When asking for guidance, communicate fully about
  ALL the responsibilities you have that are
  affecting your time. Give your supervisor a clear
  picture so she/he can give you the best guidance.
• Dont arbitrarily drop stuff. Consider what or
  who will be affected by a decision to change
  priorities or working order

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity

• Think about who else may be affected by your
  actions or lack of action, i.e.
• Because of a time crunch
• calls dont get made that others were counting on
• thank you letters dont go out when necessary
• money isnt processed immediately and deposited
• Call backs dont happen quickly enough
• Surprises happen.

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
7. Tools (physical)

• AOAO (Assets, Obstacles, Allies, Opportunities)
  similar to SWOT analysis
• Schedule your time to include planning time,
  budget time, paperwork, etc., and stick to it
• Tickler File
• Palm Pilot/synch to calendar, Franklin Planner,
  etc.
• Red Flag/Good News Form
• Secretarial help
• Simple Lists which you continually re-prioritize
• Bedside lists

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
Mental Tools

• Adopting a What If philosophy
• Developing good peripheral visionan ability to
  see other factors, opportunities, or challenges
  that may develop with each particular action you
  take
• The James Lang Theory
• Recognize your tells of anxiety and do
  something about it.

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
8) Top Ten Traps to Avoid Talking Yourself Into
I dont have time
We cant spend any money on this
I cant handle another thing
Its not my job
That Never works
Its faster for me to just do it myself
Weve always (or never) done it that way
I cant spend the time to train or look for
volunteers, they will only get in the way.
Out of sight out of mind (or maybe they forgot)
Howard wouldnt like it!
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
Having help isnt always this bad
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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
9. Prioritizing a Busy List

• Understand the relative value/hassle of each item
  on your list
• Respond quickly to low hanging fruit
• Seemingly unimportant items to you may be burning
  issues for someone else. If you can do them
  quickly you create a much bigger level of
  successbonus points
• Be aware of pre-requisites or building
  blocksitems that cannot be accomplished without
  other things happening as well
• ASK FOR HELP!

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
10. Crisis Management

• Keep cool and level headed
• Make the best of a bad situation
• Turn adversity into opportunity
• Be agile

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Managing Multiple Projects Time While
Maintaining Your Sanity
The End. Thank You For Your Attention
Change would do you good