Tracking and allocating time

I’m going to try a new technique this week to see where my time goes.

I’m going to keep a log of everything that I do to see where my time goes. This is a common technique employed and suggested by many people as a way to see where you are spending your time.

However, rather than doing this in isolation, I’m going to combine the tracking of what I do with an attempt to pre-allocate what I expect to spend my time doing. For example, I know what projects I have outstanding and when they need to be completed. I also have some meetings booked in next week. I’m going to combine what I know I’ll be doing (meetings) with what I should be doing (projects) and then allocate the time accordingly.

At the end of the two weeks, I’m going to compare the two - planned and actual. I should be able to determine:

  • What I spent my time doing.
  • Whether my estimations on the time required to complete a project matched the actual. This will help me plan future weeks.
  • Identify weaknesses and potential interruptions.
  • Identify why and when I’m most likely to get sidetracked.

I’ll report back on my progress. Meanwhile, if anybody wants to perform the same task - planning and recording - and discuss their experiences, please leave them here :)