Time management is a key skill every Project Manager should have. It seems obvious but one of the criteria a successful Project Manager is judged on is delivering a project within an agreed timeframe. To be able to achieve this an ability to manage time effectively is needed. A high level plan to guide timelines will normally be dictated by senior management with their required go live date. A Project Manager will most likely need to manage the timelines backwards to the present day and draft a plan based on all the phases that will need to be included. The caveat to this of course is that until the requirements are fully known and durations estimated then a plan will only remain draft. Once requirements are known and planned out then a project plan can be baselined. However most project plans tend to be more agile in delivery nowadays so phase timelines tend to be dictated by development team build schedules. Again, a Project Manager must manage requirements and design accordingly to make sure the requirements are ready to be reviewed by development teams ahead of SPRINTS.

Some important points are noted below.

• Time management is a critical part of any project delivery.

• All tasks included in project plans need to have an accurate input for duration – if the duration is not accurate the risk of delay increases for under estimation but gains can be achieved if overestimated.

• Each project phase (depending on methodology used) will need appropriate time management.

• Project Managers need to manage the delivery of large, medium & small projects simultaneously.

• Time management is critical for managing resources as certain resources such as Business Analysts, systems engineers etc. may need to be booked for projects as dictated by the project plan.

• Project Managers need to make sure the resources work can be carried out without delay & as per agreed schedule.

• No time can be burnt for any resource as time is money and project costs and budgets cannot be exhausted because of wasted time.

• Resource management systems can aid time management by facilitating automatic resource booking & tracking.

• Requirements (features) gathering may need numerous workshops or/and requirements gathering sessions to facilitate the execution of gathering all project requirements.

• Project Managers need to accurately manage the time taken to complete the testing phase of any project. This may include scheduling training, releasing stakeholders from BAU tasks to undertake testing specifically UAT.

• Communication of any delays in project tasks that affect project delivery need to be managed and potentially depending on severity escalated to senior management and / or project sponsors.

• Project Managers need to manage their own time efficiently.

• Project Managers need to schedule meetings with appropriate length – 15 minutes can be fine for meetings with tight & specific agendas. Longer meetings are dependent on desired outputs, agenda items, stakeholder needs and other variables as deemed necessary.

• Managing the transition from one phase to another regardless of methodology used requires careful time management skills.

• Delays are inevitable in projects but recovering from that is a skill in itself.

• Any recovered time can help offset the initial delays.

• Remember by focusing on your time management throughout the whole project will ultimately help deliver a successful project.