Example Schedules from the past 3 years
If you’ve tried all kinds of strategies for managing your time but keep looking for something better, I feel your pain.
Here’s what I’ve learned… it’s not about time management as much as it is about self management.
We all have the same number of hours each day. The same as each other, the same as last year, the same as a decade from now. You and I can’t change how many hours are in a day. But we can change how we steward them, which takes managing oneself.
Today, I’m sharing my journey and some of my scheduling hacks to manage myself effectively. I’ll break it down by year from 2020 to 2022.
Spoiler alert, I did things differently in 2020 than in 2022. As I learned more, I made adjustments, evaluated and adjusted again. Intentionality with your schedule is essential to growing as a leader.
As you follow me through this journey, take what works for you and leave what doesn’t. If there are habits or hacks you find helpful, let me know in the comments. Or if you have suggestions of other hacks I should try, I’d love to hear from you.
I’ve adapted the Pomodoro technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo, to prioritize my focused work. I began by focusing my work on three 25-minute chunks, with 5-minute breaks in-between. During the 5 minutes, I might refill coffee or check Slack (not email!) and then get right back into it.
After three rounds, I’ll either move on to something else, like a meeting, take a 15-minute break, and then repeat the cycle, diving back into focused work. The schedule has adapted over time, so here’s a look at the past two years.
Be intentional about how you schedule your time. Otherwise, you allow everyone else to dictate your schedule.
I’ve been leading distributed teams for over five years, but 2020 reset schedules in a new kind of way. This allowed me to test some approaches to scheduling my time. Here is how I tried to structure my day during the summer of 2020.
9:00 Quick email triage (15 min) – I time-box this to 15 minutes to get the important stuff out of email and into a workspace like Asana or google docs.
9:15 Daily Standup #1 (15 min) – I ha three teams I did this with each day
9:30 Focus work (25 min)
9:55 Break (5 min)
10:00 Focus work (25 min)
10:25 Break (5 min)
10:30 Focus work (25 min)
10:55 Break (5 min)
11:00 Daily Standup #2 (15 min)
11:15 Focus work (25 min)
11:40 Break (5 min)
11:45 Focus work (25 min)
12:10 Break (5 min)
12:15 Daily Standup #3 (15 min)
12:30 Troubleshooting with Team #3 (this is an optional meeting that is needed more often than not)
12:45 Lunch
1:30 Quick email triage (30 min)
2:00 Meeting (50 min) I like to schedule meetings with a 5-10 minute buffer
2:50 Break (10 min)
3:00 Meeting (25 min) – not all meetings need to be an hour
3:25 Break (5 min)
3:30 Meeting (25 min) – not all meetings need to be an hour
3:55 Break (5 min)
4:00 Inbox Zero (60 min) – If I get done early, then I’m done early 😀
Key takeaways from this schedule:
Two days a week, I swap the afternoon meetings slot for professional development. So here is what the starting point for my weekly schedule looks like in bigger chunks.
I have my teams set up to work on 3-week sprints, so I adapt the weekly template to accommodate various scrum events. These end up falling on different days depending on the week. So I swapped it out for whatever was in that time slot.
At the end of the summer in 2020, I evaluated what was working and what wasn’t. One nice thing about keeping an updated calendar is how easy it is to look back and see what changed.
I made three adjustments heading into the fall.
In 2021 I changed roles and was no longer leading multiple Scrum teams. Instead, I was helping a division develop its digital strategies. Most of my time fell into one of three categories; creation, coordination and learning.
Because of this, I moved to more of a blocked weekly schedule that I'll share below. But the general daily structure looks like this:
I like the block schedule a lot more. It provides more time for focused work, which my current role requires. The reality is we all have different roles with different requirements. I'm not sharing my schedule to say your's needs to look just like it but to share my process in hopes that it helps you design the best schedule for your context.
I stopped thinking about managing my time and began to prioritize my energy and focus.
Like I said above, most of my time fell into one of three categories; creation, coordination and learning
I stopped thinking about managing my time and began to prioritize my energy and focus. For me personally, my best hours for energy and focus are in the morning.
My creative work and learning new skills require the most, so they get priority in my day. The meetings I facilitate to coordinate with stakeholders, leaders, and contributors all get placed after lunch, where my energy is a little lower but still sufficient.
Take stock of when you’re at your best during the day and give that time to your highest priorities. I don’t open my email till lunch.
Blocking your schedule is probably my favorite schedule hack, but the biggest obstacle is lining it up with other people’s schedules. At first, I was a little concerned, but I found that just being clear (I’m only available for meetings in the afternoon) went a long way.
You want your life to have meaning and impact.
What if your everyday work and life not only felt natural and intuitive but also aligned with your priorities and positively impacted those around you?
At the beginning of this summer, I had yet another shift in responsibilities and opportunities. This change prompted me to step back and evaluate my schedule yet again.
As I spend more time sharpening the saw, chopping the wood goes a lot quicker.
Because so much of life and the world around me is full and fast, I’m taking a more minimalist approach to my schedule. I’m still blocking my schedule, but there are just four blocks.
Next steps for scheduling
We covered a lot of details, which hopefully helped illustrate what it can look like to structure your schedule intentionally.
Here are some cliff notes you can apply to your schedule.
You’ll notice I have a basic framework that I inspect and adapt as I go. I’m trying to develop a harmony of flexibility and structure to get my best work done.
Be intentional about how you schedule your time. Otherwise, you allow everyone else to dictate your schedule.
Team leadership is a management approach focused on leading and guiding a group of individuals working together towards a common goal. A team leader is responsible for providing direction, support, and guidance to the team members, while fostering a positive and productive work environment.
Team leadership involves setting clear goals and expectations for the team, communicating effectively, and building trust and relationships with team members. It also involves empowering team members to take ownership of their work and contribute their unique skills and perspectives to the team's success.
Some key characteristics of effective team leadership include:
Overall, team leadership is a collaborative and empowering approach to management that values communication, trust-building, and results-driven performance.
There are several different styles of team leadership, including:
Overall, each style of team leadership has its own strengths and weaknesses, and effective leaders may use a combination of different styles depending on the situation and the needs of their team.
There are several key skills required for effective team leadership, including:
Overall, effective team leadership requires a combination of interpersonal, decision-making, and management skills, as well as the ability to inspire and empower team members to work collaboratively towards shared goals.
Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy and management style that emphasizes the importance of serving others first before considering one's own needs and desires. It's an approach to leadership that focuses on the well-being and growth of others, rather than solely on achieving organizational goals.
A servant leader prioritizes the needs of their followers or team members, providing them with support, guidance, and mentorship. They are committed to empowering their team members to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.
Some common characteristics of servant leaders include:
Overall, servant leadership is about creating a supportive and empowering environment for others to thrive. By prioritizing the needs of their followers, a servant leader can inspire trust, loyalty, and commitment, ultimately leading to better outcomes for the organization as a whole.
Learn more about how to cultivate servant leadership.
Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy and management style that emphasizes the importance of serving others first before considering one's own needs and desires. It's an approach to leadership that focuses on the well-being and growth of others, rather than solely on achieving organizational goals.
A servant leader prioritizes the needs of their followers or team members, providing them with support, guidance, and mentorship. They are committed to empowering their team members to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.
Some common characteristics of servant leaders include:
Overall, servant leadership is about creating a supportive and empowering environment for others to thrive. By prioritizing the needs of their followers, a servant leader can inspire trust, loyalty, and commitment, ultimately leading to better outcomes for the organization as a whole.
Learn more about how to cultivate servant leadership.
Servant leadership can be beneficial in the workplace in a number of ways, including:
Overall, servant leadership can lead to a more positive, productive, and fulfilling workplace environment, benefiting both employees and the organization as a whole.
Learn more about how to cultivate servant leadership.
Servant leadership differs from many other leadership styles in several key ways:
Overall, servant leadership is characterized by a focus on serving others, prioritizing empathy and collaboration, and taking a humble and accountable approach to leadership. While other leadership styles may be effective in different contexts, servant leadership can be a powerful tool for creating positive change and empowering others to reach their full potential.
Learn more about how to cultivate servant leadership.
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