Comments on: Managing My Time and Avoiding Side Project Overload http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/ Tue, 21 May 2013 14:06:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: How Do You Develop Your Skills? http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79478 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:01:44 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79478 [...] I’ve spent time talking about my love / hate relationship with my side projects and the time that they consume, but side projects do have a purpose. They allow me to practice my skills while building something [...]

]]> By: Maximize Productivity Without Burning Out http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79477 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:01:55 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79477 [...] standards. Take a hard look at where you spend your time and figure out which of those activities — business and personal — are the most [...]

]]> By: WebWorkerDaily » Archive 5 Tips For Making Better Use Of Your Time « http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79476 Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:11:16 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79476 [...] Managing My Time and Avoiding Side Project Overload [...]

]]> By: Sean Johnson http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79475 Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:20:49 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79475 Dawn,

I designed BubbleTimer for this exact problem, ensuring you spend enough time on tasks that you’ve decided are truly important.

My problem has always been trying to do too many things at once. I use BubbleTimer to set daily and weekly time goals on the important things and to hold myself accountable. It works out well for me. Check it out.

Thanks,
Sean

]]> By: Ronald Hell http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79474 Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:18:27 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79474 I strongly agree Larry McKeogh: “Having goals really is my secret to being productive.”
Concerning the other comments I too agree, that it is important to know at the beginning of first projects how much time they need. However, if you are familiar with your profession it is no longer necessary, that’s my experience.
Instead you waste time by creating statistical values only about the time demand of your projects. If you have to document time for your customer/client or whomsoever to be able to charge him/her, it naturally seems ok, but for this purpose you need not – time consuming – collect statistical data. When it is necessary to estimate the duration of a certain project I make many of my estimation by rule of thumb. It never has been less accurate than fussy use of previously collected time data. The larger the project, the more interdependencies may overthrow your perfect plan. My way is, to estimate as best I can, pile up the parts within a Gantt sheet or similar and then invest more time into dynamically guide the project. Nobody will see the real future and the best knowledge about duration of tasks cannot avoid troubles.
Possibly, I don’t have too less imagination of your kind of work. However, my experience is, that often the worst side project is too much analyzing, categorizing, elaborated prioritizing instead of applying time agility in using a few time management criteria only.
And every moment be aware of your goal!

]]> By: WebWorkerDaily » Archive Improve Your Twitter Efficiency « http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79473 Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:28:52 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79473 [...] been on a time management kick lately with posts about reducing my side project overload, managing my time through better prioritization of activities and using Harvest to track my time. One of the things I [...]

]]> By: WebWorkerDaily » Archive My Time Management Saga Continues with Harvest « http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79472 Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:35:56 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79472 [...] problem. My first step was to reduce my side project overload, followed by improved discipline managing my time through better prioritization of [...]

]]> By: Larry McKeogh http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79471 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:00:03 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79471 Self management is a continual struggle. Non-biased feedback is one way I try to stay on top of this. A couple of tools I use that automatically track my on-line and desktop activity are Wakoopa and RescueTime. Both show time spent using various apps along with site time as well. I also use PageAddict to tag various sites and breakdown my visits on a personal level.

I still have an Excel spreadsheet that I use for other time management activities and planning. While the above sites are good to tell me what I have done, the spread sheet allows me to project what I am going to do for the week and try to hit those goals. Having goals really is my secret to being productive.

Good luck, everyone needs to take their own path.

]]> By: Avery Otto http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79470 Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:01:15 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79470 My favorite application is http://www.code-roller.com where time managment and project management are interwoven. Your detailed designs get automatically converted into tasks that you can load balance with your defect fixing tasks and any tasks (like prioritizing your paid clients).

]]> By: Matt http://gigaom.com/2009/02/05/managing-my-time-and-avoiding-side-project-overload/#comment-79469 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:25:58 +0000 http://webworkerdaily.com/?p=7057#comment-79469 Great article. I also found a 5 part (and it seems ongoing) set of articles on optimizing your time on projects like this here ->

http://timwarddevelopment.blogspot.com/

]]>