Time Management: Can architects afford to be systematic?

One of the most important advice given by more experienced architects to students is to get organized and mange time properly. Architecture profession is a unique blend that requires both creativity and technicality. In a real time scenario architecture projects need to be time limited.

Being systematic in the office can provide many benefits to the architect both professionally and personally. In the professional sense of things, being organized or systematic means careful planning of the daily routine. As a professional, the architect will have to tend to numerous tasks on a daily basis, some may be routine tasks while others may come and go from time to time. Careful analysis of these task is the first step to getting organized.

Once the tasks are analyzed the architect can carefully plan on which activity/task to tend to and what is the right time to do so? Once a proper plan is laid out, during execution minor changes can be made to fine tune the plan. This is one of the methods practiced by many architects which have yielded good returns.

The importance of creative designs in architecture cannot be over emphasized and everybody knows that a time limit can be imposed on a creativity. This is a myth that is making most of the architecture firms to shy away from time management practices and systems within the office.

Many architects have a problem with work-life balance and most them blame work overload. This may be true but many seasoned architects have clearly stated that by being organized and systematic they have been able find balance time for work and life. So being systematic clearly has its advantages and it should be practiced not only by architects but all professionals

Read More: 6 Tips to Kill Creative Block and Get Some Awesome Work Done!

Plan to avoid multi-tasking

In this fast moving business environment, professionals are always expected to handle several tasks in a single day. Multi-tasking and handling multiple tasks are entirely different. If you ask any professional they will tell you that multi-tasking in a busy work environment can only lead to disaster. Seasoned professional are quite successful in such a scenario as they are able clearly plan the tasks and organize the same. Task planning is the key to handling multiple tasks in the office.

Here are a few tips that can help task planning in a multiple task environment

• Plan time-boxes- these are predetermined time period for which the daily activities such as checking mails, replying to emails, phone calls etc are to be done. If they are a part of your routine it is wise to set the time periods for the day.
• Managing interruptions is another key to successful task management. Interruptions and distractions can occur at any time and it can be a new email received or a phone call. All these can affect you flow of thought, hence take precautions to avoid such distractions, example would removing/disabling mail alerts during such periods.
• For urgent matters that can come up, make sure that multitasking is not done. Complete or pause the current task and then attend to the urgent task.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to never multi-task. Multi-tasking can only take up more time than to complete the tasks individually. Most often people do multi-tasking without realizing it and they need to stop as soon as they realize it.

Read More: Managing multiple tasks

Timeboxing a different approach

Timeboxing is a management term closely associated with agile project methodology and time management. In project management, timeboxing refers to the allocation of a fixed time period for a particular task related to the project. It is a proven technique which helps the projects to be completed and delivered on the promised date.

With most small and medium size firms that are yet to adopt technology in its essence, have not explored the different possibilities of timboxing. Firms during startup usually rely on simple spread sheets and related tools to track and manage the different activities of the firm. With time, the staff are much accustomed to using the tools, but the tools become inefficient and obsolete to manage the activities at a later time. Redundant activities and the obsolete tools pose a huge threat as staff may get easily tired of their job, this can lead to efficiency in productivity.

Here the concept of timeboxing can be applied to track and motivate the staff to perform the jobs effectively, these jobs may or may not be related to a project. To implement this concept, the tasks to be performed by the staff for each day of a week are identified, prioritized and weekly schedules are made. For each task the time frame required are also allocated and notified to the concerned staff. By providing the proper time limit for each task, the staff will be aware of the temporal factor and will be motivated to complete the tasks on time.

The right set of tools can help the firm to easily achieve this time-task management.  By timeboxing each task, the staff will have a self-satisfaction in terms of achieving the task allotted on time. Time-boxing is a concept that can be neatly handled to achieve results in different areas of work not only project management. 

Read More: Productivity Software for Architects

Architecture firms and productivity software

Productivity is a major concern for architecture firms. Architects are more exposed to designing software than productivity software which is essential for managing the resources. Hence missing out on the opportunity to improve the efficiency and capabilities of the firm.

If you take majority of the productivity software in the market, you can see that they all consider activity or task management as the first priority and the rest of the features will be an augmentation. With the applications/software not focusing on any particular workflow pattern it can be used by individuals or organizations as they see fit. This flexibility of the software applications is highly regarded by organizations as it seems cheaper than to create a custom software.

So how to choose the right software for your architecture firm? The common practice to get reference from fellow professionals, this can be a gamble as the business process may differ from one organization to another. Or the architect can try out a few software available in the market and then decide on the right one to adopt. Firms with a vision and growth oriented work culture strive to build on a software that can leverage their existing workflow. With the inputs from the firm, customization can be done to suit the firm’s best needs.

Read More: Benefiting from workflow management