Michala Homolova
Personal Effectiveness – The Right Decisions
Time Management & Effectiveness
# 2
Priorities
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Priorities - workshop
Priorities – summary, hints, best practices
Assignment #2
NEXT COURSE only in two weeks time, Monday,
10th October

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Agenda
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Activity 1 individual assessment
  What are the criteria you take into account when deciding on how to use your time?
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
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Activity 1 discussion
What are the criteria you take into account when deciding on how to use your time?
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
Brainstorming outcome
Natural
Not natural
Personal interest
Deadline, urgency
Complexity
Duration, Effort
Energy level
Importance (timed bomb)
Availability of resources
Time left
Delegatable?
Requestor
Responsibility
Emotional account, Comfort level, Distractions, Clarity

Insert categories
Put X there where this criteria is not natural in your assessment

Activity 2 task list prioritization
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
You are a manager responsible for service delivery in a multinational company in the
service-critical business based on Service Level Agreement.
You are responsible for  the team of 20 engineers.
It’s Monday, 11:30AM
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Activity 2 task list prioritization
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
A. An important customer sent an email stating his long-term dissatisfaction with the level of
service, your boss asked you to provide a statement and analysis by COB today. There are roughly 20
closed and 7 open tickets, none of the open tickets is service-critical, no timer is expiring soon.
B. An Emergency ticket has been escalated to your attention by your engineer. There is
service-critical ticket and the timer expires in 2 hours (there are high penalties for expired
timers with this customer)
C. The regular inputs to the Monthly report your boss puts together concerning your area of
responsibility. This is a recurring activity due the last Monday of each month.
D. You have 20 people reporting to you and you have received a resource request for a project
starting today. The project manager requires one of your engineers on-site starting today for a
project lasting two months.
E. You regularly contribute to the call with your MENA colleagues where you review the tickets
F. Lunch
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•Work individually first
•Work in pairs
•Compare suggestions that came out of work in pairs

Activity 2 task list prioritization
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
A. Complaint analysis – deadline COB today
B. Emergency escalated to you by your engineer as per inc mgmt process
C. Deadline for inputs for monthly report COB today
D. Resource request for 1 engineer from Monday (2 months assignment)
E. Preparation for MENA call (call is tomorrow at 1PM and you know you have doctor’s appointment at
9AM tomorrow)
F. Lunch
•Work individually first
•Work in groups of three
•Compare suggestions that came out of work in groups
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Activity 2 task list prioritization
Martin C
Jano
David Sch
MartinB
DavidS
Andrey
A. Complaint
3
4
3
3
4
4
B. Emergency
1
1
1
1
1
1
C. Monthly report
5
5
4
4
3
5
D. RR from Monday
4
2
5
5
5
2
E. MENA call preparation
6
6
6
6
6
6
F. Lunch
2
3
2
2
2
3
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Activity 2 task list prioritization
Martin C
Jano
David Sch
MartinB
DavidS
Andrey
A. Complaint
3 -2h
4 - 2
3 – 3h
3 – 1
4 – 3
4 – 1.5
B. Emergency
1 – 1.5
1 – 1.5
1 – 1
1 – 1
1 – 2
1 – 1
C. Monthly report
5 – 0.5
5 – 0.5
5 – 0.5
4 – 0.5
3 – 1
5 – 0.5
D. RR from Monday
4 – 0.25
2 – 0.5
4 – 0.25
5 – 0.25
5 – 0.25
2 – 0.25
E. MENA call preparation
6 – 0.75
6 – 0.5
6 – 1
6 – 1
6 – 0.5
6 – 0.5
F. Lunch
2 – 0.75
3 – 0.5
2 – 0.75
2 – 0.5
2 – 0.75
3 – 0.5
5.75
5.5
6.5
4.25
7.5
4.25
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Watch your ambition, should this be your real day, you would do nothing but working on your task
list

On priorities tips and tricks
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
•Effort – 1st thing to consider
-2 minutes rule - address immediately if effort less than 2 (maximum 5) minutes
-Preventive rule – focus on time bombs – where 30 minutes of your effort now can save you 2 days
(of potentially more people)  effort in the future
-Dependency rule – if somebody else is dependent on your sub-delivery
-Remaining time rule – watch your ambition
-Contingency rule: “Some plans that include contingency will work out. Plans made without
contingency will fail by default.“
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On priorities tips and tricks
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
•People
-Your boss – if action requested immediately – crucial decisions may depend on your answer if
required immediately
-Your team members (subordinates) – evaluate if urgent, act or schedule
If unsure, ask, manage expectations
-Your colleagues – especially if you feel they are under pressure dependent on your input (your
attitude creates perceptions)
-Your team common goals – creates perceptions of your closest colleagues and your boss
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On priorities tips and tricks
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
•Comfort level
-Deal with tasks that you hate first – schedule them, keep the plan
-Deal with tasks that might not be clear first (assess)
-Deal with tasks that are not clear first (clarify)
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Activity 3 review of task priorities
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
•Complaint analysis – deadline COB today
•Emergency escalated to you by your engineer as per inc mgmt process
•Deadline for inputs for monthly report COB today
•Resource request for 1 engineer from Monday (2 months assignment)
•Preparation for MENA call (call is tomorrow at 1PM and you know you have doctor’s appointment at
9AM tomorrow)
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•Would you do anything differently? Brainstorming
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On priorities - recap
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
•Maintain the to do list and priorities and timelines, make it in the morning, close in the evening
•Prioritizing criteria
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Assignment #2 Homework
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks and a set of test questions.
•Your own one working day task list
•Analogy to in-class assignment
•Create your task list for the day in the morning
•Add estimated duration to each task
•Add priorities (remember the Important /  Urgent)
•Add sequence (remember the 2 minutes rule, remaining time rule, the prioritization rules)
•Sum the durations, build contingency in
•Create reviewed task list for the day
DELIVERABLES: 1. draft task list, 2. reviewed task list. Each with durations, priorities, sequence.
3. completion task list (cross the tasks you’ve really completed)
DEADLINE: Monday, October 10th
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QUESTIONS?
That’s it for today
Individual
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