Time is of essence! | Agile Story 3

The fourth dimension.

The fourth dimension in our universe is time and very seldom we can consciously be able to manage it efficiently. While we exist in this universe, this fourth dimension is constantly moving ahead, whether we are in motion or static relative to our surroundings. We cannot control its motion, but we can utilize this phenomenon to our benefits, if we can tune our minds to be conscious on this dimension. Everything in this universe is located at the same point of this dimension, so everyone’s time is moving at the same pace. The difference one can make with respect to another is how they can utilize their own space in this dimension

A journey through time.

In the ancient world, people being at the exploratory phase, forming mankind, their time was spent in building tools and concepts for their future generations. They were not motivated to time-box their work and focused more to survive. They went into wars storming each other’s territory to explore more and more of this world and trying to prove their worth in life. Then came the norming world, where people have made significant discoveries and are trying to make full use of their earlier explorations and discoveries to make earth a better place for their future generations. Fast forward to 21st century world, people have become super skilled and efficient and have started performing at their highest abilities. They are busy(time), time is of essence for them, there is so much to do and so little time available.

Time Management

Everyone in this universe is having a level playing field with respect to time. No one at a certain point have any advantage over another with respect to time, time being the universal fourth dimension of our universe. Like any other skill, time management is also a necessary skill a person needs to develop. Managing this dimension efficiently can even go as far as making someone more successful and happier in life than others. Over the last few decades several good men have come up with different techniques through which time can be managed efficiently. Whichever role you are playing in your life whether an officer or a scrum master, a student or an agile practitioner, all these techniques can be universally applied.

Pomodoro

The Pomodoro ( means apple in english) technique was developed in the late 1980s by then university student Francesco Cirillo.

The technique has 6 steps:

1. Decide on the task to be done.

2. Set the pomodoro timer (typically for 25 minutes)

3. Work on the task.

4. End work when the timer rings and take a short break (typically 5–10 minutes)

5. If you have finished fewer than three pomodoros, go back to Step 2 and repeat until you go through all three pomodoros.

6. After three pomodoros are done, take the fourth pomodoro and then take a long break (typically 20 to 30 minutes). Once the long break is finished, return to step 2.

Procrastination is a natural tendency amongst humans. By using the above technique if we find some tasks as daunting, breaking it down to work in small chunks can help to close out such large daunting tasks quickly.

Breaking Features into user stories an delivering in 2 weeks chunks — sounds familiar :-) ?

Eat that frog

This technique is named after a Mark Twain quote: “ Eat a live frog the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” Start your day by doing the most demanding tasks first and getting them out of the way.

1. Get clear on a goal. What do you want to achieve most?
2. Write it down.
3. Set a deadline.
4. Compile a list of things you need to do to achieve your goal.
5. Organize this list in order of priority — The most important items are probably the most difficult. These are your “frogs.”
6. Take action — If you have more than one frog on your plate, eat the nastiest one first.
7. Repeat this cycle every day so that you’re always doing something that will push you toward your goal.

Product vision , backlog refinement/prioritization ……

Eisenhower Matrix

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States. During one of his speeches, he quoted “The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” This became the basis for Eisenhower matrix. Eisenhower claimed that to be successful, one had to do things that were both urgent and important.

The Eisenhower Matrix is a time-management tool that can help us understand which tasks should be prioritized, which can be delegated, and which can be tackled at a later time — or not at all.

Can be used as a backlog prioritization technique?

Conclusion

Needless to say, that we all want this world to make a better place to live in, just like our forefathers did. We are still finding new ways of sustainability. It is hence our responsibility to use our time most efficiently and keep improving our throughputs.

“ The opinions expressed in this profile are those of my responsibility and do not reflect the company’s opinions.”

#letscreate2succeed #teamHCM #manage2succeed #IBMConsulting #TeamAgile

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.