Time Timer and his daughter.

Side projects time management

Maybe many of you have an idea of a side project, besides your full-time job. Whether is a design studio, a startup idea, a coffee shop or a bistro bar. The biggest fear or constraint is that you won’t have time for that, right? Here is a big surprise. You probably don’t, especially if you have a family that you’re responsible for. But there are some tricks that you can try to manage your time and try to “expand” it.

I won’t go into routine stuff, because there are very hard things to reach for some. I know it from experience ☺. But still, how you can handle your time to make things happen?

This idea may apply to freelancers or small teams as well.

1. Create a goal for your project (1 or more, but start by focusing on the one you consider to be the most important)
2. Establish a deadline for implementing that goal (can be an assumption and you can iterate on it later)
3. Break the goal into pieces (Could be a list of features, to-dos, a map, basically anything that works for you)
4. Estimate how much time each piece will take to execute (a rough estimate, don’t think too much)
5. See what activities or routines you can cut some hours from in a week, to use them for work. (Cut from staying on social media, from the gym, from beer time, from any extra activities that are not crucial for you. You don’t need to cut them completely from your life, just take 15-30min from here and there and you will be amazed how much hours you will free in a week)
6. Calculate each piece estimates from point 3 and establish some milestones
7. Check if the sum of all the pieces will fit into the initial deadline (point one)
8. Review the steps 1–7 and see where you can make some estimates adjustments
9. Revisit these steps each time you feel like it and iterate on your plan

To keep in mind:

• Remember to always have a buffer
• Deep work, no distraction
• Always check the week norm, not the daily norm of hours, in retrospective
• Small victories are encouraging

Establishing this milestones, that by the way, you don’t need to share with anyone if you don’t want to, will make you more responsible in regards with your time. Working with weekly norms will make you think twice when your (deceiving) instinct says: scroll on Facebook, post on Tweeter, like on Instagram, say “hell yeah” to every beer invite, or other stuff like this. Simply because you have this time estimates, will make you more aware of your wasted time on stuff that doesn’t really bring any value or real satisfaction in your life.

You can wake up one hour earlier or go to sleep one hour late, the important thing is that you make sure that the time invested in your side projects is focused on real work, efficient time use and with no distractions.

Thanks for reading! 🤘

Mihai Balea is a Co-Founder at UX.Rocks, working as a Strategic and Product Designer, Design Sprint facilitator and speaker. You can get in touch on Instagram or LinkedIn.