Time management insights for Tech Leads
During my Dev → Tech Lead transition, I identified that the most significant challenges faced were aligning expectations and managing time effectively. I recently conducted a survey in which more than 80% of the participants pointed to time management as the main obstacle in technical leadership. These results show that these challenges are common and not limited to my experience. Here, I share some tips that have helped me a lot, and I hope they help you, too!
1. Create a routine and share it with the team
Incorporating management techniques into your daily routine is essential to optimize your time management. For example, right at the start of the day, I usually review my to-do list and the priority for the day before checking my messages, and at the end of the day, I write down the priority and what needs to be done the next day.
Maintaining routines is fundamental because other people start to rely on them. This helps them plan their days, resulting in benefits for everyone. One technique that has helped me a lot is Shifts and Windows.
Shifts and Windows Technique
This technique involves dividing time into “shifts” and “windows” dedicated to specific tasks, creating blocks of time for these activities, and communicating them to the team. You aim to avoid constant interruptions and allow blocks of time dedicated to tasks requiring different attention levels.
- Shifts: During shifts, you focus on tasks that require focus and concentration, such as code review, project planning, or complex problem-solving.
- Windows: Windows are defined periods for interactions, such as team meetings, developer support, pair programming, feedback, and mentoring.
I’ve also tried several popular time management tools and incorporated the ones that best suited my routine.
Test time management tools
The aim here is not to add more bureaucracy to your day but to identify which tools can help you optimize your time and ensure that what needs to be done in the best possible way and on time.
There are countless tools to help organize time and prioritize tasks. Each person adapts better to one, so it’s essential to test them out for a while so that you can identify which ones work best for you.
Here, I’ll share which tools and techniques have helped me, but basically, the ones I use the most are:
The 2-minute rule: if the task takes less than 2 minutes to complete and I can do it right now, I already do it to eliminate it from my backlog.
Eisenhower Matrix: to prioritize the tasks that require the most time, I distribute them in a matrix with the following quadrants:
- Quadrant 1 — Very important and very urgent: high priority, first task that will be done.
- Quadrant 2 — Very important and not very urgent: I plan and schedule time for them later.
- Quadrant 3 — Not very important and not very urgent: first, I analyze why it’s in my backlog. Depending on the case, I eliminate it, leave it for later, or delegate it.
- Quadrant 4 — Unimportant and very urgent: here, I act in the same way as in Quadrant 3.
Time blocking: to avoid switching between very different contexts/tasks, I create blocks of time in my diary for similar tasks, for example, writing or doing homework.
Pomodoro technique: I use a timer to stay focused while doing tasks and turn off all notifications that could take my focus away. Once the set time has elapsed, I take a break and return to work.
2. Develop the team
At first glance, it may seem counterproductive, as doing many tasks yourself can be quicker. However, this would result in you keeping the knowledge and experience to yourself. Focusing on helping and empowering the team is a valuable investment. By empowering team members to solve problems independently, you can also free up your time in the future as they become more autonomous.
Take the time to collaborate closely with developers, offering guidance, mentoring, and helping to resolve any obstacles they may face. You can dedicate your previously defined windows of time to team development.
Take on fewer critical tasks and leave them to the team
Prioritizing necessary tasks is essential, but taking on too many can result in burnout and reduced efficiency. As the time available for programming has decreased due to the other leadership responsibilities, you can become a bottleneck, causing frustration and anxiety.
The key here is to identify and focus on the most important and impactful tasks while delegating or postponing less critical ones. This helps you stay focused on high-impact priorities and avoids the constant feeling of running out of time.
Learn to delegate: levels of delegation
Delegation is not a binary approach where you must choose between delegating or not delegating. There are several levels of delegation that you can use with your team. Here are the stages of the delegation process that you can follow:
- Stage 0: I DO everything myself (I don’t delegate).
- Stage 1: I TELL you how to do it.
- Stage 2: I DO, and you FOLLOW.
- Step 3: We DO it together.
- Step 4: You DO, and I ACCOMPANY you.
- Step 5: You DO, and I REVIEW.
- Step 6: You DO IT; when it’s done, you SHOW ME the result.
- Step 7: You DO it, and don’t tell me.
3. Regularly review team processes and commitments
It’s crucial that you, as the team leader, are attentive and listen to people about meetings, processes, and everything that involves team dynamics.
There’s nothing more frustrating than the feeling of wasted time. Who has yet to attend a meeting that could easily have been replaced by an email (asynchronous communication)?
I’ve experienced cases where having at least 90%-95% test coverage was mandatory, but this minimum coverage didn’t make much sense. People didn’t know where else to stick tests to follow the pipeline flow (I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be tests; don’t get me wrong! I’m calling for coherence and proper decisions).
Constantly evaluate the effectiveness of team meetings and commitments, take care of people’s time and energy, ensure they have time to learn, do what they enjoy, and focus on their tasks healthily.
Good results follow when people are well and feel valued; remember that!
We are wrapping it up!
I know you’d like me to bring you a miracle recipe that will magically solve all your time management problems, but the sad truth is that there is no such thing! Everyone is unique and works differently, so they will have their own way of organizing and managing their schedule. With this text, I’ve tried to help you by sharing some of my lessons. I hope they’re helpful to you!
What tips would you include on the list?
Please share them here in the comments. Let’s talk!
#leadership #timeManagement #techLead #personalGrowth
