Making time

We have outlined some advice below on how to best deal out time when it comes to busy periods.

It doesn’t matter how hard you try, sometimes it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Of course, during your final year of education, when you have masses of work to do in the form of your final project, you’ll be feeling this more than ever.

Poor time management has been known to be a factor for poorly graded or even failing projects and so use of time management tools is the key to success.

We have outlined some advice below on how to best deal out time when it comes to busy periods such as this. Take a look at the different advice we’ve given you for different situations. You’ll also find these tools useful in all areas of life, and in the busy work environment of an engineer, you’ll find that time management tools never stop being useful.

Assessment of your current situation

Firstly, you can look at the areas where you can improve your time managing abilities. Over a typical week, keep a time log, recording what you are doing every 15 minutes. Compare the log with what you would like to be doing to get your goals achieved – and be honest about this.

Then its time to work out the reasons for any mismatch, being realistic about your own contribution to the situation; typical causes might be interruptions, too much time getting sucked into peripheral tasks such as IT problems, spending too much time talking to other members of your team and allowing them to take up too much of your time.

Preparation and organisation

Now find simple ways to help structure your time. Simple things like using your biological rhythm to your advantage will help you achieve more in the average day. Perhaps your energy levels are higher in the morning – you’ll probably find you do the most work then, so plan around that.

Spending time getting organised now will save time in the long run. Firstly start to use a personal organiser, allocating pages for monthly reminders, weekly priorities and daily ‘To do’ lists.

There are many different areas where you can easily make more time for yourself, and use your time more wisely. Simply by following some of the pointers below, you’ll begin to find that you are able to spend more time concentrating on things that are important to you.

Keep a tidy desk
Be conscious of time
Have a daily ‘To do’ list
Delegate work
Say No to jobs that aren’t yours
Close your door and open it selectively
Be assertive
Set realistic deadlines – don’t try to over achieve as this will add to your stress levels and leave you achieving less!
Give yourself private time

Dealing with interruptions

Of course, during any day you’ll be faced with interruptions; from tutors, teammates, friends and family. Perhaps you worry about coming across as rude, but when time is as important to you as it right now, you have to lay down the law, and make sure your time isn’t wasted. As you can see by some of the advice below, using some simple aspects of body language below will make people aware that you are busy, and will make them more likely to discuss what they need to quickly, then get back to their own work and leave you to yours.

Ask why they have come
Stand when they come in
Be ruthless with time and gracious with people
Suggest a later meeting
Meet in their office
Perch on the edge of the desk
Save small talk for the pub

Overcoming blocks

When it comes down to the nitty gritty, there are going to be stages when you’ve just had enough and you begin to face blocks. You will get through them, but to do that sooner rather than later here’s some handy tips.

Do the nasty jobs as soon as possible and reward yourself afterwards
For larger challenges, break the task down into smaller pieces which can be tackled one by one
Separately thinking from doing by producing a list then working through it
Focus on how good it will be when the job is done, rather than on the difficulty of the task

Meetings

Whilst working on your final project and also any other work you may be undertaking over the final year, you’ll find that some of your time gets eaten up in meetings. Simple pointers can make meetings concise, helpful and above all else – short!

Don’t waste others’ time
Plan the meeting – have a clear agenda, circulated beforehand
Don’t allow interruptions
Produce a summary of decisions and actions, with owners/ dates
If you are invited to a meeting, understand why you need to be there and what is expected of you – consider attending for only the relevant part if possible

The telephone

These days you’re likely to have a phone with you or beside you at all times, and when you’re not in the mood for working, it can be a great time wasting tool! Use this advice to make the most of your phone – in all the right ways.

Write down key points to be raised
Be aware of time passing
Unplug your phone or install an answering machine when its time for serious head-down work. Return calls when it is convenient for you, perhaps when you’re taking a break later in the day

Email

Email can be just as bad as the telephone. They can be very time consuming, so use this advice wisely:

Turn off the audible warning for incoming mail
Familiarise yourself with the facilities for managing email and use them (filing and back-up, filtering, circulation lists etc)
Devise a code of conduct for email in your area to minimise unnecessary email traffic, especially attachments.

Balance

The most common time management mistake that people make is not allowing for a balanced life style. Yes this final project is very important to you, but it isn’t ‘Your Life’. Overall, you won’t do well, if you neglect other areas of your life. There are six important life areas that you need to dedicate time to:

Physical – exercise, nutrition, sleep
Intellectual – cultural, aesthetic
Social – intimate and social relationships
Career – school an career goal directed work
Emotional – expression of feelings, desires
Spiritual – quest for meaning

You certainly don’t have to set aside dedicated time for each area, however if you notice one area that you don’t attend to at all, you may be ignoring an important part of yourself. Missing out on exercise may lower your energy levels for example.

The Project Itself

Although the above advice will help you manage time better, here are some specifics to help you work your way through your final project. Firstly, don’t wait until you have done all of the reading before you start writing. You’ll find life easier if you start drafting out your first chapter once you have done some initial research into the area.

Again it is best to make yourself a timescale with realistic plans in it e.g. one chapter of 1500 words per week. Stick to this and you won’t be bogged down with work, or running behind towards the end of the project. Reward yourself for each section completed, so you get something to look forward to and ease the pressure a little by allowing yourself some 'slippage' points.

One word of advice - survey work such as questionnaires always takes longer than expected. Remember that data collection can be quick but good data analysis takes a lot longer and will typically involve computer analysis, so keep that in mind. Also, if your survey work, case study etc. is only one chapter within the whole, then keep it within reasonable proportions. The time spent in chasing 10 extra questionnaires might be better deployed refining your theoretical sections or adding to your literature review

When it comes to contacts, don’t just wait to find out that a busy organisation does not have time to respond to your requests for information, interviews and so on. Get on with the rest of the project with a contingency plan in case you cannot do what was originally intended.

Also don’t panic if things start to go wrong e.g. you cannot get vital data. Your tutor can (sometimes!) help you rescue and turn around seemingly desperate situations, and panicking will only make the situation worse.

One great time saving tool is to make sure you collect all of your references together as you go. Disciplined use of good Harvard Referencing techniques in your own little database/spreadsheet/card indexes will pay dividends. Better still; keep your list of references 'current' by stitching in references as you go.

Once you’ve written the project you’re on the final stretch. It’s not completely over yet though, so allow plenty of time for a final proof-reading e.g. a week! Many final year projects can be jeopardised by being rushed towards the end. In addition, good presentation may not gain you marks but poor presentation may certainly lose some. Do not spend a lot of time on fancy presentation if you have glaring errors of spelling or grammatical constructions within the project.

Finally, time spent on constructing a good contents page (detailing page numbers for each chapter and section) pays great dividends in adding to the professional feel of the whole. This often has to be a 'last minute' job i.e. you need to know what the page numbers actually are before you can write the page numbers into your List of Contents section (you do not have to number these!)

With thanks to:

Final-Year-Projects.com
The University of Illinois

OTHER INTERNET RESOURCES:

From the IET