Timeboxing Technique For Improved Productivity

Timeboxing Technique

by Shamsul
Timeboxing
Spread the love to Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

Improve Your Productivity with Timeboxing Technique

 

When it comes to time management methods, Timeboxing Technique is one of the most powerful yet simple techniques. You can take better control over your timetable with this time management technique. In organizing your schedule and practicing self-discipline, Timeboxing is a very helpful method in Time Management. It helps to prioritize your most important tasks. Moreover, you can also identify which tasks required more effort or time with this method.

 

What Is Timeboxing?

Timeboxing means setting a particular amount of time in your calendar for an important task. Open your calendar and mention a particular amount of time that you will give to a particular task in the future. In this method, you decide when and how much time you will spend on a task.

Scheduling a meeting in your calendar is the perfect definition of Timeboxing. You can decide on start and finish time, free time, and day in your calendar for a particular task. Once you set a block of time, you must consider it an important thing and treat it as an important scheduled meeting. It helps to keep different factors at bay such as distraction and rapidness that can drop your productivity and motivation level.

You can spare various blocks of time for larger tasks. With such a process, you can have full control over your priorities and schedules.

 

Benefits of Timeboxing:

There are numerous benefits of Timeboxing if you use it properly. Here we have curated some major benefits,

You can push yourself to focus on a particular task that you think is important and difficult.

This technique allows you to set particular deadlines for each time and you can decide what amount of time you will spend on a task in order to fully accomplish it. As a result, you can organize yourself in a better way.

You can enhance your focus and productivity by implementing Timeboxing technique. It reduces distraction and interruption while you are working on a particular task.

If you are a perfectionist then Timeboxing technique can help you because it helps to deal with perfectionism and you can achieve your tasks without overdoing or over-processing the tasks.

In the morning, you can use Timeboxing for planning your day and daily tasks. So, it can bring rhythm in your work and you perform better.

With Timeboxing, you can avoid the risk of delays, overdoing, and low quality. No one can control time, but Timeboxing can help you to take good control over time.

 

Use Timeboxing Technique to Work on a Task You Don’t Like:

Sometimes, you have to complete a task you don’t want like due to some reasons. In this situation, Timeboxing can help you. It’s human nature that you want to complete a task after you start it. For example, if you are watching a movie on your TV and it was not very engaging, you could not turn off the TV. After start working on a difficult task, you completely forgot about the hard work and struggle it takes.

In Timeboxing, your calendar reminds you that it is the right time to complete the task you have mentioned. You can also set alarms for a difficult task so that you could really work on it. Once you begin working, you will forget about the tensions and challenges. In short, Timeboxing is really a useful technique.

For a bigger task, you can break it into several mini-tasks that take less time. In this scenario, timebox the mini-tasks first. Taking small steps will motivate you to complete your bigger task. It will increase your productivity automatically.

In that way, you can work on bigger tasks more easily and efficiently because you have already taken the initial step. However, you can timebox a block in your calendar to start working on the larger tasks. This process gives you the flow you needed to accomplish your goal. Just don’t cross the time limits or overdo it.

 

Set Strict Limits with Timeboxing:

Every task or project requires a particular amount of time you dedicate to it. If you give 3 hours to a specific task instead of 8 hours, you will work in a more dedicated way. It means you will only target those tasks that are important.

If you want to complete a task like a perfectionist, then you must apply Timeboxing technique because it is a proven and well-researched method for improving your productivity.

Working on a particular task without setting any strict deadlines and without considering its importance will impact your entire working process. Working in an unorganized and reactive way will decrease your productivity and you will never achieve your goal. With Timeboxing, you can limit your time for a particular task and easily decide how much time you are going to spend on a task.

One of the major benefits of Timeboxing is that it can help you answer all those questions or queries that might stop you from achieving your goals before you start working. When you timebox, you can identify all the details or information you have about the task. In this way, you can estimate how much time a particular task will take. Then you can mention it on your Kanban Board and an earmarked time in your calendar.

 

Organize Your Calendar with Timeboxing:

Timeboxing can help you organize your calendar better and nicely. There are two useful ways to utilize Timeboxing technique: deciding when and how much time you’ll devote to a task, and when and how many meetings you are going to attend.

For example, you can mention in your calendar that you have 1 hour at the beginning and 1 hour at the end of the day for your task. It will help you to organize your days, meetings, and time in a better way.

Don’t leave empty spots in your calendar. You can dedicate extra time to important tasks just to remain in the flow. The main purpose of using Timeboxing is to take full control over your plan or schedule. It is a futuristic way to decide when and how much time you will spend on a task. Moreover, you have to make sure that you are spending the timebox time on the key things.

You set strict deadlines or limits in your calendar for each task. Make sure that you never overdo or over-processing them.

In this way, you can timebox several important things, such as lunchtime, work time, and even sleep time. For different tasks such as executing tasks, brainstorming, and more, you can timebox all types of activities. Timeboxing technique can be used for enhancing productivity in your professional and personal life as well. You can apply Timeboxing technique to different fields of life in unique ways.

 

Set Limits to Unproductive Meetings by Timeboxing a Meeting:

Generally speaking, meetings waste so much time but they can be productive, especially when you have skilled people and collective brainpower. If you are organizing a meeting but it is not going to produce, you can take the assistance of Timeboxing technique because it can help you set strict limits. As a result, you can save time. While arranging a meeting, send strict start and end hours to all the members, and also discuss the desired outputs and an agenda.

By defining strict limits, you can make your meetings productive and organized. This is really useful for protecting your mind from distractions and unproductive discussions. You can also start implementing Timeboxing with your morning routine. It just takes 10 to 15 minutes and you can make your day highly productive. You can also do the same with your employees, groups, or etc. the main advantage of utilizing Timeboxing is to increase the value of the time assigned for a task to be finished.

 

Timeboxing in Agile Software Development:

In agile software development, there are plenty of meetings and sessions you need to fix and timebox in advance, through the entire process with no exemption. Here are some timeboxed meetings in agile software development,

Daily Scrum (15 minutes):

A 15-minute daily meeting that you can do every day at the same time, place, and day.

Sprint Planning (2 hours):

Basically, it is a planning meeting where member decides which parts or objectives will be completed next in the period of 7 days.

Sprint Review (1 hour):

In this review, the members review what task has been completed, what has not been completed, work that has been included, and what was discarded.

Sprint Retrospective:

It’s a meeting at the closing of the sprint where a team does review what was completed right and what could be done in a better way.

All these meetings are scheduled in advance on the calendar. It offers structure, better work dynamic, and structure. Each meeting has a strict time limit.

 

Apps That Can Help You with Timeboxing:

For using Timeboxing technique, there is no need for any special tools. You just need a Google Calendar or any other similar thing in which you can reserve your time and tasks. This process is like scheduling a meeting.

Just start working on a task when the time comes. Don’t overdo or over-process it when the time runs out. You can also use timers or alarms as reminders. If it works for you then you can use these tools. You can also combine Timeboxing technique with other time management techniques such as the Pomodoro techniques. It means you can convert the timeboxed time blocks into specific intervals. The Pomodoro technique is a time management tool that helps to break down tasks or work into intervals, particularly into 25 minutes, parted by small breaks.

Time tracker is another useful tool to use with Timeboxing. With this tool, you can identify or monitor how much time did spend on a particular task. You can also get statistics and detailed reports in order to simplify your process.

 
 

Need Help or Advice in Content Management:

Do you want more advice? Do you have good practices to share? Express yourself in the comments.

Moreover, if you want any help to write content to drive more traffic and boost conversions, get in touch through Contact our team?

Do you want any help writing quality content, driving more traffic to your website, and boosting conversions? You can contact me through my Freelancer.com profile also. I always prefer to work through Freelancer.com for smooth functioning. Here you pay safely and securely.

 

Read More:

The Sandwich Method of Criticism | A Simple Method to Make any Criticism that goes Smoothly

The Eisenhower Matrix – Importance and Urgency

5S Methodology – Essentials to Improve Environment for Productivity


Spread the love to Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

You may also like