Time Management

Caution

These articles come from external sources and are opinions. You will find a range of opinions within the group, as well as online. Some approaches are objectively better than others, and some are personal preference. Find what works for you, and discussion is encouraged!

We all have different most effective ways of working and organising our time. Some of this advice may work for you, some may not. That’s natural, and it’s OK to discard advice that doesn’t work. Even terrible lists of advice might have one good thing that works for you.

A lot of what I’ve seen in common is:

1. Identify what needs to be done, and for when
2. Make a plan of your time and put it in writing
3. “Good enough is good enough” - don’t spend too much time aiming for perfect
4. Be flexible enough to change plans when necessary
5. Schedule in breaks
6. Reward yourself for completing tasks
7. “Natural breaks” like mealtimes make good boundaries for working on any one task

1 Time Management: Advice

• 7 Time Management Tips for Students
  • From “Top Universities,” apparently.
• 8 Time Management Tips for Students
  • Really good general advice, from Harvard - LP
• 11 Time Management Tips That Work
  • So says “liveabout.com”
• Goal-setting
  • A guide to goal-setting.
• How to Use Science to Focus at Work
  • Some advice from Wired magazine.
• Kanban boards
  • Kanban is a flexible way to manage projects that allows for rearrangement and rescheduling in the middle of the work. It doesn’t require any particular tool or software (I used to use sticky notes), but Trello does a good job of this - LP
• Pomodoro Technique
  • I use the Pomodoro technique (with BeFocused, see below) to help me focus when I need to get through long writing tasks. I find it most useful to avoid burning out on a large piece of work - LP
• Tips for Managing Your Study Time
  • Time management advice from Khan Academy.

2 Time and Project Management: Resources

• Trello
  • A widely-used project management tool, but tailored towards teams. It probably does more than you need - LP
• Asana
  • Seems to be similar to Trello. I haven’t used it, myself - LP
• Benchling
  • An electronic lab notebook platform that is widely used in industry. Academic use is free, and having it on your CV can be an advantage, so I’m told - LP
• Pomodoro Timer
  • Free timer for Pomodoro. Just does the timing, which may be all you need - LP
• BeFocused
  • Pomodoro timer with additional project management and time categorisation features. It’s the tool I use - LP
• Forest
  • A focusing app. I hear good things but I don’t use it - LP
• EverNote
  • Note-taking app. I know people who love it, but it didn’t grab me - LP