TIME

MANAGEMENT
Time Management
■ “the process of skillfully applying time to finish and perfect a specific
activity within time constraint” (Harris, 2008, p.22).
■ “the benefits of time management are many. Rather than running around
in a state of frenzy, you feel a sense of empowerment from getting things
done and having the time to enjoy life’s simple pleasures” (Seaward,
2011, p.134)
■  Learning time-management skills will help increase your productivity
and efficiency
■ Organization is often key to completion of the dissertation effectively,
and in a timely fashion.  One of the most prudent strategies is embracing
keen time management strategies.
Time Management
■ Tools
– Plan a schedule
– Give yourself space to think
– Listen to your body
– Cite as you go
– Take a break
– Talk to your adviser throughout
Timetable
■ described how you intend to complete your research project, you now need to
pin it down to a realistic and achievable timescale
■ To determine the overall time span of your project you need to work out how
long each part of the project is likely to take, whether any activity depends on
the completion of another and whether tasks can be done concurrently.
– it may be possible to transcribe earlier interviews in between conducting
the later interviews (so the two activities are concurrent or parallel) but
data analysis cannot be started until data collection is complete (thus
these tasks are sequential).
■ invest the time to create an overall roadmap for the entire process of writing
the dissertation.  Pick a date on the calendar and then simply work backwards;
creating a project time line of what needs to be completed and by when.  The
student then breaks down these milestones by year, by quarter, by month, by
week, and by day. 
Timetable
■ Ideally, a student perhaps creates an entire Excel Spreadsheet with the
goal of being able to look up any day of the term to see what they are
expected to be working on and applicable completion dates to know
whether they are ahead or behind in their progress.  
■ They can always accelerate or adjust their progress at any time.  If they
have more time than they originally planned, they can simply work
ahead; if they have a family emergency, they can adjust and perhaps
double up on tasks/days according to their needs.  At any moment in
time, a student knows where they are in terms of their overall plan.  They
can measure their success or progress against their master plan to know
whether they are ahead, behind, or on track.
Gantt Chart
■ a planning, communication and tracking tool, and is certainly not set in stone.
■ shows each activity in the project as a time bounded line or bar, enabling you to see at a
glance which tasks should be done when in order to complete the project on schedule.
■ helps you plan ahead and communicate your plans and progress to your supervisors and
review board.
■ helps you keep track of progress, allowing you to better understand whether you are on-
track as you progress in your research, and if necessary, enabling you to redirect your
efforts and take corrective action as early as possible.
■ For example, in order that potential interviewees are still available you may need to
ensure that the design of your final interview schedule is completed by a specific date.
■ List your activities
– Make a list of everything that you plan to do in the project. Take your
methodology and turn it into a step-by-step plan. Have you said that
you will interview 50 people? Write it on your list.  Are you
performing statistical analysis on your sample?  Write it down.
■ Estimate the time required
– For each item on your list, estimate how long it will take you to do
that thing. How long are you going to be in the field? How long will
it take to employ a research assistant? Realistically, how many
interviews can you do in a day? When will people be available?
■ Put activities in order
– What is the first thing that you are going to do?  What will you do
next? What will you do after that? One by one, put everything in
order. Make a note of any dependencies; that is, situations where you
can’t do one thing until another is started or finished.
■ Chunk it up
– Now that you have an ordered list, and you know how long everything will
take, you need to reduce the list without losing any specificity. At the same
time, if you are combining tasks, you might want to add a bit of time as a
contingency measure.
– How you divide up your time depends on your project. If it is only one year
long, you might list items by month. If your project is three years long, then
you might list items by quarter. If you are planning over five years, you might
break it down to six-month periods.
■ Draw a picture
– If you use project management software to manage your project, and you are
comfortable with it, then use it to produce a summary of your project, too.
– Most project management software (e.g. like Microsoft Project) will allow
you to group activities into summary items. Chunk your tasks into major
headings, then change the time interval to your months, quarters, half-years,
or whatever you have chosen to use.
– Or you can just draw it up with word-processing software (which is what I
always do), spreadsheet software, or even hand-draw it.