As I re-read my prior post on time demands, I started to have some additional thoughts. Not second thoughts, but old ones that I failed to add.
In the original post I listed 8 characteristics of time demands that were a bit incomplete as far as my current thinking goes. Here are some others:
Characteristic #9: There are a finite number of time demands in play at any point in time. Some might be in our memories, while others sitting are in our time management systems.
Characteristic #10: Time demands differ from each other in time length, and in the mental time-slots we assign to each of them. The actions to be taken to complete each one are also different. However, a time demand may occupy a range of start and end-dates, or a range of durations for completion.
Characteristic #11: Time demands sometimes come bundled together in a single message, email or commitment. For example, a single message might include several time demands, and a complex commitment such as a project might have to be broken down into numerous time demands.
The management of time demands differs widely from person to person, depending on their belt level. Yellow Belts tend to put a great deal of effort into making lists of time demands sorted in different ways. Some use contexts, others use priorities, a few use lists based on time horizons.
Orange Belts, however, have schedules in which they put all the time demands they have committed to complete. Lists are used in other ways.
White Belts, of course, keep the majority of their time demands in their memory, and often talk about remembering and forgetting them.
Once time demands are well understood, it’s not too hard to envision them moving through different points of your time management system.
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