Time Management In The Web Design World

Time has always been a phenomenal subject among the ordinary and the unordinary. Nobody can really explain the nature of time; we simply follow it by days, months, and years. In the web design world however the philosophy of time consists of productivity, creativity, efficiency, and deadlines. We all try to commit to our 8 working hours with remaining hours spent on family or friends. Is this a fundamental principle of a productive day? While a debatable question, let’s suppose it is. We’re then given enough clues that efficiency is the key element to success given this daily limit. I believe most designers and developers are aware of this concept, though the majority still seem to be inefficient, hardly reach deadlines (if given reasonable time), and are hardly productive. This is where time management comes in, with appropriate and efficient use of time we’re more productive.

Time management creates efficiency which makes us more productive, productivity compliments creativity, and with creativity, like a flint and stone sparking ideas, you’ll undoubtedly reach those deadlines beforehand.

Discipline:

Working around computers is an advantage as it is a disadvantage; we’re sitting in front of one of the greatest inventions of all time and with so much access to information that it would take a lifetime to look over. It’s very easy to get distracted with Youtube, Facebook, MySpace, Imeem, CNN, Twitter, and E-mail. When work requires one of the services - it sometimes becomes a habit to constantly check for updates, most being completely unnecessary.

One method of overcoming such habits can be done with a quick research of available tools. There’s a very useful tool to those of you using Gmail, every time you receive an e-mail, you’ll get a notification pop-up and sound, you don’t even need your browser running.  It’s called Gmail Notifier – it’s free.

A tool like this should shed a couple of minutes per day making your e-mail surfing ever so ‘efficient’.

Avoid unnecessary phone calls made by friends and family members, they only call because you answer, therefore giving them a sense of low-priority should surely shed several more minutes.

Organization:

Organizing your work-flow is time consuming but is sometimes the key to efficiency; spend more time organizing your projects before any actual work has begun. Not only will it give you a better sense of direction, but more notably allow other team members to follow and collaborate to your project promoting yet another method of efficiency. Being organized can save you tons of hours.

That’s all folks!