The time thief

One minute you have all the time in the world, and before you know it a deadline is fast approaching. Have you ever wondered where all those hours disappeared to? What's going on here anyway? We at Projectplace have tracked down the time thief in all his disguises. Not only that, we have developed a series of tools to chase him away for good.

Advances in communication are driving the growth of industry and technology. Once upon a time you had to send even the simplest messages by courier, horseman, train or post. Nowadays we have the phone, e-mail and the Internet at our beck and call. But somehow the same old robber waylays us on the road.

An ancient foe
This particular thief is a little different from others, but he has besieged all societies in every age. Even though the good guy and his best brains have used every trick in the book to stop him, the time thief keeps coming up with new dodges. He has mastered his art and can crack even the most sophisticated security. He laughs at technology, because he knows that knowledge always has the upper hand over the material world. The most important thing isn't what you have, but how you use it.

Still going strong despite technology
Most projects would be in dire straits nowadays if it suddenly took a whole day for a message to arrive. Technology has seen to it that we don't have to worry about that kind of thing anymore. The time thief can find no sanctuary there. If you can't wait for an e-mail, you can always pick up the phone instead. What you have to say is sometimes straightforward enough to convey in a text message. Whatever method you choose, the other person will have your message within a couple of minutes. So where does the time thief hide out anyway? In the safest place – right inside all of us.

- How often have you had to search for an e-mail that wasn't "where it's supposed to be"?
- Who do you have to phone to get the minutes of a recent meeting?
- "Is the latest version?" "What happened to my comments anyway?" 
- "What a waste of time that meeting turned out to be." And a lot of the time thief's hideaways are a lot harder to find than in the above examples.

Take advantage of what you have
Keeping all project data in one place painlessly eliminates some of the time thief's hideaways. The information is never more than a couple of mouse clicks away. And with an information and communication centre, you automatically send fewer e-mails. Meanwhile you have access to all your documents, neatly organised to include each version and comment.

Thanks to efficient communication and properly arranged documents, your meetings will take on a while new flavour. You can rest assured that everyone has received and had time to familiarise themselves with today's agenda. If everyone was sufficiently prepared, you will leave more meetings with the feeling that something important was accomplished. Not to mention that you'll have fewer meetings – even if it's only a 10% reduction, that's nothing to sneeze at.

Many people are aware that 50 employees who each spend 10 minutes a day looking for documents add up to significantly higher costs. But not everyone has thought through what that means for their business. Similarly, the costs – travel, food, lodging and the time that could have been devoted to something more productive – of holding a meeting are no secret to anyone.

Think outside the box
Sometimes a face-to-face meeting is completely unnecessary. A well-prepared online meeting may very well achieve your objectives. The agenda and other relevant documents can be sent out in advance so that everyone has a chance to add their comments. During the actual meeting, all participants can sit in their offices and see the same information on their screens. That might shorten the meeting by another 10%. Not to mention lowering your travel expenses.

So catch that thief. Use technology right and hold onto time for yourself. Get rid of that sly old villain once and for all and reclaim what he has stolen from you.