EFFECTIVE PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT
Allan Ouma Oburu - PhD Candidate, College of Human Resource and Development, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to outline the importance and processes of effective time management as a knowledge area in project management. Project is defined by PMI, (2014) as a temporary endeavor or undertakings aimed at creating a unique product, service, or result. The temporary nature of projects indicates that a project has a definite beginning and end (time constraint). Time management can be said to be the act of planning, scheduling and exercising conscious control over the limited amount of time spent on specific activities, particularly to increase their effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Originally, time management was not seen as important beyond business or work activities, but finally the term widened to include personal activities as well. Currently time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Project time management starts at the very beginning of initiating the project by identifying the required project duration and its milestones, before getting a detailed schedule during the planning phase (Hazar , 2014). According to Romel & Gilberto ( 2016), the delays on the deliveries are one of the most frequent problems affecting project with close to 47%, resulted from a poor application of project time management. Vennila ,(2018) suggested various ways of managing time effectively by highlighting many techniques that can be borrowed by project team. Project team should arrange their schedule according to project priorities as per the work breakdown structure or critical path analysis, Project team including stakeholders should get over any bad feelings that the project might face during project life cycle and move beyond them by having proper risk mitigation plan. Proper Communication strategy should be integrated within an organizational culture will reduce/ harness the project team conflicts. Although, there is no reservation that getting organized saves a lot of time of importance to note is that Project Schedules includes defining project scope, determining the project duration, effective organization, resource allocation: scheduling, identify the project constraint, better project estimates, better project tracking - which improves project team trust, anticipate delays, advance planning, creates project monitor demand, understand project trends, provides project with real data and analysis. Time management process includes defining project activities, activity sequencing, activity resource estimation, activity duration estimation, develop and finally project schedule control. In conclusion, Project Time Management is fundamentally defined as the ability to organize and plan the time spent on all activities in a day. The outcome of good time management is to increase effectiveness and productivity. Time is a key aspect of project management and comprises skills such as planning, goals setting and prioritizing for a better project performance. Time management can be said to be the act of planning, scheduling and exercising conscious control over the limited amount of time spent on specific activities, particularly to increase their effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Originally, time management was not seen as important beyond business or work activities, but finally the term widened to include personal activities as well. Currently time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Time management is inevitable in any project development as it determines the project duration and scope.
