A friend of mine needed my help with something a few days ago. He says he was too loaded with all his other tasks in writing and community management that he couldn’t handle the next few batch of jobs. I obliged. So he sent me all the details of his writing and web development jobs and handed it over to me.

Being the outsource expert that I am, I got it done in less than 2 days. The following weekend I asked him what’s up and he told me: “I guess I was just too into community management…” ‘Your community huh?” With a grin, he admits that he got too distracted with his Facebook chat with friends that he missed at least 2 hours of work.

In that little story, we see how important time management is. If you don’t get something done when it’s expected, there’s going to be hell to pay. Heck, just ask my friend.

In any case, here’s a few things you might want to do to make sure you keep your schedule tight:

• Eliminate distractions – By that, I mean when it’s work time, you need to keep your eyes on the price. Get rid of any potential distraction. If you’re a community manager, set up a business account without any friends or just use Facebook as a page. If you’re a  writer, turn off your chat app or notification device and keep at writing.

If needed, hold up a sign that reminds you that it’s time for work and you can’t waste any of it on something you can check on after.

• Trust on paper.. Or on a mindmap – Get your schedule on paper and have it posted somewhere you always see it. I suggested that to my friend and he pretty much got a hold of his schedule quite well. Besides that, you can also use a mindmap to get your thoughts in line and be aware of any arrangements you’ve made.
• Leave time for emergencies – You never know when an emergency might come up so make space for at least two hours in your schedule. If it can’t be helped, just do  your tasks ahead of time so you’ve got a lot of time to spare in the future.
• Know your role – Knowing your role simply means giving yourself the right mindset with whatever it is you’r e doing. We all have different roles to play in our lives and we can’t be two things at the same time. Besides being pretty messed up, we’d end up hurting the things that really matter. So when it’s time to turn that laptop off and go play with the kids, then do it. It’s something that you should work on as well.

In any context, time management is an essential part of living. You need to be able to manage your time wisely if you want to perform well at work and enjoy life to the fullest.

The post Time Management: Tips to an Almost-Perfect Life appeared first on Ben Francia.

As an outsourcing expert and long-time project manager, I know how it feels to get stuck somewhere most people would crumble at – the midst of utter chaos regarding who to ask, what to do and how to do it. It’s probably a place where you don’t want to be.

Work can sometimes mean being dragged around by deadlines, headaches and demanding clients. Such is very true in the outsourcing industry and when things aren’t clear enough for both contractor and contractee, things go to the dumps easily.

In any case, if you want to stay away from confusion, you’d have to prevent it from happening. Here are a few things I do to save myself from the headache and ultimately keep my people and my clients happy. Check them out:

• Do not take more than you can handle – If you’re hands are full, don’t take in another client unless you’ve got someone to help you out. I understand that sometimes you like to make as many connections as you can but you also have to pay attention to the kind of connection you have.

It’s like what they say in social media: “The number of followers you have doesn’t matter, it’s the relationship you create with each other.”

When you nurture your relationship with your clients in the form of quality work, you’re actually increasing your chances of being their go-to guy. They wouldn’t want to waste their time looking for some other person to outsource to and risk losing the awesome quality you provide.

• Work in an appropriate environment – If you’re working in an office environment, the aura of corporate professionalism is everywhere. But if you’re working from home you’ve got to set things up in such a way where you can’t lose sight of your duties. I know it’s more of a mental conditioning kind of thing, but setting up your workplace can sure help you out.First off, get your PC in a room where you don’t sleep. I’ve experienced this before especially in those high-stress situations where you feel like resting your head. The bed literally calls you, tempting you to take a break. That’s why it’d help if you have a separate room where you do your work.Secondly, set that room up like a regular office. That essentially means less of the toys and more of the business stuff like papers, pens and maybe a few books. Keep video games away as much as possible. Remember, you’re trying to eliminate distractions too.Lastly, make sure that the place is a quiet one. One that’s not prone to outside noises that could affect client or team calls.
• Create a working schedule – By that, I mean you ought to make a schedule that works for you and allows you to be able to fulfill all your roles in your life. To me, that’s effective time management. The ability to manage all the roles you play in life. So dedicate at least 8 hours for work and the rest to anything that you do.Now I know there will be times when you’ll have to spend a little extra to get something done. The key here is to set things in advanced. As much as possible though, stick to the schedule.
• Employ the use of mind maps – Mind maps are what they are. They literally map out your mind and help you digest awesome bits and pieces of information effectively. They’re actually better than excel sheets or documents when outlining key concepts that your team needs to understand. This is why when you’re planning your campaigns or setting up schedules, it’s best to use mind maps. It organizes the anarchy.

These are but a few suggestions to help you avoid the chaos and get things a little more organized in an outsource-oriented setting. Remember, though, that confusion can hit at any time and the best thing to deal with it is to take a deep breath and face it head on!

The post How to Manage Projects and Tasks Effectively from Home appeared first on Ben Francia.

Photo by  ishane 

In any case, you’ll want to have your call go as smoothly as possible. With that, I’ve created a checklist of things you will want to remember before having that meeting. Check it out:

• Have a purpose for the call – Like every meeting, there always has to be a reason behind it. This allows you to focus on one things alone which makes for an efficient discussion between members of your group.
• Have your team prepare before the call – For scrum meetings or start or end of day calls, you’ll want to have your team members and yourself go through their list of to-dos for the day. Have them send you their respective lists so you have a good understanding as to how and what you guys have done and are up to.

This allows you to not only monitor each person’s progress but also make suggestions regarding tasks. It also gives your call a pattern to follow so the propensity of getting lost in the call goes down to nil.

• Set a time limit – Having an efficient call allows you to save more time and focus more on the work load. Efficiency can be described as being able to do quality work in the shortest amount of time possible. So set a target time with which you can end your call. I started going for at least 20 minutes, then we went down to 15 and so forth. At this time, we’re able to reach the bottom-line in 10 minutes tops and we still have time to horse around!
• Skip the Horseradish – Speaking of horsing around, I understand that to lighten things up a bit, someone might come up with a joke or mention something a team mate’s peeved about. Try to avoid this before you reach the bottom-line of the call.

After you reach the bottom-line and you think it’s absolutely okay to horse around (because quite frankly, we need it), then don’t go as far as 3 minutes. End the call and work.

• Have someone list it all down – You want to be clear on what’s been discussed primarily because it’ll be your reference when you get lost in an almost inevitable fit of confusion and chaos. This is why you need someone to list what’s been discussed in the call. If you can, you can have it recorded and played back.

• Choose reliable software – Skype, GoToMeeting, whatever that software is, make sure it’s something that’s easy to install and allows everyone to participate in the discussion.

That about wraps it up for this little blog post about managing your team calls. Let me know how you handle your calls.

The post How to Manage Team Meetings and Calls appeared first on Ben Francia.

This is why I make it a point that I define with my clients that their overall objectives are in putting up their website. Funny thing is that most people don’t have a clue what their objectives are. This is where I step in.

There are several ways to do this. Some ask their clients to send a Request for Proposal or RFP. An RFP clearly outlines what the client wants for the website. It outlines everything that the client wants to have on their website and all their expectation. This might be a comprehensive approach, but I find method to be very tedious for the clients. Most clients have no time, it would take them forever to do this. This is normally leads to lost clients, unfortunately.

Another approach is to do a client survey in form of an interview. This I believe is what most contractors use. Not only does it give immediate first hand information from the clients, but also gives an opportunity to give an initial good impression and therefore establish a good relationship with the client.

But there is one other approach which is my favorite. It is using a Web Development Questionnaire. This approach is actually a cross between the first two methods that I had just mentioned. I like using questionnaires because not only does it help me gather the information I need in a more systematic and organized way, but it also always gives me an opportunity to educate my clients in helping they define what their overall objectives and needs.

There is really more to Website Planning than just asking the client to fill up a questionnaire. But this I believe is a very good start. A good start in measuring twice, before actually starting to build a website that will not only work, but is also in alignment to the goals of the client.

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