ORGANIZE YOUR TIMECompleting your project on time is important,
if only because ineffi ciency on your part can be
contagious. Even the overachievers in your group
might slack off when they realize you are not
dealing successfully with your own deadlines. In
addition, missing a deadline may mean that all
the time, energy, and resources you spent on a
project were wasted.
Setting Up a Project Schedule
The fi rst thing you should do when scheduling
a project is to assess how realistic its deadline is.
As soon as you have been asked to complete a
chartered trains himself. He used
quick-curing concrete, although it cost
more, and rebuilt both bridges at once
rather than in sequence, with laborers
working 12 hours at a time and crews
out 24 hours a day rain or shine. As
a result, I-10 reopened in a lightning-
fast 66 days. The contractors blew
past all typical roadblocks—paperwork,
supply issues, manpower—in a prime
example of effective time management
producing excellent results.
SOURCE: “Lessons for Post-Katrina Reconstruction”
by Peter Phillips, Economic Policy Institute (October
6, 2005).