How To Manage Time Efficiently, Effectively

`How To' series addresses scheduling and prioritizing daily tasks for founders

Radhika Aggarwal, cofounder and chief business officer of online retailer Shop Clues, reaches office by 8:30 am every day, and is one of the first. “It gives me an hour or two to catch up on my own work -my coffee time and own work projects,“ she said. In that time, Aggarwal avoids checking mails and instead listens to music, because it is her “work focus time.“

Like her, several entrepreneurs who have achieved a degree of success attribute it to efficient time management, utilising each day to its fullest in their own way.

If Zivame Founder Richa Kar is calendar-driven -“priority led and structured“, Zomato Chief Executive Deepinder Goyal believes there is only so much one can plan for. “I spend my day working across teams and take 10-minute breaks every couple of hours to look at my email,“ he said.

A key time-man A key time-management function for senior executives in any company is e delegation, but this is a tricky proposition in a startup where teams aren't large and many top people don multiple roles. A way out would be to delegate what you can and for other tasks devise your version of Rohan Mirchandani's 1-3-5 method -accomplish one big task, three medium tasks and five small ones every day.

“If we have a brand tie-up or partnership, and the event is three months down the road, I may list approvals I have to make as a small task. But as we get closer it may become my big one for the day,“ said Mirchandani, founder of Hokey Pokey, a homegrown brand of ice-cream.

Lunch hours are good for brainstorming or competitive analysis with the senior leadership, a ritual followed at Shop Clues since inception.“That's a sacred space for us. We don't mess with that,“ Aggarwal said.

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