Time Management for Engineering Managers

I've tried 100s of time management techniques.  This is by far my favourite: I used to work 80 hrs/week and call it "productive." When really I was: - Attending pointless meetings - Fighting countless small fires - Being involved in every decision Now I work less than 70% the time and get 4x as much done. The Eisenhower Matrix helped me get there.  It teaches you to categorise tasks by importance and urgency. Here's how it works: 1. Do It Now (Urgent + Important) Examples: - Finalise pitch deck before investor meeting tomorrow. - Fix website crash during peak customer traffic. - Respond to press interview request before deadline. Best Practices: - Attack these tasks first each morning with full focus. - Set a strict deadline so urgency fuels execution. 2. Schedule It (Important + Not Urgent) Examples: - Plan quarterly strategy session with leadership team. - Map long-term hiring plan for next 18 months. - Build a personal brand content system for LinkedIn. Best Practices: - Protect time blocks in advance. Never leave them floating. - Tie them to measurable outcomes, not vague intentions. 3. Delegate It (Urgent + Not Important) Examples: - Handle inbound customer service queries this week. - Organise travel logistics for upcoming conference. - Update CRM with latest sales call notes. Best Practices: - Build playbooks so your team executes without confusion. - Delegate with deadlines to avoid wasting time. 4. Eliminate It (Not Urgent + Not Important) Examples: - Tweak logo colour palette again for fun. - Attend generic networking events with no ICP fit. - Review endless “best productivity tools” articles. Best Practices: - Audit weekly. Cut anything that doesn’t compound long-term. - Replace low-value busywork with rest, thinking, or selling. If you are always reacting to what feels urgent,   You'll never focus on what matters. Attend to the tasks in quadrant 1 efficiently,  Then spend 60-70% of your time in quadrant 2.    That's work that actually builds your business. Which quadrant are you spending too much time in right now?  Drop your thoughts in the comments. My newsletter, Step By Step, breaks down more frameworks like this. It's designed to help you build smarter without burning out. 200k+ builders use it to develop better systems. Join them here:  https://lnkd.in/eUTCQTWb ♻️ Repost this to help other founders manage their time.  And follow Chris Donnelly for more on building and running businesses. 

For all of us, time is the most valuable asset. In an organisation, where the leaders spend time signals the priorities, shapes culture and determines whether the organisation executes on what truly matters. Great time management, I have found, isn’t about squeezing more tasks into a day; it’s about aligning your time with critical outcomes and creating leverage through people, processes and decisions. Those who are good at this make the hour last longer. Why is time management key? It converts strategy to action. Your calendar is the operating system of strategy. If this calendar doesn’t reflect the company’s priorities, the organisation isn’t likely to achieve its goals. It frees time for what matters. Leaders create impact less by doing and more by enabling. Ensuring time availability for the right activities multiplies output. It improves decisions. Unrushed thinking and focused reviews improve judgement, reduce rework and prevent “urgent” fires. It is the signal for direction and culture. Teams copy leaders’ calendar management style. When the leader models deep work, prioritisation, preparation and learning, others in the team follow. What are the common obstacles? Tyranny of the urgent: Unplanned demands, whatsapp pings and what gets classified as “urgent” crowds out important work. Meeting creep: Meetings accumulate without a clear purpose or decision rights Ambiguous priorities: Undefined, unprioritized goals produce reactive calendars where everything feels equally important. Delegation gaps: Work gravitates upward when role clarity or trust is low; leaders become doers, choking bandwidth Context switching: Too much activity especially in different contexts leads to poor focus; 60 minutes of activity is then only 10 minutes of progress. Saying “yes”: Without guardrails, leaders accept more than their calendar can bear. What’s the fix? Define the focus. Translate strategy into key quarterly outcomes. If an activity doesn’t advance these, it’s a candidate to decline, delegate or delay. Design your ideal week. Time-block for people, performance, thinking and certainly for buffers Run meetings like decisions, not rituals. Ask for a pre-read with the question to be decided, options, data and recommended next steps. Start with the decision, then discussion. End with the owner, deadline and success metric. Schedule Important/Non-Urgent work first each week. Deal with urgent/important issues and define what “urgent” means with your team. Delegate for outcomes, not tasks. Reduce context switching. Batch similar work so you don’t have fragmented focus. Silence notifications during deep work. Install guardrails for what you say “yes” to Audit and iterate. Review your calendar monthly: What created impact? What can be eliminated? Your calendar tells a very important story. Read it. As someone said, "When you invest your time in what truly matters, balance follows and happiness becomes the dividend"

Change is constant.  Change is inevitable. Time, however, is fixed.   No matter your title, ambition, or workload, you still get 24 hours a day.   The leaders who consistently deliver results and drive meaningful impact aren’t doing more with their time.  They’re doing what matters most—deliberately.   Time isn’t just a resource. It’s life. And it defines leadership. Over the years, I’ve learned this the hard way. And one thing I’ve become exceptionally disciplined at as a people manager and leader is time management. Here are 6 core time decisions, drawn from my experience, that you can implement to manage your time more wisely—so you too can lead with clarity, deliver impact, and still protect your energy: 1️⃣ Treat time as a strategic asset You can earn more money.  You can’t earn more time. Make decisions as if every minute matters—because it does.  Use deadlines as focus tools, act with urgency, and avoid stretching unnecessarily. 2️⃣ Determine what truly deserves a “yes” Every “yes” is a trade-off. Say yes to everything, and you’re quietly saying “no” to your priorities. Be radically clear on your goals and identify 4–5 true priorities—and say no to the noise with intention, not guilt. Clarity creates focus. Focus creates impact.   3️⃣ Design the week before it starts Don’t let the calendar happen to you—shape it. Plan your week on Sunday evening or Monday morning. Protect time for what matters most and leave margin for the unexpected. Leadership without planning is reaction—not intention. 4️⃣ Triage ruthlessly instead of reacting Not everything or everyone deserves attention. Ask yourself: • Is this urgent and important? → Do it now • Important but not urgent? → Schedule it • Urgent but not important? → Delegate it • Neither? → Eliminate it immediately Discernment is a leadership advantage. 5️⃣ Protect deep work and focus Start each day with your most important “rock”. This is the work that actually moves your career or business forward. Protect 2–3 focused hours, eliminate distractions, and guard your attention aggressively. Focus isn’t a preference—it’s a strategic asset. And these hours compound more than you realize.    6️⃣ Reduce decision fatigue with smart systems Don’t waste energy constantly choosing. Use repeatable systems—intentional agendas, lists, routines, defaults—to preserve mental bandwidth for high-impact decisions. Energy is finite. Design accordingly. If you forget everything else, remember these non-negotiables:  ✔️ Start the day by writing down your top 3 priorities ✔️ End the day by reviewing where your time really went—and what drove results vs. drained energy ✔️ Revisit your goals monthly to ensure alignment—not drift Because at the end of the day, your life is what you repeatedly make time for. What’s one time-management habit that’s made the most significant difference for you?

65 engineers. $12.4 million a year. Four months behind. The VP of engineering tracked every hour for 90 days. 18% of engineering time was answering executive questions. Her team had 65 engineers averaging $190K each. Total engineering cost came to $12.4 million annually. CEO kept asking why features were shipping late. So she decided to find out. For one quarter, every engineer logged their time into three buckets: product work, internal tooling, and executive requests. Results came back after 90 days. Product work: 54% of total hours. Internal tooling: 28% of total hours. Executive requests: 18% of total hours. Math on that last number was brutal. 18% of $12.4 million is $2.2 million per year. That quarter alone, her team had burned roughly $560K answering questions from leadership. Custom dashboards for board meetings. One-off data pulls for investor updates. Ad hoc analyses that lived in slides and never got used again. None of it shipped to customers. He was furious when she showed him the breakdown. "We're not a consulting firm," he said. "Then stop treating engineering like one," she replied. Over the next six months, they made three changes. First, they procured an Answer Layer that leadership  could query without engineering involvement. Second, they instituted a 48-hour SLA on executive requests, which forced prioritization and killed most casual asks. Third, they started tracking "product time percentage" as a team health metric, with a floor of 70%. Within two quarters, product velocity increased and the roadmap got back on track. Morale improved because people felt like  they were building something instead of reporting. These lessons are expensive but clear. Engineering attention is not free just because salaries are already budgeted. Every hour spent on internal requests is an hour  not spent on the product that generates revenue. Companies need to treat engineering time like air. Ones that scale treat it like oxygen in a submarine. Finite and allocated with intention. If your best engineers are spending more than 10% of their time making executives feel informed, you have a massive discipline problem. And your competitors are shipping while you're still building dashboards.

Time is your most valuable asset: how I manage team of 59 specialists while running a medical device company In the world of medical device development, every minute counts. After helping bring 150+ projects to life at OVA Solutions, I've learned that time management isn't just about productivity - it's about creating space for innovation that actually matters. My 5 non-negotiable time management principles: 1. The 2-hour Deep Work Block Every morning, I block 2 uninterrupted hours for the most complex problems. No emails, no calls. Your brain needs runway to solve complex problems - give it that space. 2. The "Three Things Only" Rule Each day, I identify only three meaningful outcomes I need to achieve. Not tasks - outcomes. When you're developing medical devices that people's lives depend on, you learn to distinguish between busy work and work that drives real impact. 3. Energy Management > Time Management I track my energy patterns, not just my time. My creative thinking peaks from 9-11am, so that's when I schedule innovation sessions. Technical reviews happen from 2-4pm when my analytical mind is sharpest. Work with your biology, not against it. 4. The 50/10 Method 50 minutes of focused work, 10 minutes of complete disconnection. This simple reset prevents decision fatigue - critical when one decision could affect patient safety. 5. Weekly "Possibility Time" Every Friday afternoon is sacred - it's for exploring new technologies with no immediate application. This seemingly "inefficient" time has led to our biggest breakthroughs in surgical robotics. What I've learned running a medical R&D company is that resilience comes from rhythms, not random sprints of productivity. When facing high-pressure deadlines and complex challenges, your internal systems become your greatest strength. What's one time management practice that's transformed your work? Share below. #TimeManagement #MedicalDevices #Leadership #ProductDevelopment #Innovation

Your "quick sync" just killed 2 hours of engineering productivity. Paul Graham nailed a management idea years ago that most people still haven't grasped: There are makers and there are managers—and they work differently. Engineers need deep, uninterrupted focus to create value. Not 30-minute chunks between meetings. They need silence.  They need time.  They need space to load complex problems into their brain and keep them there. Here's what actually happens when you interrupt an engineer: ➝ 30 minutes to load the full context into their head ➝ 2 hours minimum needed for meaningful progress Your 15-minute meeting just blew up both. Your PMs are doing what they should—living in 30-minute meeting blocks all day. That's their job, but here's where they go wrong: They think everyone works this way. Want to keep your best engineers? Here's what they need: ➝ 3 uninterrupted 2-hour blocks, daily ➝ 6 hours of deep work time ➝ 0 random interruptions "But we need alignment!" Yes, you do...Through your PMs...Who are supposed to protect your engineers' time. I've never met a top 1% engineer who loves meetings. Not one. If you want to build the next breakthrough product, start protecting your engineers' focus like it's your most valuable asset. Let your makers make.

You’re not burned out. You’re mismanaging your energy. Traditional time management is killing your leadership. Try this instead. You think burnout comes from too many tasks. The truth is, it comes from treating every task equally. High performance isn’t about managing your time. It’s about managing your energy. Forget urgency. Forget basic importance. Great leaders prioritize tasks by their energy levels. Four quadrants guide your focus: 🟢 High Energy, High Importance (Prime Time) 🟡 High Energy, Low Importance (Use Wisely) 🟠 Low Energy, High Importance (Schedule Carefully) 🔴 Low Energy, Low Importance (Eliminate or Delegate) 🟢 PRIME TIME (High Energy, High Importance) Tasks for your best mental state: ✅ Strategic thinking & vision planning ✅ Critical meetings & negotiations ✅ Coaching and solving high-stakes issues 👉 Example: A VP blocks 8–11 AM for strategic work—emails come later. 🟡 USE WISELY (High Energy, Low Importance) Tasks that fuel growth or creativity: ✅ Brainstorm new ideas ✅ Learning and personal growth ✅ Networking to expand influence 👉 Example: A Product Manager dedicates mid-morning to innovation sessions. 🟠 SCHEDULE CAREFULLY (Low Energy, High Importance) Crucial tasks that require pacing: ✅ Budget analysis & financial reviews ✅ Detailed project plans & reporting ✅ Performance reviews 👉 Example: An Operations Director schedules detailed reviews after lunch to prevent rushed decisions. 🔴 ELIMINATE OR DELEGATE (Low Energy, Low Importance) These drain time and productivity: ✅ Excessive emails or manual admin ✅ Unnecessary status-update meetings ✅ Routine data entry tasks 👉 Example: A CTO replaces weekly meetings with asynchronous Slack updates. How to Implement in 4 Steps ✅ 1. Track Energy Identify peak and low-energy periods daily. ✅ 2. Categorize Tasks Map tasks into the Energy Matrix quadrants. ✅ 3. Redesign Your Schedule Match critical tasks with peak energy; delegate the rest. ✅ 4. Regularly Adjust & Optimize Weekly reviews ensure continuous improvement. Great leaders don’t manage time. They manage their energy. The difference? You lead without burning out. 👉 Which quadrant do you struggle with most? Drop your answer below! 📢 Repost this to help someone regain control of their productivity. 🔔 Follow for more leadership strategies that make a real difference.

I recently talked to a client whose engineering manager said "I don't have time to manage other developers. I have to redo their work anyway." Major red flag. This mindset is killing your team's productivity and scalability. I know because I used to be that person. As a highly technical founder, I could code faster than anyone else. Teaching others felt like a waste of time. But here's the reality check that changed everything for me: If I code twice as fast as others, that's a 2x productivity gain. But if I help three developers each become twice as productive, that's a 6x gain. The math is simple. Your technical leaders need to stop being individual contributors and start being multipliers. Here's how to make this shift: Schedule dedicated management time. Start each day focused on the team before touching any code. Measure success by team output, not personal contributions. Turn problems into teaching moments instead of jumping in to fix them yourself. Your job as a technical leader isn't to be the hero who saves the day. It's to build a team of heroes who can save themselves. I'd love to hear from other technical leaders - what helped you make this transition from coder to coach? #Leadership #Engineering #SoftwareDevelopment #TechnicalLeadership

Are your engineers drowning in “quick questions”? Here’s why it’s worth your time to manage human-to-human interruptions: - Interrupt with care. When an engineer gets pulled out of deep focus, it can take 15 minutes or more to get back into flow. Those “quick five-minute questions” are actually much more costly. - Minimize and distinguish interruption types. Responding to production incidents? Necessary, but of course you should seek to minimize them. A question that’s already answered in documentation? That’s an opportunity for immediate improvement. Help your team understand the difference. - Establish support rotations. Dedicating people to handle questions and issues during specific time blocks protects everyone else’s focus time while ensuring support needs are met. - Default to async. Unless something is truly urgent, encourage your team to use channels that don't demand immediate attention. This lets people choose when to context switch. - Set up office hours. Set specific times for questions and collaboration. This creates predictability and helps protect the rest of the day for deep work. Your team’s most impactful work happens in those precious hours of uninterrupted focus. Protect them.

𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒! 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃! You walk into the office, coffee in hand, ready to conquer the day. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘴. Your inbox is overflowing. A critical project is behind schedule. Your team is waiting for directions. And just as you sit down, someone walks in with a "quick question." Before you know it, the day is gone; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴? Most managers don’t struggle with time management. They struggle with 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭: Here’s a brutal truth: If you’re drowning in tasks, it’s not just because you have too much work; it’s because you haven’t structured your team to function without you in every detail. So, ask yourself: ✅ Do my subordinates know what to do without waiting for my approval at every step? ✅ Can they prioritize tasks effectively without my constant input? ✅ Have I trained them to think critically, or do they just execute instructions? 𝐈𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟑-𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 & 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 1️⃣ Teach Your Team to Solve Before Asking Next time someone comes to you with a problem, don’t just give an answer. Instead, say: "Tell me three possible solutions before I give my input." This forces them to think, and over time, they’ll come to you with answers, not just problems. 2️⃣ Categorize Tasks Like a CEO Every task you handle should fall into one of these: 🔵 Must do – High-impact tasks that ONLY you can handle. 🟢 Delegate – Things others can do with clear instructions. 🔴 Eliminate – Unnecessary meetings, excessive emails, and work that adds no real value. If you’re not doing this, you’re wasting your most valuable resource: focus. 3️⃣ Set Deadlines the Smart Way Deadlines aren’t just about due dates; they’re about 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀. ✅ Instead of “Finish this by Friday,” say, “Send me a rough draft by Wednesday.” This way, you catch delays early rather than facing a disaster at the last moment. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐁𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥… You can’t create more hours in a day. But you 𝗰𝗮𝗻 train your team to function more independently. You 𝗰𝗮𝗻 shift from being reactive to proactive. And you 𝗰𝗮𝗻 finally stop feeling like you’re managing chaos instead of leading progress. Your time isn’t just valuable—it’s the foundation of your leadership. Use it wisely. 📩 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦? https://lnkd.in/gF9uMaeK Book a FREE Consultation call NOW! #Leadership #TimeManagement #StressManagement #CorporateTraining #Productivity #ApoorvaVerma