Time Management

tips for a more ef cient + pro table architecture business 30X40 Design Workshop © 2023
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Effort Effort
TIME MANAGEMENT BASICS

Strategy + Tactics Effort Effort

Does it feel like you never have enough time in the day to accomplish
all you had planned? You’re always behind? Serving others?

You’re not alone, I hear from students and design professionals each Effort Effort
day who tell me time management tops their list of things they want to
get better at. See if any of the following resonates with you… Effort

Common Pain Points: NO STRATEGY

๏ I’m Reactive vs. Proactive ( ghting res all day)
๏ My to-do list only grows With nothing guiding your work, your efforts are expended
๏ My inbox is full (of problems) pushing toward unclear goals. You aimlessly check + answer
๏ There’s no time for design emails, scroll social media, take calls + texts at any hour
๏ I’m working nights and weekends just to keep up. doing non-critical busywork that feels important.
๏ I’m always interrupted by urgent requests (calls, texts,
etc.)
๏ I say “Yes” more than I say “No.”
๏ I have lots of work, but I still feel under compensated.

When you feel like you’re not in control of your time, it’s a sign that Effort
you need a strategy. It can be easy to con ate busywork for
productivity.

Learning to manage your time effectively requires a strategic plan.

Think of yourself as the CEO and Employee of your own business. As
the CEO you’re responsible for the strategy and as the employee
you’re responsible for the tactical implementation of that strategy. STRATEGIC PLAN
This is important: the tactics of time management are separate from
your strategy. You need a strategy rst and you’ll use the tactics to A plan focuses your effort allowing each unit of work to
implement it. ef ciently contribute to reaching your de ned goal more
quickly.
This short guide will teach you both and together they’ll help reduce
stress, free up time for you to work on the things that matter most to
you, increase pro tability, and avoid burnout.

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Strategy
time management 101 01
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 TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Your Strategy
Developing a strategy requires clearly de ned goals. Most people
set broad, poorly de ned goals that lack speci city. Use the
SMART framework below to ensure your goal setting is on target.

S.M.A.R.T.
Speci c
What, speci cally, are you setting out to do?
Measurable
How will you measure success? Numbers, facts; data!
Achievable
Is it reasonable + possible?
Relevant
Is it meaningful and does it make sense?
Time-bound
When will it be complete?

Good Better

Example Goal One: Example Goal One-Revised:

Schematic Design Schemes for the Hytte (3) Schematic Floor Plans + SketchUp Massing
Concept Home by Friday. Schemes formatted in 11x17 to email to client for
the Hytte Concept Home by Friday.

Example Goal Two: Example Goal Two-Revised:

Increase new client leads by 2x by end of Q2. Increase average weekly new client opt-in to
email list funnel from 7 to 14 by end of Q2 testing
(4) new lead magnets.
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 TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Strategic Focal Points

Strategic goals can be both long-term (1-5 years) and short-term (weekly/
quarterly) and related to both business and personal objectives. These are a
few of the general areas you might explore as you’re setting goals:

Project Based
Client type, project type, number, scale, scope, budget, style, etc.

Example: Onboard two new full-service clients by end of Q3 of

2023. Project parameters (Budget, SF, client type, style) to align
with customer + project avatar as de ned in annual review.

Financial My Annual Review Process

Revenue targets, pro tability changes, tracking KPIs. I use Notion to conduct my annual reviews and set objectives
for the year ahead. Watch the video here.
Example: Increase net business revenues per annual budget
projections (linked document) implementing new marketing funnel +
increasing on-site traf c conversions. Use weekly KPI tracking sheet “When my life is organized, I feel more in control and I get
to monitor each Monday. Stretch gross revenue goal: $1.25M/p.a. more done. To keep me on track and focused, I use Notion
and my annual review process always exposes a few
things I need to change to better organize my time to be
Personal less reactive. If you’re trying to accomplish more this year
These will be individual to your situation. In my list are: travel, health, but not one to necessarily set goals, I'll show you my
education, nancial, and lifestyle goals. method and my Notion setup can help you get organized.”

Example: Self-publish travel photo essay as a book from Lofoten Islands Eric Reinholdt
Expedition by October 2023. Text to be 20K words, 150 - 175 edited photos. 30X40 Design Workshop

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 TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Other Ideas
Still at a loss of where to focus your efforts? Here are a few
additional worthwhile areas to invest your time.
Asset Creation
Markets require both makers and consumers. The entrepreneur
sees a need and makes things to meet consumer demand. By
Pro t First investing time designing assets that return dividends over time
Know your pro t centers by understanding your nancial data. we build wealth.
Properly setting up your chart of accounts and allocating
income and expenses to each client/project allows you to
assess pro tability and focus on the most pro table products
Content Creation
Marketing is an integral part of your work as a designer. Creating
or services, while considering phasing out or improving less
evergreen content is crucial for you to attract new clients and
pro table ones.
establish your authority in the eld. Evergreen content ensures
the information remains relevant over time and by publishing it
Setting appropriate fees with embedded pro t margin is a key
on your website, you can appear in Google searches and build a
rst step. If you’re unsure how to do this, use our tools as a
loyal following. Sharing snippets on social media (IG, YT,
starting point.
Pinterest, GMB) expands your reach and builds an audience.

This also builds a library of material which answers your client’s

Revenue Generating Activities (and audience’s) questions. When they reach out, you have a
These are actions that directly affect top line revenues: relevant back catalog of helpful information to share,
networking, marketing, and design work. When you’re seeking streamlining your response time and proving your authority.
to ef ciently spend your time to increase revenues, avoid
busywork (which is easier) and dig in to the dif cult work.
Focus
Non-Revenue Generating Tasks Choose a primary platform to build your audience. You can’t do it all.
๏ Organizing Choose the one that’s most aligned with your creative vision, skills and
๏ Paying bills aptitude. You’re more likely to put in the effort and post there regularly which
๏ Researching new products will lead to better results.
๏ Administrative work
๏ Ordering supplies

Revenue Generating Tasks

๏ Past Client, Contractor + Realtor outreach (new service
offerings, project updates, etc.)
๏ Sales calls + follow-ups
๏ Designing
๏ Emailing your list (you have one, right?)
With your goals de ned, you’re almost ready for the tactics.
There’s one important lter that your goals must align with rst…
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 TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Your MLE* *Minimum Level of Engagement

When I started my business in 2013, I said “yes” to almost every project that
came my way. Any budget. Any scope of work. Any schedule. Any client.
This made my rst year in business a living nightmare.

I had a roster of small projects with small budgets and correspondingly small
fees. To meet my revenue targets I needed many of them. Because smaller
projects are shorter duration I was always seeking and onboarding new
clients.

Smaller projects still require everything that a larger project does it’s the
same exact process but there’s no economy of scale. Each project still
requires onboarding clients, nding and working with contractors,
estimating, design, delivery. All this for a smaller reward on a shorter time
scale.

I soon realized I was saying yes to the clients other architects had rejected
because they knew these projects weren’t a good t for them. They had an
MLE, a minimum level of engagement, and they weren’t willing to go
below it.

Setting a minimum level of engagement prescreens your new clients

selecting for the ones that are the most pro table. When you set your MLE
higher, you need fewer of them to hit your revenue targets. The natural by-
product is that you actually select for better clients and better projects.

(Better)
Higher minimums = Larger Scope = Fewer Projects
^
This applies to any project you take on even if you don’t have a business.
Your MLE is a baseline for all you do. Choosing fewer projects that align
with your goals will save you time and focus your efforts.
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NO.
TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

NO. QUALITY.
QUANTITY
QUANTITY
QUANTITY
QUANTITY
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“
The difference between successful people and
really successful people is that really successful
people say no to almost everything.
WARREN BUFFETT

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Tactics
time management 101 02
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 TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS

Making vs. Managing Design Your Week

The most impactful time management tactic I employ each day is the Maker’s Schedule - Managers Mondays
Schedule. Based on the essay by Paul Graham (founder of Y-Combinator) the concept proposes splitting your Consults
day into two parts, one for making and one for managing (see the diagram on the next page for more detail).
Tuesdays
I’ve used this schedule since 2017 and trained all my clients and collaborators to adapt to it. Before you Design only
transition, reach out to your network with a short email and let them know your availability will be changing so Wednesday
you can prioritize your creative work. Stick with it for at least a few weeks (it’s an adjustment); I promise you'll
see a difference.
Presentations/Meetings
Thursday
A variation on this schema is to Design Your Week. Dedicate specific days to managing tasks and deep Site Visits
creative work. For example, every Friday is a full focus, creative work day with no meetings or calls scheduled.
Friday
This way of working prioritizes YOUR creative goals rather than the goals of others. Admin

TIME MAKING TRANSITION MANAGING Design Your Day

Design, Sketching, Model Making, Video Most people begin their day by combing through their inbox.
5 AM - 12:30 PM
Production, Writing, Photography Your inbox is lled with the priorities + to-do lists of others +
it’s easy to mistake this busywork for productivity. Often the
momentum of re- ghting and solving problems carries
1 - 2:30 PM Exercise (Out of Studio) through the day.
It’s exhausting.
Meetings, Calls, Financials, Planning + Imagine if you ipped the script and placed your creative
2:30 - 5 PM
Scheduling, Organization, Email work rst. Start your day when you have the motivation to
concentrate and apply your full intellectual energy to it.
Read, Guitar, Learn Then, after emptying your creative stores in service of your
5 - 6 PM
(anything non-architecture) goals, transition to the activities that require less mental
energy: meetings, calls, organization, and scheduling. End
Re-check email, admin tasks, prepare for your day by planning out the following day’s creative work.
6 - 7 PM
tomorrow’s making session It’s a simple shift with signi cant consequences.

7 - 7:01 PM Commute Home Set a stop time and stick to it!

No interruptions. Systems, not projects.

No noti cations. No implementation.
No calls. No texts. No creative work. 30X40 Design Workshop © 2023
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 TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS
TIP :
Modes of Work The natural break switching between
modes can be an opportunity to build
There are two primary modes of working: making and an exercise habit.
managing. When moving between the modes there’s a
‘switching cost’. The more energy you expend switching,
the less you’re able to accomplish in any given unit of
time.

Dividing your day to eliminate the switching cost captures

the inherent ef ciencies of each mode of work. You can
choose how long to persist in each mode, favoring one
over another to suit.

Execution Thinking
Maker Manager
The Maker is employed by the Manager and Like a CEO, the Manager sets the
given the time to freely execute the Manager’s strategic vision for the Maker to execute.
strategic vision. The maker is a craftsperson, They organize, coordinate, plan and
who’s free to fuss about details, rif ng and interface with others. They’re free to
playing in hours of **uninterrupted** deep work. allocate as much or, as little, time to
They don’t answer calls or attend meetings they meetings as they see t.
only do the work they’re best suited for.

Deep Creative Work Meetings + Follow-ups

Design + Sketching Planning
Ideation Phone Calls
Writing (scripting, blogging, posts) Email
Filming + editing video Texting
Marketing (yes, this is creative!) Accounting + Invoicing
Photography + editing Organizing: ling, tidying
Scheduling

Choosing what to do when…keep reading

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 TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS

Creative Energy
Understanding your personal energy patterns is essential as
you establish a making and managing schedule. Recognizing
when you are most alert and focused allows you to schedule
your most challenging tasks during peak energy times to
maintain ef ciency, prevent burnout, and work in alignment
with your natural energy levels.

I wake early and this is when I’m best at making things. I can
focus on deep work, undisturbed for long periods. Naturally,
this means all my administrative and managing tasks shift to
the afternoon. These require less creative horsepower and
often occur in shorter segments. I usually end my day by
clearing out my inbox and setting out the tasks for the
following day’s early morning creative work.

Peak Energy

AM PM

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 TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS
Fact: Gold sh do not grow to the size of their tank.

Parkinson’s Law
Ever notice how when you’re in the late stages of a deadline how much you
get done? Somehow, you manage to t an incredible amount of work in a
short span of time. You may have also noticed if you give yourself a week to
complete a task that, coincidentally, the task takes a week to complete.

This is Parkinson’s Law: work expands so as to ll the time available.

We all have a tendency to overestimate what we can do in the short term

and underestimate what we can do in the long-term. And it doesn’t magically
change when you’re a professional. I’m always asking myself, “Am I being
realistic about the time I think this will take?”

We can leverage Parkinson’s law to manage our time by simply limiting the
amount of time available for certain tasks. Over the years of implementing
the maker’s schedule, manager’s schedule, the making part of my day has
expanded chipping away at the time allotted for managing. I’m still able to
complete the necessary managing tasks, they’re just compressed into a
shorter span.

Making Managing

Making Managing

Knowing what you want to spend your time on allows you to make these
kinds of intentional decisions. Allotting more time to the creative ‘making’
tasks means my schedule is lled with things I enjoy doing rather than
endless meetings, email, and phone calls.

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 TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS

Time Boxing
Subdivide your project into smaller tasks and assign each one a ‘box’. Each
box has a xed deadline and a set of deliverables. In business terms, time
boxing usually involves four variables:

Time
Cost
Quality
Scope
By way of example, we can simplify our model and assume only two variables:
time and scope. As you approach a deadline (time is xed) and it’s clear you
won’t meet it, you only have one choice: reduce the scope. When you x the
time you have to complete a set of tasks your only choice is to offer fewer
deliverables.
Fixed
To meet your deadline you simply need to reduce the scope of work. When we
add in the other variables the choice matrix expands. For example: Flexible
1) You could add team members or hire out tasks and keep the
scope of work unchanged. This would then increase the labor cost
to the business.
Flexible
2) You could reduce the quality of the presentation (sketches vs.
renderings) and keep the scope unchanged.
3) You could deliver fewer but higher quality drawings, thus reducing Flexible
the scope of work.

Each variable is interlinked, so it’s impossible to change one variable without

affecting the others.

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TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS

Getting Things Done

Steven Covey famously created a matrix to triage all tasks into
four quadrants. The idea was to classify all work into Urgent and
Not Urgent and Important and Not Important with the goal to Urgent Not Urgent
spend more time working in quadrants 1 and 2 than in 3, and no-
time in quadrant 4.

Curiously, most of us spend our time in the Not Important but

Urgent quadrant mistaking it for quadrant 1 work. Crises Exercise
Deadline-driven projects Planning

Important
The highest value work is the Important but Not Urgent tasks in Some calls Marketing
quadrant 2. These are often the more dif cult tasks that require a Recreation
lot of time, but aren’t screaming for attention like quadrants 1 and
3. Endeavor to spend as much of your time in zone 2 as possible.

1 Must-do 2 High-return

Interruptions Busy Work

Not Important
Distractions Time Wasters
Reacting Some phone calls
Most phone calls Some email
Most email

3 Low-return 4 No-return

Most people spend time here,

thinking they’re actually doing
quadrant 1 work
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Get Organized
time management 101 03
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 TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS

Systems (SOPs) Tools:

Loom, Notion, Trello, Asana, Google Docs

Systems save you time, preserve head space, deliver consistent

results with a repeatable formula and free you to do more interesting
creative work. They’re the recipe, the secret sauce, and the…

How You Do What You Do.

The simplest system you can create is an SOP (standard operating
procedure). Create one for any task (or group of tasks) you do more
than once. One of the rst SOPs I created was for Client Onboarding
to codify the experience, capture automated actions, collate
documents and it ensures I don’t forget anything in the process. It’s
saved me an immense amount of time and I’ve improved it over time
to re ect changing business values and lessons learned.

An SOP consists of the following four things:

✓
System (description, the "What")

Roles (who's responsible or involved)

Procedure (speci c steps)

Details (deliverables, video training, links, resources)

Don’t feel pressured to create every SOP you see in the list to the
right immediately. You’ll start, as I did, writing just one SOP and
slowly, over time build your library from there.

30X40’s SOPs in Notion

This requires self-discipline, self-motivation and a focus on goal-
oriented, purposeful action. Having systems and documentation
for repeatable results allows you to easily hire out for any of these
tasks in the future. You’ll have the precise steps required to
execute them up to your brand’s standard.

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 TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS

Your Process
Without a de ned (and documented) process, guess who’s in charge?

Your client (or, someone else).

Your process is your plan for executing the work and, like the goal
setting exercise at the outset, yours will include scope of work for each
step as well as the time it typically takes to complete it. A rough outline
of an architectural design process might look like this:

๏ Predesign
๏ Schematic Design
๏ Design Development
๏ Construction Documents
๏ Bidding/Negotiation
๏ Construction Observation

Each phase includes a description of the work to take place, a list of

deliverables and a rough estimate of the time involved.

The process document discusses how you work, what the client can
expect, and everything else they’ll want to know about how their project
will proceed when they hire you.

Importantly, it introduces the contract, terms and conditions and the

nancial agreement they are agreeing to. A thorough process
document gives your clients the con dence you’re the right person for
the job and establishes guardrails for the process to unfold in a timely
manner.

Want help writing your process document? Check out our template
included in the StartUp Toolkit v2.0

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TIME MANAGEMENT TACTICS

Common Hazards
Time management, as you’re now aware, is often learning to spot and
say “no” to things that don’t make good use of your time.

Limit Communication Pursue Alignment

Your clients and collaborators are more malleable than you think. This Posting about topics not relevant to your business or ideal project type is
is why it’s crucial to establish communication guidelines early on. a bad use of your time. For example, creating DIY content, when your
Teach them how you want them to behave. For me there’s no texting, ideal client is high end residential doesn’t make sense, does it?
and no email responses or phone calls outside of regular business
hours. I prefer scheduling time for weekly check-ins guided by a Where are your clients spending time?
rolling agenda that each party can contribute to. This singular linked TikTok (short form video)
document can be edited asynchronously and ensures nothing YouTube (all-form video)
escapes or is left buried in a long text chain and is an ef cient use of IG (images/reels/stories)
everyone’s time. FB (platform posts)
GMB (Google My Business, photos, posts)
Pinterest (images, idea pins, video)
Prescreening Pick one and focus on it. Formatting material to be everywhere isn’t a
To save time and ensure clarity, provide potential clients with your good use of your time and not all platforms treat your content the same.
MLE and budgeting guides on your website. This allows you to Making content that disappears in 24 hours is a poor use of your limited
prescreen any inquiries and aligning their budget with your services. time resources. I recommend focusing on platforms that prioritize
You’ll avoid all unnecessary back-and-forth answering the same three serving up your evergreen content over many years (like YouTube,
questions and streamline the client selection process. GMB, and Pinterest) rather than those that expire after a day (IG, TT +
FB).

Alignment also applies to your website. I speak to designers every week

Hire It Out who tell me they’re not getting the kinds of clients they want. When I visit
Struggling through something you’re not good at isn’t the best use of their website, their portfolio is lled with projects from those clients. What
your time. It’s common when you’re rst getting started to wear all the you put forward is what you’re hoping to get more of. Only your best
hats and do everything yourself. But, having access to a dedicated work belongs on your website and only work you want more of.
team of professionals (in or out of house) helps save time and money
by delegating tasks that are not within your zone of expertise and We can show you how, check out our courses for help breaking the
would take much longer to complete independently. With a team in cycle.
place, it allows for business scalability, ef cient client service, and
access to diverse perspectives and professional assistance when
needed.

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TIME MANAGEMENT

Checklist
Summarizing the steps you’ve taken: ✓
Set the Strategy What’s the SMART goal you’re working toward?

Set Your MLE Your minimum level of engagement is a prescreening tool, use it!

Schedule + Do the Work What tactic(s) will you leverage?

Establish Repeatable Systems SOPs, routines and repeatable processes

Follow Your Process This determines the nal result and outcome.

Measure* What gets measured, gets managed.

*Take the next step to learn how to

measure what matters in your business.
Join the A+E Course for our nancial
templates, resources, and video instruction.

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TIME MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS

Tools + Resources
Here are a few things to set you on the path to owning and
controlling your time.

Reading
๏ Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule - This essay
01 Own your schedule. What brings you pro t? What brings you joy?

changed everything for my business. A must-read.

๏ Four Thousand Weeks - Time Management for Mortals. A
manifesto for doing what’s important with the time you have.
02 Automate: scheduling, email sequences, lead magnets

๏ Pumpkin Plan - You’ll feel inspired to take action after

reading this transformation.
๏ Essentialism - Stretched too thin, overworked, busy but not
03 Simplify. Offer fewer (better) things, services, products.

productive. Learn the how to determine what’s essential and

what isn’t.
๏ Checklist Manifesto - A compelling case for SOPs with
04 Forced deadlines. Trim the time needed to complete tasks.

stories from the medical, construction and aviation elds

where checklists saves lives.
05 Say, “No” more than you do “Yes”

TIPS
Tools
๏ StartUp Toolkit
06 Enforce communication boundaries (no texting, etc.)

๏ Branding, Organizational, Marketing, + Process

Documents, Done-for-you, battle-tested, ready to use 07 Create don’t consume. Assets build wealth.

Software
๏ Loom (video recording web app)
08 Use systems and eliminate unnecessary steps from your process.

๏ Proposals, onboarding, explaining complex subjects to

team members without writing a long email. Especially
useful for tracking engagement as it lets you know when
09 Set your MLE. Project minimums select for better projects + clients.

someone has watched your Loom.

๏ Notion (organizing your life + business)
๏ Later (Social Media Scheduling)
10 Create + respect boundaries: hard start and stop times.

๏ Calendly (scheduling)
๏ Fathom AI (Zoom plug-in)
๏ Toggle Timer
๏ Wave Accounting (Free)

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+
What’s Next…?
+ Save time with these done-for-you resources:

➡ StartUp Toolkit

➡ Architect + Entrepreneur Course

➡ Digital Drawing Assets

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made in maine.usa.