17 Time Management Tips for Market Researchers

Transcription

1 17 Time Management Tips for Market Researchers Real-world Lessons for Market Research Success By Kathryn Korostoff, President & Lead Instructor at Research Rockstar LLC

2 Contents Welcome... 2 How most researchers spend their time... 3 How they wish they could spend their time Use To-do Lists Set Realistic Goals Each Day... 6 Prioritization Questions Try a New Tool Know Your Daily Rhythm Keep a When Time Permits Folder Deal with Work Backwards Plan Ahead to Mitigate Risk Factors Embrace Dictation Set Reminders Set Deadlines Avoid Insanity Job Priorities Exercise: Replace Yourself Ask for Help Set Important Meetings Early in the Day Avoid Analysis Paralysis Have a Theme of the Day Hire an Intern Thanks for reading!

3 Welcome A recurring challenge I hear from Research Rockstar students is that of time management. Too often, deadlines converge, fires erupt, or clients need it yesterday. So based on my 25 years of market research reality, I have put together 17 time management tips. I hope you find them useful! Kathryn Kathryn Korostoff President & Lead Instructor Research Rockstar LLC 2

4 How most researchers spend their time Documenting 10% Boring meetings 25% Data entry 10% Managing client expectations 15% Explaining schedule slips 20% Troubleshooting 20% 3

5 How they wish they could spend their time Attending training & conferences 15% Helping clients apply research 15% Testing new tools & methods 20% Crafting powerful key findings 30% Designing cool projects 20% Okay, maybe that was a little facetious. But you get the point. 4

6 1. Use To-do Lists A written task list has 4 benefits: 1. Minimizes the risk of forgetting something important 2. Provides a senses of accomplishment when items are checked off 3. Reduces stress since you now have one place to look 4. Eases the task of prioritizing I use a special notebook that has numbered rows. I update the list every 3 or 4 days. I also have a code to indicate when I have started an item, when it is half done, and when it is completed. On especially busy days, I will color highlight tasks that must be done that day. I prefer a physical notebook versus online, but that s just me! 5

7 2. Set Realistic Goals Each Day Save an hour a day for ad hoc, time-sensitive tasks Make careful, conscious prioritization decisions at the beginning of each day Is that hard? See prioritization questions Prioritization Questions As you look at your overall to-do list, ask yourself the following questions. The answers will help you to logically prioritize items. What items need to be done so that others can do their work? (Doing these items prevents you from being a bottleneck) What items are risky? (Doing these items sooner will give you breathing room for troubleshooting if there are problems) What items require collaborating or communicating with others to be done properly? (Doing these items earlier in the day is usually a good choice, so that you have time to coordinate with other peoples schedules) 6

8 3. Try a New Tool If you haven t looked at new project, task or time management tools in a few years, it s time to look again Lots of new tools are available, many with free starter plans Asana Do.com RescueTime Smartsheet Trello + Many more! Using a new tool doesn't mean marrying it for life. I have sometimes used a tool temporarily to get through a particularly overbooked month, to help transition team members, or to manage other workload fluctuations 7

9 4. Know Your Daily Rhythm When do you do your best thinking? Best detail work? Make an appointment in your calendar to block off those times Some people do their best analysis in the morning. Tasks like writing a Management Summary, an article, or something else that requires deep reflection When it comes to doing cognitive work, for example, most adults perform best in the late morning, according to research by University of Southern California as quoted in the WSJ Personally, I prefer meetings before 2 PM whenever possible. I am susceptible to the 2 PM slump, which makes afternoon meetings less effective for me. 8

10 5. Keep a When Time Permits Folder A catch all folder ensures that you capture the less urgent items that can still be important The folder becomes a simple, handy tool during commutes or while waiting for meetings Contents for a WTP folder: Articles to read Products to check out Blogs and podcasts to catch up on My WTP folder is filled with sticky notes and scraps of paper where I have quickly jotted down products, people or book titles I want to look-up when I have more time 9

11 6. Deal with If you can set specific blocks of time each day for , great! For many market researchers, especially those managing projects, this is unrealistic. We need to receive and send time-sensitive information. BUT we can still prioritize. Here s one method: Step 1: Quickly scan new incoming messages Step 2: Respond quickly to those that NEED responding to right away. Step 3: Any that can wait, color code or toggle a flag. That way you can sort your inbox at the end of the day by flag status, and catch up. Step 4: Any that were never coded can be scanned and deleted at another time, or can be moved in bulk to a folder titled TPO TPO = Time Permitting Only Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important. Stephen R. Covey 10

12 7. Work Backwards In a time crunch to get that next report done? Try working backwards Planning project subtasks and interim milestone dates backwards can often force us to be more efficient Start with an end date, and work backwards to fill out your project schedule Tip: Know your end deliverable (be specific about success criteria), and create a series of steps working backwards to the start 11

13 8. Plan Ahead to Mitigate Risk Factors All market research projects have them. No exceptions. And most are known. At the start of every project, document your risk factors What are the top 3 risk factors for this project? How can we mitigate them? Risk factor example: unknown quality of list to be used for recruiting Indepth Interview (IDI) participants Possible mitigation steps: Build in time for a soft launch, identify a fallback list, document risk factors for client (advising of specific benchmarks that need to be met) I can avoid schedule slips by mitigating risk factors. And clients appreciate the proactive approach. 12

14 9. Embrace Dictation Voice memos, voice recorders, or dictation apps make it easy to dictate notes and ideas When working on longer written pieces (management summaries, articles), add on transcription and you get a first draft Dictation allows you to use your time efficiently, and also helps pass the time when doing boring tasks (like sitting in traffic!) I use SpeakWrite. I dictate in the car, when walking the dog, even on the treadmill. Sometimes just the process of talking out loud helps me to clarify my thinking about complex topics. 13

15 10. Set Reminders Set up meetings with yourself for important tasks. That way you can have both a visual and an alarm reminder. Use recurring meetings for those tasks that need to be done regularly. 11. Set Deadlines Parkinson's law observes that, "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. As Market Researchers, we often manage our time better if we have several interim deadlines leading to a project deliverable date. Without deadlines, many market research tasks can expand needlessly Another famous adage related to this, attributed to Daniel Kahneman, is the planning fallacy ; a tendency to underestimate how long we need to complete a task, even when we have experience with the type of task in question. 14

16 12. Avoid Insanity Recall the tragically over-used, but decidedly applicable, quote: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. When pinched for time, our tendency is to do things the way we always do them, because its seems less risky. But sometimes, change is good. Do you always proofread your own reports? Have someone else do it. You may get better results and you can use the time to QA your data or do another task. Do you always recycle the same question formats and scales? Maybe its time to refresh on scale options. You may find yourself reenergized to the point where your analysis actually goes faster because your data is more interesting! Need help thinking about how to change your work habits? Try the following exercise. 15

17 Job Priorities Exercise: Replace Yourself Step 1: Imagine you have just been promoted! But first, you have to hire someone to replace yourself. Your task is to write a job posting. How would you define your job? Your key responsibilities? Write down this job description Specify the top 5 responsibilities Note: Step 1 should take you at least 15 minutes. Be sure to think carefully and precisely about your top 5! Step 2: Now look back at your last week: how much of your time was spent on those five items? What percent was spent on other items? What are you spending time on that really is not a good use of your time and brain power? Do you really have to do those things? Many people realize that they are spending as much as 50% of their time on things they wouldn't want their replacement wasting time on! 16

18 13. Ask for Help There is no shame in asking for help Possible sources of help: Colleagues: having colleagues do a mock pre-test of a survey design, or having them sanity check a report, can be a quick task for them that will give you some relief Outsourcing: Low-cost sites like Fiverr can be a great way to get help with simple tasks Professional Association members: Member of CASRO, ESOMAR, the MRA, or QRCA? Associations like these all have online forums (some on LinkedIn) where you can ask qualified peers for advice I have found low-cost proofreaders and graphic designers on Fiverr and Guru.com 17

19 14. Set Important Meetings Early in the Day A morning meeting FORCES you to be ready the day before Reducing the temptation to complete preparation the same day which is a recipe for disaster 15. Avoid Analysis Paralysis Market researchers often have piles of data to work with, and it can be hard to judge when the analysis is done 18

20 Analysis can be a never-ending activity. How do you know if you are done? Focus on the project s documented objectives. If you are spending more than X hours (your call as to what X is for you) on analysis that is not directly related to your primary objectives, stop You can always do more later when the client isn't waiting impatiently for your report 16. Have a Theme of the Day The theme is a recurring focus that may take as little as 5 minutes or as much as an hour per event, but is something you need to do consistently. Here are my themes: Salesforce Monday (review and catch up on CRM reports) Twitter Tuesday (write tweets for the week, schedule for time release) Class Prep Wednesday (prep materials for upcoming classes, refresh content as needed) Social Media Thursday (write posts or comment on articles, LinkedIn discussions, etc.) Favor Friday (send thank-you notes/gifts, make calls to new clients, send discount or free sample codes to new contacts) By having recurring tasks scheduled, I don't stress about if and when I will do them. 19

21 17. Hire an Intern A sharp, motivated intern can easily be trained to help with many market research tasks: Coding of open-ended survey responses Selection of verbatim quotes from focus group and IDI transcripts Data checking Incentive management Basic charts & graphs Writing articles and memos based on your transcribed dictation (see #9!) I have found many excellent interns at local colleges and via Internships.com 20

22 In the world of market research, time management = stress management Knowing all about methodologies and tools is great; but add in solid time management skills, and the market researcher s success potential soars. 21

23 Thanks for reading! Please send any comments or questions to Find out why over 1,000 busy professionals have taken Research Rockstar classes. Visit Training.ResearchRockstar.com today! 22