Time Management in Retail: Optimizing Operations and Customer Service
The retail industry seems to have it all figured out. The economy is steadily growing, the working environment is buzzing with possibilities, and the company culture makes most other industries look overworked and squalid. But despite this success, retailers continue to struggle with time management issues that directly impact customer satisfaction.
In this post I intend to take a closer look at time management in retail. I will address key areas of focus that need improvement along with specific methods for improving efficiency and customer service output in a retailer's operational design. Writing in an engaging manner, I will provide information on 4 key tactics: scheduling your work; capturing your information; tracking hours spent per task; setting up reminders. In an industry that generates over $600 billion in revenue per year, these tactics can make a difference of $600 million dollars.
Scheduling Your Work
There are two main frameworks for scheduling work; the first is to work on a task until completion and then move onto something else, the second is to plan out your day based on what tasks need to be accomplished. The former works well for tasks that only require a handful of hours but does not translate well into tasks with longer schedules, whereas the latter is better suited for longer term projects yet requires a great deal of pre-planning. Additionally, the former implies that tasks can be completed in any order, while the latter requires that tasks be completed in a specific order.
The first framework is best for small tasks with only a few hours of work. In this framework, I will schedule my work into a week and complete it Monday-Sunday. A typical week for me would start off with a bout of site research followed by meetings with team members and then take a few days to put together the key elements of what is about to go into production. I will then stop working on those items until they are ready to move forward with testing (during which time I will set up any necessary QA). Once testing is complete I will go back to working on those items until they are ready for public consumption.
The latter is better for longer term projects that require more than a handful of hours. In this framework, I would want to plan out my week based on the tasks at hand with regard to the importance and urgency of said tasks. For example, if I had two similar tasks that needed about equal amounts of work completed on them, I would put them into my schedule in an alternating fashion: Day 1 – task 1; Day 2 – task 2; Day 3 – task 1; Day 4 – task 2; etc. Since this requires knowing what your schedule looks like a week or two in advance it requires some amount of planning ahead.
Planning out your week also helps you manage the flow of tasks as you complete them, this in turn reduces the amount of time spent on each task. Over time, this practice can help a large number of small tasks become a much more efficient process. Personally I find planning out my week to be very helpful in reducing some of the frustration associated with a hectic work environment as well as being a better way to maintain focus on finishing tasks that have been assigned to me.
Whether or not you choose to plan your work out in advance, take advantage of tools that will help you manage these tasks during the course of carrying them out. Personal productivity tools and time management software can be an immense help for tracking time spent on various projects and tasks. Personally I prefer to use Kanbanflow as my main tool for scheduling tasks, planning out my day, and keeping track of tasks.
Kanbanflow is based on the Theory of Constraints which states that for a problem to be resolved the most important issues must be addressed first. To do this effectively Kanbanflow requires me to focus on a single task at a time while making sure that I am not falling behind on the important tasks that are requiring more of my attention. Since Kanbanflow is a time-based tool, the only way to know that I am not falling behind on work is when I see an empty list. Since keeping track of tasks and managing them in a timely manner is essential to Kanbanflow, it becomes a tool for me to use in order to plan my tasks out for the week as well as manage how I spend my time.
Capturing Your Information
The two main ways of keeping track of information in your head are through using a written work log or by using a personal productivity tool.
Personal productivity tools such as Evernote are great ways to capture information. Although there are many different versions of Evernote, each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Kanbanflow, on the other hand, is a time-based tool so it inherently does not allow for the recording of information. The only way to do this with a time-based tool would be to check in at your desk every few minutes or come up with some other method where you can track how much time you spend on each task. This is also a special case since Kanbanflow is more concerned with tasks rather than individual actions like checking in or taking breaks.
Regardless of the method of tracking your information, it is important to constantly be aware of what you have logged. This goes back to the point I discussed earlier in this post emphasizing the importance of managing your work and not falling behind on tasks. With respect to time management this means making sure that you are checking in with yourself at different points throughout the day so that you can make sure that you are not falling behind on tasks. This way as you complete tasks you can pick up where you left off later on and avoid having any items fail in their progress due to not being tracked.
Each of these tools provide benefits and drawbacks for different types of projects. Having a variety of tools to choose from allows you to pick the best tool for each type of task and then gives you more flexibility with how you can manage your information. For me personally, I have found that using Evernote to keep track of my ideas in order to move towards a final product works very well along with using Kanbanflow as a time-based method for managing work and keeping track of tasks.
Maintaining Focus on What Matters Most
In order to be able to create your own schedule it is important to find a way in which you can maintain focus. In my experience, maintaining focus can be difficult as you have to make sure that you are not distracted by unimportant matters that surround you.
By using the techniques I outline above, I have managed to keep my focus over the past few years and have been able to avoid a lot of the distractions that surround you when working in a typical office setting. Being able to maintain focus is one thing, but being able to do it well over a period of time is almost an art form.
There are many different ways that you can gain an advantage over your peers and ultimately increase your productivity.
Conclusion
Whether or not you believe that your brain is capable of being better used than it is, I hope you are able to take away from this post some sense of what it would take in order for your brain to be more productive. Since we only have one body, the best way to achieve this level of productivity is by making a decision and taking action.
I have outlined several tips over the course of this post that you can implement in order for yourself to gain an edge over everyone around you.