Managing time correctly is a vital skill for anyone. Despite this, many people struggle with it—especially at work. Fortunately, there are lots of strategies out there to overcome these struggles, including the one we’ll be covering in this guide: time mapping.

This complete guide to time mapping will cover everything you need to know about the strategy. We’ll explore not only how to do time mapping on your own but also how to implement it in your team. 

The Basics of Time Mapping 

Let’s start our deep dive with the basics of time mapping. As the name suggests, the technique involves mapping how you’re going to be using your time over a given period. This includes not only work time but also your personal time. This is a key part of the strategy and is the main difference between it and other similar techniques. We’ll discuss this more in-depth in a bit.

You can take advantage of time mapping to plan a day, week, or even a month ahead. Doing this will help you stay organized and know exactly what awaits you at any given time in the near future.

The benefits of time mapping 

The main benefit of time mapping is similar to that of other time management techniques. Through it, you’ll be able to organize your work and get more done in the same amount of time.

While these are excellent benefits for anyone, they can be particularly beneficial if you manage a team of professionals. Implement the strategy in your team, and you’ll help your staff perform their best. We’ll explore how you can take advantage of the technique in your business a bit later in this guide.

The principles and components of time mapping 

A typical time map has three main components:

• Task categories – Given that you can map personal time as well, you’ll need categories to ensure you can stay organized.
• A list of priorities – A time map is not a rigid schedule that you have to follow. Instead, it needs to be flexible to allow for deviations, including unexpected tasks.
• Time slots – These are where you will be writing down your tasks. Most commonly, time slots are hour-long periods. However, you could use longer or shorter ones depending on how much control you need over your schedules.

Essential Time Mapping Techniques 

To get the most from the strategy, there are a few time mapping best practices you should follow.

Dedicating time for focused work 

While mapping out your time, be sure to include sessions for deep work. Give yourself a bit of time away from distractions so you can dedicate all of your attention to a specific important task.

Tracking your time mapping efforts 

After you implement time mapping, either for yourself or in your team, you should start tracking how effective it is for your use case. To do this, you can take advantage of time tracking software, like WebWork. Such apps will help you compare what you planned for a specific time slot with what you ended up doing. If a task took longer than you expected, you can use this information to plan more accurately next time.

Experience How Time Tracking Helps with Time Mapping 

Are you looking for time mapping software to get the most from the strategy in your business? Book a demo of WebWork and experience why it’s the best time mapping tool for your staff.

Book a Demo | Start 14-Day Free Trial

The Difference Between Time Mapping and Time Blocking 

Time mapping and time blocking are two very similar strategies. However, they are not exactly the same. Their key difference lies in two areas: what you use them for and how you follow their time slots.

Time blocking is typically used only for work assignments. As mentioned above, you can map time outside of work as well, allowing you to plan essentially all of your waking hours ahead of time.

The other way time blocking differs from mapping is with its strictness. Typically, the slots of a time-blocked schedule don’t just signify when you should start working on a given task. They also set a limit to how long you can spend on each assignment. This lesser degree of flexibility means that time blocking is less suitable for tasks that you aren’t familiar with. Consequently, time blocking is also less than ideal for longer periods of planning.

How Time Mapping Improves Time Management in a Team 

While the benefits of time mapping are obvious for individuals, it’s an excellent strategy for a team-wide deployment. Encourage your staff to take advantage of the strategy, and you’ll be able to enjoy several benefits. Your employees will be able to:

• Stay organized and prioritize their tasks correctly
• Avoid decision fatigue more effectively
• Perform better through increases in productivity

Implement Time Mapping in Your Team Step-by-Step 

As already mentioned, implementing the strategy across your team can help your staff perform their best. Let’s now take a look at how you can do this in steps.

Help your staff identify and categorize their tasks 

First, help your staff identify what tasks they need to work on throughout their days. If you use a dedicated tool like WebWork’s Task Management feature, this step should be a breeze.

Have your team allocate time blocks for each assignment 

The second step is the main part of the strategy. The simplest way to start time mapping is in a spreadsheet or a template so your staff will need to simply fill in their tasks. 

Track their time mapping progress and adjust processes accordingly 

The final step to implementing any strategy is continuous progress reviews. Using a productivity monitoring tool like WebWork, you can ensure that time mapping is helping your team and not hurting them.