The IT Industry is particularly demanding in terms of flexibility and the amount of time that need to get done fairly quickly. Deadlines are a constant part of the work process, and while they can easily be a cause of stress, they don’t have to be.

When development is considered from all its’ viewpoints it is perfectly understandable. Along with the software development aspect to create and push a product, there is the fact that it is a business that needs to be managed properly so it is not only self-sustainable but also grows over time.

From my experience working in a java development company, managing your time is perhaps the most important skill. By utilizing excellent time management, you can stand to gain a lot in terms of how much you can get done while maintaining high marketable quality of work. Below are a few tips on how you can make the most of your task organization for the sake of building great working habits.

Keep a to-do list

Old but gold. We have likely all tried to use to-do lists as a way to push ourselves to do more in our day. And just that is probably the reason why using this method has a bad reputation as unproductive or stressful.

To-do lists are not meant to be overpacked with as much as you can cram in them.

The idea is to visualize and order all the small or big tasks you have to get done.
There are many ways for list keeping, so you have a lot to choose from when choosing to apply what you believe is best for your work and your habits.

To-do, Doing, Done

This is a method that became more popular with the uprising of Kanban methodology and is applied in many companies as an organizational tool to one degree or another.

The pillar of this method is to have the overlook of all you need to do but focus on one assignment at a time until it is ready to move on to the Done pile.

You can write this down in a journal, you can use digital note-keeping or any software that supports this type of visual organization boards, such as Trello.

Besides, those are the most basic categories, when it comes to dividing your tasks into sections - you can add on to them, or change the categories purpose and naming to fit your work. Just keep in mind to maintain the original purpose of the method.

The Five and One Method

This is a method that is intended to keep the focus on a shortlist of important items without neglecting the secondary tasks. The structure of the list is the following:

• Important task name
• Important task name
• Important task name
• Important task name
• Important task name

Below that is one box that contains all Secondary Tasks (ST).

ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4 and so on ...

This allows you to see at a glance what is important and tackle it first, moving on to the rest only after you are done!

Prioritization

We already touched on this principle of task organization. However, you do not need to keep lists to divide your assignments by priority.

We all have different assignments to cover and more often than not some are either more important or more difficult than others. Starting with the difficult assignments first is the best way to be sure you will be able to finish it on time and take care of the secondary tasks as well.

So, tackle the most dreadful task you have first-thing when you get to work.

Anything else you need to do will be a piece of cake in comparison.

Scheduling

One of the best things about working in the digital era is that it is so easy to manage your schedule. With apps like Google Calendar, you have available schedule throughout the entire day. It is accessible on any device and you can also receive notifications and reminders so it is practically impossible to forget something once it is on the calendar.

Once you have dedicated what assignments you need to complete - either for the day, the week, the month - input each assignment in your calendar.

Make sure to always leave enough time to get it done realistically, plus a little bit extra. By doing this you rapidly reduce the chance of ending up overpacking your to-do list with too many assignments you cannot finish. Also, even if you do finish your tasks early, you can simply pull up the next one, or take a break if you need one.

Do this, and no task will end up underestimated or forgotten!

Being More Mindful of Your Precious Time

The examples listed above are only some of the practices you can apply to make sure you are productive and finishing what you need to get done. You can change them or mix them up, or straight up discard them and find your own methods to manage your tasks.

However, you should make it a priority to find something that works for you and helps you distribute your workload in a way that is productive but does not wear you out.

Time is a precious resource for a developer - so make the dedication to value it and make the most of what you have.