Time is one of our most important assets.

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And the best engineers use this to their advantage.

They understand that by being "choosey" with how they spend their time, they can accomplish more than other engineers who might be unfocused or sporadic in how they use their time.

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One tool I employ frequently to manage my time (and effort) is timeboxing.

Timeboxing is about switching how you work. Instead of having a goal and taking as much time as neccesary to complete that goal, you instead establish an amount of time to work and see how much can accomplish in that time.

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In this week's article, I want to share a few situations in which I've found timeboxing to be especially useful.

Team-Building Exercise

This week's team-building exercise is thinking about using timeboxing to improve and build your relationships within your team.
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It can feel daunting to build relationships across your organization or immediate team. It can feel unending and can easily take up all of your time and effort.

When can we apply timeboxing in this regard to help keep us from spending all of our time in 1:1's and in constant conversations that don't help us accomplish our team or business goals.

Here are two ways I use the idea of timeboxing to help build relationships
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1) I cap the number of 1:1s I have. I'll focus on the most important relationships given the business goals I have and politely decline the others. I also make sure to mix this up periodically as well.
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2) Whenever I have a chance to interact with someone outside of my team, I make sure to take a few moments to catch up with them personally, rather than only being goal-driven. The key is to not spend too much time or you'll get back to the rabbit-hole of spending too much time. But a simple "How are you doing?" at the start of a conversation or "Anything I can do to help you?" at the end of a conversation can go a long way.
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Building relationships is a complex topic to be sure. These are just two tactics I've used that have helped me.
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Give these a try! And if you do be sure to respond and let me know how it went!

Here are some more resources from me to help you build better teams!​

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