Jim Donald, who runs Starbucks does time management:
Every month Janet catalogs my schedule and gives me a pie chart. My ideal is 40 to 45 percent travel, 20 to 25 percent time with staff, about 8 percent walking around and sticking my head into meetings, 8 percent talking with other CEOs and business partners. I started doing this pie chart because my direct reports said to me, “Hey, where the hell are you?” I wanted to prove to them that I’m here.
And what he does with all that well-managed time:
- I’m fanatical about communicating. We have to operate like a store. Nobody likes to wait in line. My Treo is a godsend. I get 200 to 250 e-mails a day, and I respond to 75 percent of them. I’m brief, but that’s better than not responding.
- I have gotten smarter about meetings. I now book hour long meetings and insist we do them in 45 minutes. That leaves me 15 minutes to download ideas and check messages.
- Store visits are my favorite thing. When I’m in Seattle, I visit about 20 stores a week. When I’m traveling, I visit about ten a day.