What is the best way to help people estimate their required effort on tasks accurately so the rest of the team can make realistic and accurate plans?

The Pomodoro method has changed my life! Whenever I'm writing or working out a creative problem, it really helps me focus on just one thing at a time. It's a simple timer that breaks down your day into 25-minute chunks (with 5-minute breaks). I use the Tomato One app on Mac OS, but there are countless others. Check it out and let me know what you think. I'd be happy to walk you through it or give some more tips if you need them. Thanks!

It depends on your charter or mission as well as your long term vs. Short term objectives. If your mission involves a larger more expansive view - then you will need to spend a lot more time on unique problem solving that has a strong potential ROI feeding the fulfillment of the mission. It kind of boils down to ROI (return on investment) vs. risk for me: I look at the ROI and risk (opportunity cost) for almost everything that I choose to do - this helps me compare various choices for what to focus on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Having clear objectives for the month, week and year also help in selecting what percentage of time as per your question. If the solution of this problem feeds the fulfillment of your objectives vs. the solution of this problem prevents a risky situation: that may be the question to answer. I hope this helps. Feel free to interact so that I can delve into the complexities and nuances that are inevitably there.

There's a bit of myth regarding time management in my view. That said, I think there are two perspectives to the answer - depending on your perspective in asking the question. If you're asking because you seem to be running out of steam before you get the work you need done in a week, I'd suggest your issue is not time management but either energy management or focus. I've done a few blog/podcasts on this subject from that angle: http://wisenapkin.com/2014/01/10/four-step-focus-man-dave-lakhani/‎ http://wisenapkin.com/2014/02/25/profit-favors-action-dave-lakhani-president-bold-approach-inc/ http://wisenapkin.com/2013/12/19/time-management-is-a-myth-michael-walsh/ On the other hand, if you feel like you work all day and are failing to get ahead on the key and important parts of your day, I'd suggest you have an issue with establishing priorities: http://wisenapkin.com/2014/03/25/live-the-picture-jack-daly-speaker-trainer-coach-author/ http://wisenapkin.com/2014/02/18/defend-your-yes-jay-papasan-author-publisher-and-entrepreneur/ Make it a great day!

Keep your head down and work on your own project. Stop being a spectator to what other people are up to. Ignore all the noise. Start unsubscribing from mailing lists. Delete your memberships at social media platforms, or at least stop logging in. Stop paying attention to Twitter feeds. Treat them like TV channels. Watching TV and following tweets is not entrepreneurship! Want to read? Read a book. Divide your email into critical and non-critical inboxes. Make yourself a rule not to check the optional inbox except on Friday evenings between 4 and 9 p.m. With any luck, you'll be enjoying life too much to bother. Friday nights are a good laboratory for testing those priorities. Force your inbox and twitter feeds to compete for attention with your significant other, and see who wins! Soon you'll recognize how unimportant that stuff is. Information overload is an excuse addicts make for their addiction. It's akin to compulsive rubbish hoarding or an all-day TV binge. Endlessly following the latest startups is no different from endlessly following celebrity gossip. Just because the people you read about are accomplishing things does not mean you are. If you have any ambition, then you can create something while ignoring what other people are doing and saying. A novelist or an inventor will keep busy on their own work to an almost hermit-like extent. If 100 people started throwing 100 objects toward you simultaneously in a hopelessly mismatched game of dodge ball, why would you be under any obligation to catch them all? Stop paying attention. Stop following. Lead! Do something!

The Pomodoro method really is great, but it isn't the end all be all when it comes to time management. One of the important aspects of the Pomodoro method is that there is a clear start and stop time of your task. Another way that I like to use this methodology is with an app called brain.fm. It allows you to play brain wave music to help stimulate your productivity. That alone is good enough, but it also gives you a timer. Just focus on your task until the timer ends and the music stops. 30 minutes or an hour goes by in a flash when you're hyper-focused on a task. Give it a try and let me know what you think!