When you're short on time what are some things that help you save time on projects?

Hi Nicole,

Here are some things I did to create "work" time.

1.  Schedule time to get work done.  Make sure that everyone knows that you do not want to be interrupted during "work time."

2.  Avoid useless meetings.  Always ask why do I need to be there and ask if you can just send a small update report to the meeting.

3.  If you have a door on your office or work place, close it.  Most people will understand that you are busy or doing something important.  Those who won't take the hint, you can then "lock" the door.  At the very least, remind people to "knock" before entering.

4.  Work at home.  This one is tricky, some companies support it, others freakout.  At least suggest a place offsite where you and your team can work uninterrupted.

I found that these activities helped in most situations.  Either way, let people know that "you" need work time.

Just my opinion,

DAB

When time is in short supply I have, in several situations, used one or more of the techniques suggested by DAB, because they are effective.  Where resources permit, that is, when money is available,  I also bring more people on board, or contract work out.

Also, where appropriate, I use previously written code modules or hardware designs as building blocks to rapidly establish a known working foundation for a new design.

Mostly, I try to plan well so that time does not end up being in short supply.  This does not always work, but I'v elearned that not planning really magnifys the risk element in a project.

Mark A.

Keep it simple. Simpler systems have less latitude for mistakes to occur. They are easier to debug, and can be easier to evolve into more complex systems in the future.

I find the best work gets done when you are low on time and resources. The two Mars rovers (6 months to design and build, designed life 90 days, one is still running at nearly 3000 days) and ARM processor (no money, 2 people, now worth billions) are prime examples of this.

Make sure people know you are in a rush. Otherwise they will pester you with "Oh can you just do this? It won't take 5 minutes". Those 5 minutes add up and often become hours, plus the time you need to "get back into" your project.

Do it NOW. Forward planning is great if you have the luxury, but it can also give the illusion that you have more time than you really do. I'm terrible for putting things off, so I get it done and out of the way. Use the extra time for another iteration loop if need be.

Forget formal planning methodologies. Sure, elicit the core requirements, but filter out the ones that really can wait. Quite often this means building in an inherent flexibility into the architecture which pays dividends later. The Mars rovers FPGAs weren't programmed when the rocket lifted off - the software and firmware was nowhere near ready. As a result they ended up with a system that was resilient against faults, and which has been remotely upgraded several times.

Know your resources. What do you have that can give you a step up? Chunks of software? Dev boards and modules? Prototypes that you made for something years ago which can be adapted and hacked. Having a huge amount of "stuff" acquired over the years really helps, whether it is a stack of passives, or general purpose semiconductors, plus various converters, op-amps, embedded micros etc. Making your own PCBs has become unpopular in recent years, unsurprising given part density, multi-layer boards and so on. But having the ability to produce relatively simple PCBs (e.g. break-out boards) on site can save a couple of days. Knowing someone with these skills (or for that matter other technical skills which you can call on) is worth its weight in gold.

I totally agree with the work at home comment. This isn't always possible, but if you can work somewhere where you are undisturbed my managers, meetings, phone calls and other peoples' demands on your time, then you can work twice as fast.

Oh yeah, and living 30 minutes away from Farnell's head office and trade counter really helps!

I have 1000`s of different time saving "tricks" I employ (other than stripping wire with my teeth), that I use regularly.

one of the most Important is to Always put your tools back where you had them from! it may sound like this takes time to do, but offset this against the time it would take to find X,Y or Z when you used it last in a hurry and forgot where you put it down, I`v lost whole afternoons doing this before.

Always stay in Stock, having to order a part and waiting for it to arrive is a huge bottleneck. rem; it`s better to have and not need, than to need and not have!

when selecting the parts for your job, carry a little box with your list, and put the parts into it to take back to your bench, saves lots of time getting up and down later.

Use Kynar type wire if you do point-to-point wiring, using regular wire that you have to strip, twist and tin for each connection uses Loads of time up when faced with several 100 connections that need to be made, Kynar can be cut and soldered directly.

have some Vero Board precut to match your Breadboard, pin the vero to your bread board in 4 corners and build/test your design, put a sponge on the top of the board, and carefully lift it off the bread board, turn it over and bend the leads out a little and solder it up, you`ll have a working circuit right away, even though it may not look pretty. for IC`s you need to mimic on board seperately, but it`s still faster!

when you`re Really pushed, throw a MCU at it, I keep several types in stock, from little 8 pin chips up to 40 pin monsters and loads in between, a typical example was a friend of mine that needed a cct that made a light come on for 3 seconds when it had power, and then go off and stay off, he was messing aaround for Days with 555 times and transistors and CR time constants etc... and produced nothing, he was in a rush too as he was selling his car, I threw an ATtiny 85 at it and had a working device in less than a minute.

If your workspace allows, get yourself a swivel chair, and arrange All of your most commonly used tools equipment and parts around you in near 360 degrees allowing enough room to get in/out your chair, when I`m working I look like some sort of crazy pick-n-place robot, and I hardly even have to take my eyes of the work to grab what I need next, it`s very efficient.

but the best of all, is to Never allow yourself to get into a position where Time is the issue, I used to have Time related jobs all the while, I hated it! so I decided that in order to carry on doing what I love and enjoy, I had to put my foot down and decline all jobs that had time constraints, and chose to see it as a fault of the Customers that they allowed themselves to get into such a position where they were in a rush, rather than a reflection on Me because I had to put My Name to a rush job, so I turn them down now, and I have Just as much work as I ever did, and still enjoy electronics

That`s about all I have time for today, must dash!

I agree with a lot of the things said, but I forgot to add one thing, NO CHANGES ARE FREE!

Last minute changes have killed more projects than I can count.  When you set up your project have a cut off time for changes and insist that any changes adopted come with extra cost and extra time.

I used to have some customers who just loved to come in at the last minute and insist on a few "small" changes that always resulted in me and/or my team working long hours in the night to be ready for the acceptance test.  After the second such interruption, I posted a sign with the above message on it and made sure the customer always saw it during our meetings.  It at least slowed them down a bit and gave me the opportunity to negotiate a feature trade, but I still insisted on time releif or no deal.

It didn't always work, but I at least had my say in telling the boss that he was adding risk for no additional reward.  Money he understood.

DAB

I'm just a hobbyist but I would definitely say it is best to be organized. Mind you my shop is generally in a state of disarray, but I find that when i have cleaned up my work area and  gathered my parts, plans, and tools; i work far mor efficiently. I also like to have music playing; I don't no if this just psychaloglicy make the work go quicker of it it just helps drown out any other distractions.

Bruce

It occurred to me today that the FTDI USB-to-serial chips have saved me a huge amount of time over the years. Sure, in the final solution they are more expensive than a micro and custom USB stack, but for runs of <1000 then they are cost-effective. The fact that they are available with a tiny 0.1" header dev board is invaluable.

Upon further reflection, I'd like to add that developing good documentation habits can be a useful time saver.  Take notes of measurements, test equipment set ups, annotate schematics, comment code blocks by function and on individual lines whose purpose is not self evident, take photographs or videos of important configurations, or fault conditions.  Documentation extends to placing meaningful labels on cables (at both ends), careful routing of wire bundles and disciplined file organization on a computer or in a file cabinet.

There have been times when I solved a problem, then some time later encountered the same or similar problem and all I remembered was that I had somehow fixed it in the past.  Once I started taking extensive lab notes, with empahsis on the "ah-ha!" events, I found my productivity went up because I could flip through a written or photographic record rather than rely on firing a twisted knot of neurons somewhere deep in my brain to recall the solution.

Mark A.

I completely agree.

I should have added this one to my list.  There is no substitute for having a well laid out test plan and fully functioning test program with complete documentation so that you can work throught the issues and resolve major problems at the earliest possible time.

I must be getting old, I keep forgetting these important details.

DAB

All good info and I think I've used most of these mentioned as well.

One more that I have not seen mentioned yet - when a test fails one must accept that "Human Error" is most likely the cause. Far too often I have seen arrogance stand in the way and people waste time replacing parts, software, or anything but checking their own work (and I'm guilty of it as well). So remember after replacing that Zener for the 3rd time, you probably forgot the current limiting resistor

I also want to echo DAB on "No changes are free". That one is HUGE. I've seen companies collapse because of this.

And YT2095

but the best of all, is to Never allow yourself to get into a position where Time is the issue

I do understand that there must be deadlines, but within reason. I have worked weekends, lost time with family, and even holidays to push a project through to meet the demands of the customer. Then I would call a week or two later to see how the project worked out and if it meet their expectations only to hear them tell me "We haven't had a chance to try it yet".

I've come to despise the "Gotta have it now" attitude. So If the customer is too demanding I turn them away - and I have plenty of work.