As Cameron Moll noted – as nimble and flexible as small teams (or one-man-shows) are, there are things they lack in comparison to larger teams. While teams may have plenty of red-tape to cut through, they are afforded the resources to make up significant progress that might be lost because of.
Teams cannot produce more time but they can create more opportunity for time by dividing and conquering or being able to throw more resources at a project. Individuals and small teams will more than likely come to a conclusion at some point that things do — and will — take time and that time is often the valuable piece needed to make the product better.
Five years in, I am slightly better about managing my time and schedule but there is room for improvement. My estimating time for projects could definitely use some help. I often run my estimates short of where they should be when developing for clients and it’s usually because of one of two factors: either I firmly believe that I can do something in that amount of time, or I feel like I need to underestimate a project just to land the client. Neither of which are acceptable solutions. (more…)
Fellow web-creator, Chris Bowler, has put himself to the task over the next couple of weeks to see if he can change his sleeping habits down to 5 hours an in the process gain valuable extra time in the process.
The experiment: I’m going to take two weeks and see how I operate on 5 hours of sleep per night.
That probably sounds a little crazy, but there are a few caveats. 1) This will only be for nights before a weekday, Sunday to Thursday. Friday and Saturday I will sleep as long as possible. 2) I already happily exist on 6.5 hours per night (again, weekday nights) so it’s not a huge change for me.
While Chris has me doubled in young kids under one roof, I can relate to the fact that there never seems to be enough day available. I too exist on about 6-6.5 hours on a regular basis but I’m not sure I can say that because of, I operate at an optimal level.
Most of us grew up hearing that 8 hours was the perfect amount of sleep an adult needed but as I researched a bit more yesterday, it seems like anywhere between 7 & 9 is best. Most of the things that I found mentioned that under 7 is manageable but your health becomes more at risk the less (and more) you get. The potential of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and depression are all shown to rise as well as a shortened estimated life span.
I’d love to add an extra hour or two to my day but at this point think I’m better off refining other areas or becoming a little better at delegation of tasks in order to achieve.
Chris, wishing you the best of luck with the experiment, be careful to monitor the other aspects of your life as you go through the process to make sure they’re not affected too greatly.
References:
1. National Sleep Foundation – How Much Sleep Do We Really Need?
2. Time.com – How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
3. Boston.com – Resolutions to sleep on
4. MedicineNet.com – 6 to 8 Hours of Shut-Eye Is Optimal for Health