"Time Management: Walk the Talk, QA Professionals!"

Challenge: Quality Assurance (QA) professionals risk their reputations when they fail to employ quality principles in time management.

Tip:  Walk the talk!

QA professionals are notorious for running out of time when daily tasks chew up their clocks. I know because it happens to me.  As quality managers, we commend ourselves for being superb project managers, but for most of us, nothing could be further from the truth.

We need to employ risk management principles while managing our projects. As we begin our week, and even as we start our day, we need to evaluate our need to hurriedly check off tasks against the importance of doing a quality job. We think that communication at our fingertips — cell phones, email, texting — improves our time efficiency. Does it improve our communication efficiency? Sometimes, technology allows you to hurry now and repent at leisure! A simple phone call might take more time, but it can also clarify your message and improve relationships with your peers and employers.