Time Boxing as an Everyday Tool

Have you ever tried putting time into a box?

One of my favorite tools in my Product Manager tool belt is called “time boxing.” It’s a bit self-explanatory, but time boxing involves pairing a focused activity with a pre-designated amount of time that has a clear and hard cutoff.

I frequently use this approach to work when planning with engineers in taking the first step to tackle a large feature. Sometimes a piece of the project is difficult to scope, and the level of effort cannot be perfectly defined without more research. Or there could be multiple approaches to solving a difficult problem, and the best path can’t be determined without further exploratory coding. Both of these instances are great examples of instances that I would deploy what is called a “Spike” which is essentially a time-boxed effort to achieve well defined outcomes (or not achieve them, if time runs out) centered around conducting research or running experiments.

There are some additional components to time boxing, which I get into later, but the most important is also the most obvious. Do NOT exceed the time box!

It’s so easy for teams to blow the scope of work that was initially well defined and planned, which ends up pushing back deadlines and creating monstrously large releases in the world of product.

I find that this happens in my personal life as well, and believe implementing some time boxes in life outside of work could be a major longterm time-saver for many of us.

Today I’ll talk about what time boxing is and how it’s used on product teams, and how we can apply the time boxing framework in our personal lives to boost productivity.

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How do you box time?

First, let’s get our mental visualization down for what we mean by “Time Boxing.”

We do not mean boxing time.

We do mean time boxing. Think the second image more than the first for our exercise today. We are not sparring with time, or fighting against it. We are embracing its limitations.

In order to avoid making a simple topic overly complex, let’s start with the generally applicable definition of “Time Boxing”

Setting a fixed period for completing a task or activity, after which the work stops regardless of its state.

In the world of Product Management, time boxing is used across a variety of processes. Teams set the duration of development periods (sprints) with respective clear goals and deliverables, down to time-boxing subjects in meetings to avoid the inevitable wandering into rabbit holes that can kill agendas.

Spikes, as I mentioned earlier, are also used in product and are one of my favorite tools. Spikes allow teams to explore a problem or solution in a limited time frame without committing full-scale resources.

Time boxing in product management has been a critical component in helping teams stay focused and manage work effectively since the inception of product methodologies. Here are some common scenarios where I will apply time boxing with my team:

• Helping define an un-scoped effort

• Determining the best approach when multiple paths are available

• Mitigating “time sucks / black holes / time pits”

  • Bugs that must be deprioritized. Technical debt that must be understood, but not necessarily immediately resolved.

More recently, time boxing has broken into the personal productivity space as a “new” tactic to drive focus by minimizing distractions. If you haven’t tried this methodology in your work or home life, I’d highly recommend it as a simple and effective practice to incorporate with other productivity strategies such as prioritization or habit stacking.

Time Boxing To-Go

These principles can easily carry-over into personal life and the execution is extremely simple.

Before diving into examples and structure, I’d like to callout a tiny difference between time boxing and time blocking.

Time boxing is a technique that allows you to focus entirely on a single task without distractions, then stop when the set time is up. This method improves efficiency and helps avoid perfectionism.

On the other hand, time blocking divides your day into scheduled segments dedicated to specific tasks, ensuring that all important activities are planned and organized. I view time blocking as a structured calendar-building method, while time boxing offers more flexibility and can be applied to various activities, from casually planning a vacation to rigorously rewriting a codebase.

For example, I like to use time blocking for planning when I will write my newsletter during the week (although this has gone a bit to shit, as I write this newsletter 30,000ft above the planet on two hours of sleep after a red-eye flight from Vancouver to DC).

I will sit down and write for a few hours from 3 - 5pm on Sunday, and from 7-8pm on Mon, Tues, Wed, Etc.

Time boxing comes in handy when I’m in more of an exploratory phase, and I may have 3-4 contenders for the week’s topic. In this case, I will box 30 minutes of time to explore each of these subjects, reading articles or watching videos from experts on the subject, and I will try to get a feel, or even an initial draft written on the subject, during that boxed-off time.

Here are some more examples of where I use time-boxing, typically in increments of 15 or 30 minutes:

• Follow-up on a newsletter idea and research the topic further.

• Comparing destination options for an upcoming vacation.

• Making a big online purchase between multiple vendors.

• Clearing out my email.

• Mitigating a “bad habit” - watching TV for only 45 minutes.

• Learning a new skill.

Time boxing can be great, especially for someone like me who gets distracted easily and can get pulled in multiple directions when trying to focus on a single project. Or, in the other case, I can get drawn so deeply into a subject that everything else fades away with no time restricting guardrails.

Grab a digital timer, pick an activity and try putting your time into a box.

The Bel