Human Performance – Task Management

Task management is the process of identifying, monitoring and progressing work or series of tasks. It’s a way of describing how you identify, monitor and progress the work that you need to do. Put more simply:

• IDENTIFY
• PRIORITISE
• ACTION/DELEGATE

Task management during a flight broadly consists of 3 items:

• Flight Path
• Systems
• Communications

• Identifying what tasks need to be completed:
  • Managing communications – Talking to the flight team, NOTAMS and ATC
  • Managing systems – Batteries, Props, Aircraft assembly
  • Managing the flight – Appropriate pre-flight briefings, Operating with and around other RPAS, Crew remaining hydrated and protected from the weather.
• Prioritising when to complete them:
  • Based on Risk or perceived level of risk; and
  • Time available or perceived time available.
• Action / Delegate the completion of each task (including to yourself!)

The whole process is covered under Task Management.

Consider the following tasks that you might take over a weekend:

• Work Friday night at your casual job
• Saturday night party
• English 1500-word essay (Monday 25%)
• Math homework.
• Business assignment draft (Monday (25%)
• Gaming online session 2pm Saturday
• Certificate III in Aviation End of Unit Exam
• Walk the dog

A task should be something that is a self-contained work item that can be attempted and completed. Tasks do not necessarily be a specific work item or a type of manual labour, but can instead be something abstract.

Important tasks are not always seen as urgent

But they should be given priority ahead of urgent,
but less important tasks!

The Z-Matrix is not here to be taught as a new or another “thing” people have to know. It is merely given as a tool or strategy to prioritise tasks or at least develop your own method.

The idea behind the Z-Matrix is to assign both a risk and time weighting to each task that must be accomplished. Thus a a high risk (IMPORTANT) item that is time critical (URGENT) will be completed prior to a low risk (NOT AS IMPORTANT) task that is not time critical.
In this way, we establish a sequential series of tasks that have a priority order in both time and risk.

Obviously top left is #1. But ASK: where next? Which box is #2? Then CLICK to answer.

Refer to following for some further information: Steven Covey – Time Management Matrix

Explaining the Time Management Matrix diagram:

• In Quadrant 1 (top left) we have important, urgent items – items that need to be dealt with immediately.
• In Quadrant 2 (top right) we have important, but not urgent items – items that are important but do not require your immediate attention, and need to be planned for.  This quadrant is highlighted because Covey emphasises this is the quadrant that we should focus on for long term achievement of goals 
• In Quadrant 3 (bottom left) we have urgent, but unimportant items –  items which should be minimised or eliminated. These are the time sucks, the “poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part” variety of tasks.
• In Quadrant 4 (bottom right) we have unimportant and also not urgent items – items that don’t have to be done anytime soon, perhaps add little to no value and also should be minimised or eliminated.  These are often trivial time wasters.

Try prioritising the your own task list using this matrix.

Consider the following if questions when choosing how to delegate tasks:

• Which of these tasks can be Discarded?
• Which of these tasks can be done by someone else?
• Which of these tasks must be done by you?