Some of the reasons people use time management can be counter productive to achieving sustainable change that delivers consistent results.Part of the problem is that the phrase can be misleading. Here’s why:Time doesn’t need managing. It’s YOU that needs managing!The problem is that you are diverting attention from resolving underlying problems permanently that would create lasting solutions that would then no longer require managing.The problem with time management strategies is that they are often used inappropriately – and that is what concerns me. What we are often doing is using time management to manage ineffective behaviour patterns and bad habits instead of using them for improving productiveness and effectiveness. An important distinction.So instead, I chose to focus on, what I call, self management.Focussing on self management is about finding lasting changes to ineffective behaviour patterns and bad habits. Whereas time management often is about managing these problems. Self management deals with real change that delivers tangible results. Hence my preference for focussing on self management, not time management. You are going to dramatically increase your effectiveness if your remove problem areas totally rather than putting things in place to manage them.Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting you throw out the current methods you use to get things done or that time management tools don’t have a place. What I am suggesting is this……Focusing on self management is more likely to give real solutions, lasting change and effective habits that naturally produce results.A good starting point is to look at the mindset you go into when something comes up that you feel falls into a “time management” issue.If every time a bad habit or behaviour pattern surfaces your immediate mindset is to put a time management technique or tool in place to manage it, you are going to be forever in managing issues mode, not creating lasting solutions mode.The key is to create a mindset that looks inside yourself to the source and solution first and techniques to manage issues second.A good rule to follow with this sort of thing is to remember to always look inside before you look outside!The key to real change always starts on the inside, with you and your mindset.

The Internet has an enormous impact on how people communicate, shop, and work. This technology has also created changes in how companies conduct business in the 21st century. One of the areas of business that is likely to see tremendous change in the coming years is supply-chain management. By harnessing the power of the Internet, supply-chain management will continue to evolve in ways that will enable enterprises to change the way they manage inventory, place orders with suppliers, and communicate critical information with each other.While some of these technologies have existed for years, or decades in the case of radio frequency identification tags, the harnessing of the Internet to these technologies offers the potential for transforming supply-chain management. Improved supply-chain management also means improved inventory control and increased profits.In 2001, Nike missed its revenue target by a significant dollar amount. The shortfall was explained in part by a failed supply-chain automation project. “Some estimate that new technologies could strip out more than $30 billion in excess inventories” (Fonstad). The term e-business – as distinct from e-commerce – can be used to describe the adoption of the Internet to accelerate the goal of supply-chain integration (Lee) Four emerging technologies and practices in e-business will have a dramatic impact on supply-chain management.o Virtual marketplaceso Radio frequency identification tags (RFID)o Synchronized planningo Supplier performance managementVIRTUAL MARKET PLACESMetalJunction is the virtual marketplace owned by two of India’s largest steel producers. Tata Steel and Sail Steel traded more than 5,000 tons of steel in March 2002. By March 2003, tonnage had increased to 43,000 tons per month (Mills).What is a virtual marketplace and what are its applications to industry? Virtual marketplaces have many names such as e-markets, net market places, and electronic markets. These markets all have common characteristics.o Reliance on the Interneto Buyers and Sellers come together without an intermediaryo Neutrality (all buyers and sellers are treated the same)o Information is provided about sellers and productsIn its most fundamental form, a virtual market place brings together buyers and sellers through the internet. At its highest level, a virtual market place gives a purchaser and supplier the opportunity to re-engineer the sales administration process, improve forecasting and scheduling, renew its go-to-market approach, shorten its order-to-cash cycle, and enhance customer service (Steel24-7). Ideally, virtual market places are centered on a particular industry. Some prominent examples are steel, agricultural products, and automotive parts. In addition to providing information on vendors and general information about its products, a virtual market may also offer product specifications, side-by-side comparisons, technical papers, and market analysis.Many challenges exist in setting up an e-marketplace. Primary among these are identifying the tools necessary to use the market, providing a secure environment, pricing, payment, and fulfillment. For an orderly marketplace, Internet protocols must be selected. The cost of the technology to access and engage in the market must not be prohibitive. Security and privacy must be adequate to ensure confidential transactions. Authentication and authorization of users from many organizations must be possible. Private communication must be assured.Pricing policies may be set or bartered. A common example of bartering, or auctioning, is E-Bay for consumer products. Payment procedures can be predetermined or arranged between the buyer and the seller. Finally, fulfillment of orders must be insured. As in the case of traditional marketplaces, failure to deliver in a timely manner will result in firms losing market power and ultimately may lead to failure (McKnight).A final issue of concern in virtual markets is jurisdiction and governing law. Virtual markets place its members in the global trading community. Since e-markets are a recent phenomenon, defining the legal system responsible for settling disputes is an evolving process. Current legal reasoning places jurisdiction in the locality of the market. In a virtual market, however, one must ask where the market actually exists. While the FTC has attempted to exert control over on-line transactions, a definitive ruling on the jurisdiction for international e-market places has not yet been made.RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION TAGSIn November 2003, Wal-Mart gathered together its 120 top suppliers to announce it would require radio frequency identification tags (RFID) on shipping pallets and cases of merchandise. Wal-Mart set a deadline of January 2005 for its top 100 suppliers. The remaining suppliers will had until the start of 2006 to meet the requirement (Sliwa).A basic RFID system has three components.o Antennao Transceivero Transponder (tag)The antenna activates the tag, reads, and writes data to it. When an RFID tag moves past a reader, its information is transmitted to a host computer for processing. Most common RFID systems are passive and contain their own power source, have a short transmitting range, operate at a low frequency, and have a low cost. While RFID has existed since the 1960′s recent technological changes have reduced the cost and allowed the technology to be used in more applications.A common everyday use of RFID is the automatic reading of prepaid passes on toll roads. The advantages of RFID are many fold. For example, RFID is extremely fast, non-contact, does not require line of site, and can operate in a variety of weather conditions. In the case mentioned above, the benefits of RFID will go to Wal-Mart, while the costs are the responsibility of the suppliers. Kara Romanov, an analyst with AMR Research, Inc., estimates the start-up costs for a supplier who ships 50 million containers per year will run between $13 million and $23 million. These costs include RFID tags and associated hardware and software (Sliwa).SamSys Technologies of Richmond Hills, ON and ThingMagic, LLC of Cambridge, MA are two leaders in the application of RFID to supply-chain management. Sam-Sys is dedicated to an open system environment that will not limit RFID to a single protocol or range of frequencies. This philosophy is based on the premise of many vendors and readers that will work seamlessly together (SamSys).ThingMagic was founded in 2000 by five MIT graduates. It has developed low cost RFID systems. Presently, ThingMagic is developing and marketing protocol agile RFID tag readers (ThingMagic). In addition to Wal-Mart, the Department of Defense (DOD) is a key player in RFID development and deployment. The Department of Defense has issued a new policy, which requires all suppliers embed passive RFID chips in each individual product if possible, or otherwise at the level of cases or pallets by January 2005. In February 2004, the DOD hosted a summit for its suppliers to discuss its RFID plans (Broersma). To quote Colin Cobain the Chief Technology Officer of Tesco Stores: “The question is not will RFID change the way you do business. The question is will you be ready” (ThingMagic).SYNCHRONIZED PLANNING ACROSS THE SUPPLY-CHAIN”Synchronized planning, in the form of collaborative forecasting and replenishment, coordinated production, inventory and capacity plans, information integration, and direct linkages of ERP systems, is one of the most exciting developments in supply chain management in many industries” (Synchronous). Synchronized Planning involves key steps (Lee).o Information integrationo Planning synchronizationo Workflow coordinationo New business modelsFirst, information integration requires information sharing and transparency. It is the sharing of information among the members of the supply chain. Information exchanged may include inventory levels, production schedules, and shipment schedules. The benefits include better job scheduling and a reduction of the bullwhip effect. “The effect indicates a lack of synchronization among supply chain members. Even a slight change in consumer sales ripples backward in the form of magnified oscillations upstream, resembling the result of a flick of a bullwhip handle” (Chase 335).Planning synchronization defines what is to be done with the information that is shared. This can include collaborative planning and joint design. The benefits are lower cost and improved service.If planning synchronization is the “what” is to be done with shared information, workflow coordination is the “how” it is done. Operations that can be coordinated include procurement, engineering and design changes, and production planning. Benefits include early time to market, improved service, and gains in efficiency. Synchronized planning can lead to new business models. Not only can these new business models redefine workflow, they can lead to changes in responsibility for different parts of the supply-chain. A redefined supply-chain can jointly create new products and lead to expansion into new markets (Lee).Synchronized planning, however, cannot be accomplished without a tight linkage of all companies in the supply chain. Channels of communication must be well defined and the performance of each member in the chain must be monitored. The integrated supply-chain must hold members responsible for their part in the process. As product life cycles grow shorter and shorter, efficient synchronization of the supply-chain grows in importance. To ensure that the supply-chain is driven by consumer demand, and to decrease the bullwhip effect, synchronized planning is critical (Lee).SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENTAs the supply-chains of different organizations become tightly intertwined, it becomes necessary to measure the performance of each member of the chain. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before Congress in February 2001 that businesses were unable to anticipate the economic slowdown of the last recession, overbuilding inventories despite significant supply-chain automation (Fonstad). Even the use of the latest technology, therefore, may not guarantee that a supply-chain is operating efficiently.One way to answer the question of how well a supply-chain is functioning is to develop supplier scorecards. There are five steps in developing an effective scorecard (Golovin).o Agree on what is important and how to measure ito Use web based incident reports to communicate problems as they occuro Engage in continuous supplier managemento Measure to prevent rather than reacto Use web based software that all suppliers can utilize without making expensive investments in software and trainingIt is important that the buyer and seller agree at the outset on what is important and how it is measured. This is critical because once decided upon, the supplier will optimize its work to the designated criteria. If just in time delivery is a priority, the supplier may concentrate on this aspect of the order to the detriment of other factors. In addition, benchmarks to measure supplier performance must be realistic and attainable.Actual performance should then be consistently tracked against these benchmarks. The manufacturer and supplier should work together to develop benchmarks that are consistent with industry performance and product specifications. The use of web based incident reports is important in keeping track of problems as they occur. Incident reports should not be used only to track problems, but should be used to resolve the problem in real time. It is also important to measure the time it takes the supplier to correct the problem.Continuous supplier management, sometimes referred to as supplier engineering, has become more important as manufacturers outsource more of their operations. A 90-day review cycle can be ruinous when you are manufacturing an innovative product. “Innovative products typically have a life cycle of just a few months” (Chase 337). A 90-day review cycle may come close to exceeding the competitive advantage of an innovative product. Effective continuous supplier management must be geared to specific periods and tolerances. This is then tied to web based incident reports that enable alarms to ring when products, or delivery, are out of agreed upon tolerances.An effective supplier scorecard should be set up to prevent problems as opposed to reacting to them. The sooner you know there is a problem the lower the cost of resolving it and the greater the chance of preventing it altogether. The best scorecard not only measures events after they have happened, they continually monitor performance in real time. The use of automation is key to making this happen. For example, a system that matches invoices with purchase orders will catch pricing errors before a check is cut and a manufacturer’s money is out the door. Utilizing web-based software not only decreases the cost of a supplier integrating with a manufacturer, it speeds up the integration process. Web-based software also enables suppliers both small and large to participate in the supply-chain.The other four points listed above all rely on the ability of a manufacturer and a supplier to participate in the planning, sourcing, quality control, and delivery of a product. The Internet enables all members of the supply-chain to collaborate and work together as a team. Finally, by making supplier performance web-based, suppliers are able to participate in their own performance improvement (Golovin).CONCLUSIONSupply-chain management is an interesting and complex subject. It goes to the core of new business methods in the 21st century. The near universal availability of the Internet is the enabling technology for changes in how the supply-chain of an enterprise is managed. The Internet also allows organizations to adopt new business practices and enter new markets. By harnessing the power of the Internet, supply-chain management will continue to evolve beyond the changes being implemented today.E-business has been the logical outgrowth of e-commerce. E-business adopts the power of the Internet to accelerate the growth of supply-chain integration. While E-business has had a tremendous impact on supply-chain management, it also can be adapted to both front end and back end business operations (Lee). Improved inventory control and increased profits are two of the benefits of improved supply-chain management. As noted in the introduction, Nike missed its 2001 earnings targets due in part to the failed implementation of a supply-chain automation project. It has also been estimated that more than $30 billion dollars in excess inventories can be eliminated through improved supply-chain management. These real savings can be brought straight to the bottom line.Four new technologies and business practices that harness the power of the Internet are virtual market places, radio frequency identification tags, synchronized planning (RFID), and supplier performance management. Virtual markets enable buyers and sellers to come together 24/7 in effect creating a store that never closes. The additional advantages of virtual marketplaces are the elimination of an intermediary, access to product and vendor information, and a neutral market where all buyers and sellers are treated equally. Virtual markets give both buyers and sellers the opportunity to re-engineer their sales administration process.As noted above, RFID has existed since the 1960′s, however, improvements in technology and paring RFID with the Internet has expanded this tracking method beyond its limited past in manufacturing plants. The three components of an RFID system are an antenna, transceiver, and a transponder (tag).Synchronized planning when applied across a supply chain consists of collaborative forecasting and replenishment, coordinated production, inventory and capacity planning, information integration, and direct linkage of ERP systems. The four key steps in synchronized planning are information integration, planning synchronization, workflow coordination, and the opportunity to develop new business models. Key to synchronized planning is using the Internet for information sharing. The benefits of synchronized planning include better job scheduling and reduction of the bullwhip affect. The bullwhip affect magnifies oscillations upstream in the supply-chain caused by a change in consumer sales. Synchronized planning also defines what is to be done with shared information and how it will be done. As product life cycles grow shorter, efficient synchronization of the supply-chain rewards firms who seize its potential.Supplier scorecards are a method of evaluating members of the supply-chain in increasingly intertwined organizations. As Alan Greenspan pointed out in 2001, many firms were unable to anticipate the last recession and continued overbuilding inventory despite having invested heavily in supply-chain automation. This statement underscores the need develop the tools to monitor the performance of firms up and down the supply-chain. The five steps to develop an effective scorecard are agreeing on what is important and how it will be measured, the use of web-based incident reports, engagement in continuous supplier management, measuring to prevent problems, and the use of web-based software. In rolling out these tools, it is imperative that both the buyer and the seller first agree on what is important and how it will be measured. The other steps flow from the first.The Internet has had an enormous impact on the personal and professional lives of businesspersons. On the business side, the Internet has brought new life to existing technologies and offered businesses the opportunity to engage in the world marketplace. The harnessing of the Internet by business has enabled greater cooperation and information exchange up and down the supply-chain. The Internet has enabled businesses to improve the supply-chain by the way they manage inventory, place orders, and communicate critical information with each other.Works CitedBroersma, Matthew. “Defense Department Drafts RFID Policy.” CNET News. 24 Oct 2003. 5 Dec. 2003.Chase, Richard B., Nicholas J. Aquilano, and F. Robert Jacobs. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. 9th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2001.Fonstad, Jennifer. “From the Ground Floor: How to Manage Inventory on Demand.” Red Herring. 31 May 2001. 5 Dec 2003.Golovin, Jonathan. “Five Keys to a Successful Supplier Scorecard.” Vigilance, Inc. 5 Dec 2003.Lee, Hau L., and Seungjin Whang. “E-Business and Supply Chain Integration.” Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum. Nov 2001. 22 Nov 2003.McKnight, Lee W., Diana Anius, and Ozlem Uzuner. Virtual Markets in Wireless Grids: Peering Policy Obstacles. TPRC 30th Research Conference on Communication, Information, and Internet Policy., Oct 2002. Vienna, VA: Telecommunications Policy Research Conference.”Mills Warm to Online.” Steel Business Briefing. 1 Jul 03. 22 Nov 2003. SamSys. 4 Dec 2003.Sliwa, Carol. “Wal-Mart Suppliers Shoulder Burden of Daunting RFID Effort.” Computerworld. 10 Nov 2003: 1+. Steel24-7. 22 Nov 2003.”Synchronous Planning Across the Supply Chain.” Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum. 27 Jan 1999. 22 Nov 2003.ThingMagic. 4 Dec 2003.

Time management is a vital skill that one must learn to get the most out of life. Learning this skill is relatively easy as long as you know what you want in life and have the drive and passion to achieve it. To complement an individual’s fast-paced lifestyle, here are some of the best management books to learn from.The 7 Best Management Books:
Getting Things Done by David Allen: David Allen, a management expert, introduces his methodology on how to get things done in his book, Getting Things Done. His philosophy on time management is explained plainly in this book and, in fact, most of the present management methodologies are based on his management style.
Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Management by Mark Forster: Mark Forster is a well-known author and lecturer in the field of management. His book, Do It Tomorrow, shows his alternative views on time management. In this book, readers will find the seven management principles that Forster has developed for effective time management. Both novices and experts will find something worth noting in this book.
The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard: Ken Blanchard is a popular author of many management books. The One Minute Manager is the first book in the One Minute series that Blanchard has published. This book is very brief and only highlights a few key concepts for effective time management.
Putting The One Minute Manager to Work by Ken Blanchard: This book is another Blanchard work that helps the readers of the One Minute Manager apply the ideas in real life. In this book, the readers will learn how to work well with their team in a lighthearted but effective manner.
Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard: The Leadership and the One Minute Manager is another installment in Ken Blanchard’s One Minute series. In the abovementioned books, Blanchard has stressed the importance of management and effective teamwork and monitoring system to become productive. In this book, Blanchard focuses on how to develop the leader in an individual to be a good manager. This book is a good accompaniment for the abovementioned Blanchard masterpieces.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey: For seasoned readers of books about time management, this book is a classic. Stephen Covey’s philosophical approach on time management helps the readers have a clear viewpoint in life to determine their personal goals and achieve it. This book is a perfect life coach as well as a management guide.
The Now Habit by Neil Fiore: Neil Fiore has finally discovered the antidote for procrastination. In his book, The Now Habit, he introduces several effective techniques to overcome procrastination. These techniques and systems make management easy and fun so readers will enjoy applying these lessons in real life.These books about management are only some of the best in the market today. Whether a mentor or a learner, one can learn something useful from these books.