Time Management: Taming the Monkeys on Your Back

The article, "Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?" addresses the common issue of managers feeling overwhelmed while their subordinates lack work by exploring the concept of management time. It categorizes time into three types: Boss-imposed, System-imposed, and Self-imposed, with the latter including both discretionary time and time imposed by subordinates. The central metaphor of the text is the "monkey on the back," representing a problem or task that mistakenly transfers from a subordinate to a manager, leading to subordinate-imposed time. The piece details how managers inadvertently accept these "monkeys" and proposes methods for transferring initiative back to subordinates, along with five rules for the proper "Care and Feeding of Monkeys," to regain control over their schedules and increase their discretionary time.