9 min readConcept sheetOften a 10-mark answer

Making, controlling and evaluating a time plan

A time plan is made in steps, controlled while it runs and evaluated afterwards, often by comparing planned and actual times on a Gantt chart.

Types of plansDaily, weekly, seasonal, long-term

ControllingEnergizing, checking, adjusting

Evaluation toolGantt chart: planned vs actual bars

A good plan isRealistic, flexible, includes rest

Steps in making a time plan

A good plan is realistic and flexible, balances heavy and light work, shares tasks and leaves time for rest and leisure. Starred steps are the ones most often missed.

1
List every activity for the period: daily, weekly and occasional.
include personal care and leisure
2★
Estimate the time each activity needs, using time norms.
3
Mark fixed-time activities (school van, office, meals) and flexible ones.
4★
Arrange activities in order: dovetail where possible, alternate heavy and light tasks, place rest periods.
5
Assign tasks to family members.
share the load
6★
Check the total: planned time must fit the time available, with a little spare.
cut or simplify if it does not fit
7
Write the plan as a schedule or chart and keep it where everyone can see it.

★ one-way, controls the pace

Worked example: a weekday morning plan

Problem

Meena works in an office and must leave at 8:30 am. Her two children catch the school van at 7:45 am, and her husband gets them ready. She wakes at 5:30 am, so she has 180 minutes. Make her morning time plan.

Working

List her tasks with time norms: freshen up 15 min, coffee and milk 10, cook lunch (rice, sambar, poriyal) 50, cook breakfast (idli, chutney) 30, pack 3 lunch boxes 15, breakfast with the children 20, her own bath and dressing 25, clear the kitchen 15.
Add them: 15 + 10 + 50 + 30 + 15 + 20 + 25 + 15 = 180 min. This fills every minute with no spare time, so the plan is too tight.
Dovetail: steam the idlis while the rice and sambar cook in the pressure cooker. With batter ground and vegetables cut the night before, lunch and breakfast together take 50 min instead of 80. Saving = 80 − 50 = 30 min.
New total = 180 − 30 = 150 min of work, leaving 30 min spare.
Share: the husband bathes and dresses the children from 6:30 to 7:00, so none of Meena's time goes on this.
Place 25 of the spare minutes after breakfast as rest and a buffer for delays, and keep 5 minutes to leave.

Answer

5:30-5:45 freshen up · 5:45-5:55 coffee · 5:55-6:45 lunch and breakfast cooked together · 6:45-7:00 pack lunch boxes · 7:00-7:20 breakfast with the children · 7:20-7:45 rest and see the children off · 7:45-8:10 bath and dress · 8:10-8:25 clear the kitchen · 8:25-8:30 leave. Work 150 min + buffer 25 min + leaving 5 min = 180 min.

Reading a Gantt chart

A Gantt chart (named after Henry Gantt) is a bar chart of a schedule. Activities are listed down the left side and time runs along the top or bottom. Each activity is a horizontal bar from its start time to its finish time, so the length of the bar is its duration. To read it, follow a row to see when a task starts and ends; look down a column to see which tasks run at the same time (overlapping bars show dovetailing); and look for gaps, which are free time. To evaluate a plan, draw the planned bar and, just below it, the actual bar from a record of what really happened. Where the actual bar is longer or shifted to the right, the task took longer or started late, and that is where the plan needs changing.

Controlling and evaluating the plan

Controlling the plan in actionEnergizing: start on time and keep going. Checking: compare the clock with the plan at fixed points (lunch boxes packed by 7). Adjusting: if a task runs late, drop or simplify a flexible task, or ask for help.

Evaluating the planAfterwards ask: Was the work finished on time? Was anyone over-tired? Were family members satisfied? Compare planned and actual times on a Gantt chart, then revise the time norms and the plan.

Checking happens during the work; evaluation is the review after it. Both feed the next plan.

In food service and dietetics

A hostel or hospital kitchen runs on a written time plan: pre-preparation the night before, cooking start times worked back from meal service, and staff rosters. A Gantt chart of the kitchen day shows where cooking, serving and cleaning overlap, and why a meal went out late.

Exam angle

2 marks: “What is a Gantt chart?” A bar chart of a schedule: activities are listed on one side, time runs along the other, and each activity is a bar from its start to its finish time.

5 marks: “What are the steps in making a time plan?” List activities, estimate time with time norms, mark fixed and flexible tasks, arrange with dovetailing and rest, share tasks, check the total, and write the schedule.

10 marks: “Explain the time management process: planning, controlling and evaluation.” Give the steps in making a plan with a short daily plan, explain energizing, checking and adjusting, and show evaluation with a planned-versus-actual Gantt chart.