Campfire 25: Practical time-management tip for product designers

I found something exciting about time-management and product designer’s job, which made me re-think how I manage my time for deep work, meetings policy, and overall time-management.

As product designers, we’re all familiar with white space. It’s one of the first and foremost things designers should know about to create stunning work.

The term is directly associated with design, but I was wondering why don’t we apply such design principles to our own lives? At least the ways we’re working.

I’m guilty of ignoring this a lot. My schedule has become an open space lately — anyone can come in, book some time and ask for any kind of things — from simple advice, to project feedback and client reviews. “I’m busy” started to come out of my mouth too often, and it was time to add some whitespace to my schedule.

White space is where you recharge and focus. It’s where you can be creative, explore, and think about the long-term instead of the most urgent deadline. It’s where you do your best work as a designer.

How to add whitespace to your schedule?

Adding whitespace to your schedule isn’t an easy task. I’ve already been working for a couple of weeks to make it happen, and I’m only halfway there. But here are a few things I’m doing to get back my time.