Over my many years as an Administrative Assistant I have used a task management system that I learned way back while taking an office administration diploma program in college. The ABC Method is a time management idea which involves delegating work to yourself in order of importance and expedience.

Tasks are placed in piles labeled A, B and C.

“A” jobs are tasks that need to be done right now. An A job may be a report that needs to be typed and formatted for a meeting that’s taking place today. Your boss may ask you to pull some files that relate to a conference call he’s currently on or you may need to drop everything and courier some documents to a client across town who needs them within the hour. “A” jobs are urgent and don’t leave you the option of putting them aside for when you have a minute. In fact, you might not be given any time to plan for an “A” job, as they can easily happen without notice.

“B” jobs are tasks that need to be completed soon, but are not urgent. It could be today, tomorrow or next week, but the “B” jobs still have a deadline that needs to be met. These tasks could be anything from completing a weekly budget report, to making travel arrangements, to filing documents back in their place. You need to be careful, though, that you don’t neglect the “B” jobs for so long that they suddenly get bumped up to the “A” pile, because they are now urgent and needed right away. You don’t want to be making travel arrangements for your colleague two hours before she’s due to leave when she asked you to do it last week or spend an hour looking for a document you should have filed for easy reference, but didn’t.

“C” jobs are what I call “tasks for a rainy day” or tasks that can be left until you have time to do them. These tasks can be anything from arranging the file folders on your PC for easier reference to cleaning out your desk to inputting all of the information from collected business cards into your computer’s address book . I usually write my “C” jobs down on a piece of paper and put them in a file folder marked “C” in my drawer, so that I don’t forget that they eventually need doing. When I get a spare ten minutes at work I open my “C” folder and fill the extra time doing busy work with a purpose.

I always take five minutes at the beginning of my workday to delegate tasks into the appropriate piles marked A, B and C. Here, for example, is a recent sampling of the work I had to complete and the pile I delegated each task to:

Pay gas, electric and courier bills.

Due next Thursday.

B Jobs

Transcribe draft report #2 from tape.

Due by end of day.

B Jobs

Edit, format and final report #1.

Due in an hour.

A Jobs

Update boss’s address book.

Due when I have time.

C Jobs

Courier documents to XYZ Company.

Due ASAP.

A Jobs

Tidy and label shelves in supply closet.

No due date. I’d just like it to be more organized.

C Jobs

As a busy Administrative Assistant (is there any other type?), I find that the ABC