Any PSLs out there? Time management and prioritising tips desperately wanted!

[MtnBikeChick]

I am looking for advice on job/time management, really.
I am a 9 year pqe lawyer and I have recently moved from being a fee earner to being a PSL. I had a break in between the two roles (maternity) and I am currently working 3 days a week. I am very lucky to work for three great partners and in a fantastic team. However, I am finding the transition hard for a number of reasons. Firstly, the role is very much my own to shape. The team has never had a PSL and my role has lots of facets. Know how, BD, client training sessions, internal training sessions, trainee inductions, research, co-ordinating with other specialists teams within the firm, education sessions for the lawyers, etc, as well as being a bit of a 'go to' person for junior lawyers with questions. I have always considered myself a very organised person, with good time management skills. However, I am struggling to manage my time, prioritise my work and get things done! I have been in the role 4 months and I have a long to do list. Lots of the items on it are chunky, long-term projects. I also have a number of more urgent, shorter term matters and then on a daily basis, there are little bits and bobs coming in all the time. My background is transactional so I always had deadlines. In this role, a lot of the projects are mine to shape so there aren't really any deadlines. I am finding that I am starting everything, but not finishing anything. I am also constantly distracted by smaller tasks I can get done quickly, and I am also very distracted by emails coming in. I am worried I am going to turn into a composer of unfinished symphonies! The partners in my team are really busy and don't really have time to sit down with me and agree priorities. I need to discipline myself but I m struggling. I also know that working 3 days a week there are a number of big projects (i.e. a couple of template documents I want to produce) that I just don't have the hours to devote to. I am finding myself invited to a lot of meetings, so often I have a day of '30 minute slots' between meetings. For me, this is not conducive to focussed drafting on a template document.
Does anyone have any tips/thoughts?
Thank you!

Not a lawyer, but I work 4 days a week, and I really identify with a lot of what you're saying. I think we (and our employers) are crap at estimating what we can achieve in a part time position, so we put ourselves under massive pressure to get the same amount done. One way or another you have to pin down the partners to a meeting, where you make it abundantly clear that you can't get everything done... Either they choose what falls by the wayside, or they accept your decision.

The email problem is relatively easy. Check it twice a day, and switch off all alerts, or close your client if you have to in between the allotted times. Tell your key contacts that if they have something genuinely urgent, they'll have to either phone you or come and see you. Emails are a nightmare for multiplying transitions between tasks, and transitions are when all the time-wasting happens.

It sounds like responding to other people's needs is a major feature of your job. I guess you can't just say no to people a lot of the time. But you can assert yourself a bit by saying "yes, but on my terms". For instance, when somebody interrupts you with a question, you smile, say you will be able to help them, but it'll have to wait until 2pm. Make it a habit, even when you don't think it's going to make a significant difference to your time there and then: it will soon make you feel more in control.

Do you need to be at all these meetings? What would happen if you were 2 days a week? Or if you resigned? Be ruthless, and give up some control to people who have more time. Or ask for them to be rearranged so you can carve off whole half-days together when you can get your head into your template documents.

Take some time to rank your to do list according to what's really important. If the partners don't give you any input, then rank it by what's important to you. Number the items 1 to 50 (or whatever), the go through them one item at a time, and compare with each other. If item one is more important than item 2, write a "1" on a separate sheet of paper. If item 3 is more important than item 1, then add a "3" below it. When you've done that for every pair, add up how many times each item item number appears: the most frequent is the most important, and so on. Then as far as you possibly can, start at the top, and finish each item before you move on to the next.

Great advice, thank you.