Time Management Research Study
Problem Statement
An exploration of real time-management habits to understand what supports focus, what causes friction, and what people truly need from productivity tools.
People juggle multiple responsibilities, face constant distractions, and struggle to stay consistent with planning tools that often feel overwhelming or rigid.
Identify real behaviours, challenges, and expectations around time management to guide future design decisions.
UX Research · Multi-Method Study
Research Objective
Role
Methods
Duration
Tools
Focus Group · Survey · Diary Study
4 participants
4 participants
30 participants
13 weeks · 2025
UX Researcher
Focus Group
Online Survey
10-day Diary Study
January - April
This phase was completed with a small research team. I moderated the focus group through a group discussion and 2 activities to explore early time-management behaviours and challenges.
Phase 1
Focus Group
Team-based session
Moderator
4 participants
SESSION FORMAT
PARTICIPANT SIZE
ROLE
Explore participants behaviours, motivations, and needs around time management to identify what features matter most.
OBJECTIVE
Group Discussion + 2 activities: sticky-note mapping and a $100 prioritization test.
METHOD
WHY FOCUS GROUP?
A group discussion helped uncover shared pain points and patterns in how people talk about productivity and planning.
Participants want simpler, more flexible ways to plan their days.
Distractions and inconsistent routines make it difficult to stay productive.
People feel overwhelmed by rigid and cluttered planning tools.
KEY INSIGHTS
FOCUS GROUP
I'm so
Distracted!
The findings highlighted patterns like motivation dips, distraction habits, and the need for simplicity, which guided the online survey questions.
OUTCOME
This phase expanded on the Focus Group insights to understand how widely these behaviours and challenges showed up across a larger set of participants.
Phase 2
Online Survey
Individual Research
Researcher
30 participants
SESSION FORMAT
PARTICIPANT SIZE
ROLE
Validate the Focus Group insights and identify broader patterns in time-management habits.
The survey provided quantitative data to validate focus group insights and assess how common these behaviours and challenges were across a larger group of participants.
OBJECTIVE
Online survey focusing on routines, motivation, and distractions.
METHOD
WHY ONLINE SURVEY?
ONLINE SURVEY
KEY INSIGHTS
22/30 participants rely on simple tools (notes, paper, memory) over apps.
18/30 participants struggle with staying motivated throughout the week.
21/30 participants feel overwhelmed by complex planning tools.
The findings highlighted a preference for simple, flexible planning methods and revealed motivation and distraction as ongoing challenges, helping inform the direction of subsequent research and concept development.
OUTCOME
Google Form
Social Media Outreach
8 questions
SURVEY FORMAT
15/30 participants get easily distracted when trying to complete tasks.
25/30 prefer flexible planning methods over strict routines.
This phase captured real, day-to-day time management behaviours to better understand how routines evolve as the day unfolds.
Phase 3
Diary Study
Individual Research
Researcher
4 participants
SESSION FORMAT
PARTICIPANT SIZE
ROLE
Identify behaviours and patterns that influence how people manage their time.
This method was used to capture day-to-day behaviours over time, revealing how motivation, focus, and routines naturally shifted throughout the day that wouldn’t have been visible through surveys or single interviews.
OBJECTIVE
Participants completed a daily form answering questions about their focus levels, routines, and challenges.
METHOD
WHY DIARY STUDY?
Email Communication
Google Forms
5 daily questions over 10 days
DIARY STUDY FORMAT
DIARY STUDY
Motivation peaked in the morning but consistently dipped mid-day.
Phone use and interruptions were the most common distractions.
Participants frequently adjusted their plans as their day unfolded.
End-of-day reflection happened mentally, not through tools.
Flexible routines worked better than rigid structures.
OUTCOME
KEY INSIGHTS
DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the research across all phases revealed 4 key opportunity areas to better support daily time-management behaviours.
Users often start reactively and need light structure to ease into their day.
Add a gentle morning reminder and a simple “Today’s Overview” as the home screen, summarizing key tasks and priorities.
Support a Smoother Start to the Day
1
2
Motivation consistently drops and distractions peak in the afternoon.
Have personalized home-screen widgets that surface timely prompts, progress cues, or task reminders, encouraging users to re-engage without fully opening the app.
Help Users Refocus During Mid-Day Dips
Recommendation
People frequently adjust their plans as priorities and energy shift throughout the day.
Design quick task-level actions (e.g. postpone, defer, re-prioritize) that allow users to adapt their plans as the day changes, reducing the effort of constant re-planning.
Make Mid-Day Adjustments Flexible and Effortless
Recommendation
3
People naturally reflect on their day but lack a lightweight way to bring closure and transition into the next day.
Provide a simple daily recap that highlights completed tasks and gently carriers unfinished ones forward, supporting end-of-day reflection and reducing the mental load of re-planning.
Reinforce End-of-Day Reflection and Closure
Recommendation
4
Recommendation
What I Would Do Differently
Reflection
Increase the diary study sample size to capture a wider range of behaviours
Lean further into curiosity by asking deeper questions
What I Would Explore Next
Prototype flexible planning features such as morning overview screens
Explore how reflective features (like progress visuals) impact motivation
What I Learned
Each research phase informs the next - mixed methods make insights very clear!
How to moderate a focus group, it was my first time & I had fun!
Evelyn Martinez · Product Designer
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