One of the best all time Harvard Business Review articles on time management. by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass, from the November–December 1999 Issue Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the November–December 1974 issue of HBR and has been one of the publication’s two best-selling reprints ever. Why is it that managers are typically running out of time while their subordinates are typically running out of work?

I recently reviewed a resume for a colleague who was trying to define a clearer career strategy. She has terrific experience. And yet, as I looked through it I could see the problem she was concerned about: she had done so many good things in so many different fields it was hard to know what was distinctive about her. As we talked it became clear the resume was only the symptom of a deeper issue. In an attempt to be useful and adaptable she has said yes to too many good projects and opportunities. She has ended up feeling overworked and underutilized. It is easy to see how people end up in her situation:

Finding a great recruiter isn't easy, keeping them isn't hard. It's all about feeling the love. Ask yourself this question; is yours a business that wants to hire people in the top 10% of their field, or as close to it as possible, or the bottom 10%? If you answered that with bottom 10%, your business won’t be around for too long and there’s a fair chance you’ve got rocks in your head.

Joe Contractor was feeling good about himself six months ago. He was looking to hire a Project Executive to lead the companies' Health Care Market Sector, and wasn't having any luck with the job boards, or his own personal networks. Therefore, Joe decided that he would hire several recruiters, but decided to talk them down on their fees.

As an inaugural post, we'd like to share a story about a toothpaste factory: A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time.