I measured my productivity and got a shock

wezcountry

wezcountry

New member
Aug 31, 2009
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In the EUSSR
I decided to measure the exact amount of work I do each day because I've set myself a target of 8 productive hours per day. I used an online stopwatch. Every time I was not working, e.g. someone wanted a chat on IM, I went to make a drink, to the bathroom or I was browsing the web etc etc, I stopped the clock.

It has been an enlightening exercise. For the first four days of this week I have worked an average of only 5.6 hours per day!!! That really sucks.

I want to put in a decent shift every day. So here are the steps I am implementing:

- I have set my status to 'away' on IM
- I am not taking every phone call
- I am checking email only once per hour (this will be be tricky, I will have to log)
- I will find a slot for recreational browsing and stick to that.


The stopwatch I used is here.
 


wezcountry said:
- I have set my status to 'away' on IM
- I am not taking every phone call
- I am checking email only once per hour (this will be be tricky, I will have to log)
- I will find a slot for recreational browsing and stick to that..
Click to expand...

Or, you can do what many others including myself do.

1. On the phone, get right to the point. Tell the person you simply have another call calling in, you'll get right back to them, and say your goodbye's. This is assuming it's a non biz call.

3. On AM, don't be afraid to say hello if someone pings you. Just train yourself to know when someone is pinging you to shoot the shit, or they have a quick question needing resolved.

"What's up?" or "Just wanted to say hi" are tell-tale signs you can respond "Doing good. BRB" (be right back). They'll forget all about you and move on to the next person in their list. Typing BRB is the most effective way I've found to "dump" someone on AIM without hurting their feelings.

If it's semi important and on IM and you know before hand its going to be a lot of typing, say CALL ME. Either the person will shut the fuck up and go back to work, or call you, either way you've saved time.

4. Checking email once per hour is good and bad. It all depends how quickly you want to respond to the dozens of fires that pop up every day.

The bottom line that has always worked for me.. when you wake up, have a simple goal for the day. Finish THIS project, get to THIS point, etc. Get THAT done. I wake up, I check email (round 1) to make sure nothing urgent is waiting, and I don't even delete the spam. Just scan the mail, nod your head, close the program, get your work done.

Now, 3-4 hours later, you'll feel much better about your day and can go at whatever pace you wish.

Of course, this doesnt work if you have employees coming into your office and the usual bullshit that goes on there. When my door is CLOSED, people know I'm not in the mood to bullshit. If it's opened a crack, it means you better have balls to push it open. If it's open halfway, it means eh, give it a shot. And if it's wide open, it means sit back on my leather couch, I'm bored.
 
This is the reason I tend to be more goal orientated then time orientated. I will not get up from the computer some objective(s) finished. If I want, I can chat on IM or check my email, or post on Digita... err... Wickedfire. Though, sometimes that means I'm here for 12 hours, or 4 depending what I need to get done.
 
Simple solution: No Email, IM, or recreation browsing until end work gets down. Simple but it works.
 
Roundabout said:
When my door is CLOSED, people know I'm not in the mood to bullshit. If it's opened a crack, it means you better have balls to push it open. If it's open halfway, it means eh, give it a shot. And if it's wide open, it means sit back on my leather couch, I'm bored.
Click to expand...


Sweet talk, so full of


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I like.
 
could always set a web filter to prevent you from going to non relevant sites if you're easily sidetracked
 
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